Colour advertising card issued by the Wells & Richardson Company of Burlington, Vermont, possibly in 1893. It features portraits of five babies and brief letters on the reverse from their mothers (dated 1892 and 1893) praising the nutritious properties of Lactated Food and how it had saved the lives of their infants who weren’t interested in any other sort of food. 25 cents worth of the product made 10 pints of cooked food, although 50 cents, 1 dollar and 2 dollars and 50 cents sizes were also available. Wells, Richardson & Co., took over the business of Henry & Co. in 1872. Originally wholesale druggists, they began manufacture of other products in 1886 with butter colour for the dairy industry, a well-known remedy, kidney-wort and finally lactated food, a very valuable food for infants and invalids. These were all advertised extensively in newspapers and almanacs etc. As its name suggests, the basis of Lactated Food was lactose or milk sugar. The food was hailed by the medical profession as the best of its kind with which they were acquainted. They expanded, establishing branches in other countries, including London, England and in 1882 became a corporation under the name of Wells & Richardson Company.
