422 



HORTICULTURE 



May 3, 1919 



HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF 

 NEW YORK. 



An exhibition of plants and flowers 

 will be held on Saturday and Sunday, 

 May 10th and 11th, in the Museum 

 building, New York Botanical Garden. 

 Schedules are now ready for distribu- 

 tion, and will be sent on application to 

 the secretary, George V. Nash, New 

 York Botanical Garden, Bronx Park, 

 N. Y. City. 



George V. Nash, Secy. 



NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF GAR- 

 DENERS. 



The executive board of the National 

 Association of Gardners for some time 

 past has had under consideration the 

 advisability of establishing head- 

 quarters in New York City, and hav- 

 ing considered the present time op- 

 portune, it has opened an oflice at 286 

 Fifth avenue, New York. The secre- 

 tary's hours will be 10 a. m. until 3 

 p. m., excepting by special appoint- 

 ment. 



This step has been actuated to a 

 large extent by the increasing interest 

 that is being manifested towards the 

 Service Bureau of the association by 

 country estate owners, which makes it 

 desirable to be more conveniently lo- 

 cated for these clients of the associa- 

 tion. 



The members of the National Asso- 

 ciation of Gardners of Boston and vi- 

 cinity will hold a spring conference on 

 Friday evening, May 16th, at 6 o'clock, 

 in Horticultural Hall, Boston. An in- 

 teresting program is being arranged 

 and all interested in the profession of 

 gardening are most cordially invited to 

 attend the conference. Those who have 

 been present at previous Boston con- 

 ferences, know how interesting and en- 

 tertaining these meetings are. 



It is proposed to hold the annual 

 convention in Cleveland on August 26- 

 28. This date is suggested as horticul- 

 ture in the vicinity of Cleveland is to 

 be seen at Its best, and the weather 

 conditions are usually favorable at 

 this season of the year. The executive 

 board will take final action on the 

 convention date the latter part of 

 May, and President Weeks will then 

 appoint the convention committees. 



THE YEAR IS BEGINNING TO 

 WORK! 



"Does general educational publicity 

 build business?" 



"Yes, it does — and we can prove it," 

 says Manager Rockwell, of the Nurs- 

 erymen's National Service Bureau, 

 "You don't have to take my word for 

 it, however. Just consider the follow- 

 ing facts: 



"Every time anyone suggests nation- 

 al publicity for nurserymen and men- 

 tions, as an argument in favor of it, 

 what the California Fruit Growers, or 

 some other association, has done, 

 somebody in the back row is seen to 

 rise up and say: 



" 'Yes, yes. But our proposition is 

 different. You don't standardize nurs- 

 ery stock. And without standardiza- 

 tion publicity ain't worth a tinker's 

 tink!' 



"Well, let's see about that. Let's 

 take the things nearest akin to the 

 nursery trade — seeds and flowers, 

 (And, incidentally, nobody has ever 

 succeeded in standardizing seeds or 

 flowers!) 



"If you know any seedsmen at all, 

 you know what the demand for vege- 

 table seeds has been this last three 

 years. Last year it ran way ahead of 

 the year before; this year, according , 

 to a survey just completed by the Seed 

 World, 40 per cent of the retail seed 

 houses report sales running ahead of 

 last year, notwithstanding greatly in- 

 creased prices. Mr. Pack, president of 

 the National War Garden Commission, 

 told me the other day that they esti- 

 mated from their field agents' reports, 

 a very substantial increase in the num- 

 ber of home gardens this year — al- 

 though the war is over. 



"And as to flowers. Certainly they 

 cannot be standardized. They are, 

 compared to either vegetables or nurs- 

 ery stock, a luxury. But last year, 

 with the war still on, the Red Cross 

 and War Chest campaigns being 

 pushed, business in flotcers increased! 



"Why? 



"Well, the leading florists of the 

 country are satisfied that the increase 

 was due to their publicity campaign. 

 That they are not merely talking when 

 they say that is proved by the fact 

 that they are putting up more money 

 this year than they did last year for 



the possibility campaign, although the 

 war is over. And when a man talks 

 with a check, he means what he says. 



"And this year, although prices wero 

 higher than they have been for sever- 

 al years, nurserymen have found a big- 

 ger demand for their product than ev- 

 er before. 



"Again, why? 



"Again, the answer is publicity. The 

 work of the Nurserymen's National 

 Service Bureau was not started until 

 the beginning of the year, but for 

 weeks past prospective planters have 

 been urged by the series of educational 

 articles which the Bureau has supplied 

 to over 500 especially selected news- 

 papers throughout the eastern and 

 mid-western states, to plant. Over a 

 million and a half prospective buyers 

 have been told the advantages of plant- 

 ing, have had suggested to them what 

 to plant, and have been instructed how- 

 to plant for successful results; they 

 have been helped in the care of the 

 things they have already planted — and 

 in the proportion that they succeed 

 with whatever they have already 

 planted they will plant other things. 



"When Mr. Allen asked me for a list 

 of nurserymen who could be recom- 

 mended he did not know that any pub- 

 licity had been carried on by the nurs- 

 erymen. He did not know that I was 

 connected in any way with the nurs- 

 ery industry. But he did know, as 

 his letter states, that the magazine 

 with which he is connected, and which 

 has a large country circulation, had 

 been receiving a noticeable increase in 

 the number of inquiries regarding 

 where certain trees, shrubs and orna- 

 mentals could be obtained. Of course, 

 the work of the Nurserymen's National 

 Service Bureau is still a very small 

 beginning, but if the little we have 

 done so far has shown results so no- 

 ticeable, can any nurseryman who is 

 at all familiar with the part publicity 

 plays in modern merchandising have 

 any doubt that at least a small part of 

 his advertising appropriation can be 

 expended more effectually in a co-oper- 

 ative campaign for general publicity 

 than in individual effort? 



"No nursery concern in the country, 

 at no matter what expense, could pos- 

 sibly have obtained the publicity 

 which the Service Bureau has been 

 able to get. If paid for at advertising 

 rates it would have cost tens of thous- 

 ands of dollars — but it could not have 

 been bought at any price." 



