November 25, 1920 



HORTICULTURE 



337 



COLLECTING SLOW ACCOUNTS 



How the Application of Psychology 

 Brought a Debtor to Terms 



Collecting accounts is the bete noir 

 of many a florist, and perhaps they 

 will be interested in a scheme for mak- 

 ing collections which has been worked 

 successfully in another business 

 where bad bills also collect rapidly. 

 The plan is outlined graphically in 

 "The Progressive Grocer" as follows: 



"Can't be done." sighed the young 

 business man. "tried everything. He 

 just won't pay 'till he gets ready and 

 the more methods you try, the harder 

 he resists." 



"Tried the psychological method?" 

 inquired the Senior Partner. 



"The which? What sort of a bill col- 

 lecting scheme is that?" 



"Making him use his imagination," 

 was the answer. "I have used it more 

 than once. I had a chap on my books 

 once who had owed me $42 for six 

 months. He was perfectly able to pay 

 it. He wasn't a dead beat. I didn't 

 want to sue for any such amount — 

 probably I would have spent twice 

 the amount getting it. Collectors 

 couldn't get to him. He didn't answer 

 letters. Telephone calls were cut 

 short in the middle. 



"So 1 sent him a bill — plain bill, in 

 an ordinary envelope. Two days later 

 I sent him another bill, in a plain en- 

 veloi.e. Two days later I sent him a 

 bill, special delivery. Two days later 

 I sent him a bill by registered mail. 

 He had to sign for the latter, of 

 course. In other words. I made him 

 know that I knew he had received the 

 bills. Just that and nothing more. 



"The next day he paid it. I hadn't 

 threatened a thing. In fact I had 

 nothing with which to threaten him. 

 And I don't know to this day what his 

 imagination suggested was going to 

 happen next. But his course of reason- 

 ing was to the effect that if I had 

 taken all that trouble to make sure 

 that he received the bill, and to have 

 unquestionable evidence that he re- 

 ceived it. I was evidently going to 

 take action of some kind. Whether 

 he expected me to sue him with a • 

 lawyer or hold him up with a gun I 

 don't know. Whatever it was he im- 

 agined, it was effective. Maybe he 

 couldn't figure out anything and 

 thought he'd rather pay the bill than 

 face the unknown. Try it!" 



HERE IS A NEW ONE 

 At a recent convention a speaker 

 told the following: A certain seed 

 dealer who was a very slow payer 

 sold all the garden cultivators he had 

 in stock so sent his jobber an order 

 for another shipment. The jobber 



Keep them Coming 



We don't care whether you grow Roses, Carnations, or Sweet 

 Peas, but we do know that the fellow who has Lillies this Spring 

 is going to top the market for prices. Plant all the bulbs you 

 can buy. Don't ask why but do it! 



We have Lilium Giganteum, Cold Storage and New Crop now. 

 Write for Prices. 



CHICAGO VAUGHAN'S SEED STORE newyork 



FARQUHAR'S UNIVERSAL MIGNONEUE 



This Mignonette is considered to be one of the finest for the greenhouse, 

 and has received many Awards where exhibited. 



It produces enormous sweetly scented spikes of reddish-green flowers, 

 which are greatly in demand for cutting. 



1-4 oz., $4.00; 1-8 oz., $2.00; 1-16 oz., $1.00 



R. & J. Farquhar Company, Boston, Mass. 



EVERYTHING IN CUTTINGS AND 

 'SM.ALI. POT PLANTS 



ftlAGIC HOSE SEEDS AND BUI.BS 



Nice FUME 



ROMAN J. IRWIN 



l.MrORTEK 

 43 West 18th Street NEW TORK 



W. E. MARSHALL & CO. 



SEEDS, PLANTS AND BULBS 

 Horticultural Sundries 



SEEDS, BULBS. PLANTS 



JOSEPH BRECK & SONS, CORP. 



47-54 North Market Street 

 BOSTON, UASS. 



166 W. 23rd St,. NEW YORK 



STUMPP & WALTER CO. 



Seeds and Bulbs 



30-32 Barclay Street 

 NEW YORK CITY 



wrote back saying. "Can't ship culti- 

 vators until you pay for last lot." 

 The dealer then wrote his dealer, 

 "Cancel order, can't wait that long." 

 — American Seedsman. 



NEW FLOWER FOUND 



According to a newspaper clipping, 

 .Miss Dorothy Raymond, of Gowanda, 

 X. Y., has discovered a flower never 

 before found in America, but being 



native to France, Australia and Switz- 

 erland. The Cornell leaflet, it is under- 

 stood, will soon be issued giving a 

 description and illustration of the 

 flower. It is probable that seeds of 

 the flower were brought to this coun- 

 try on hides shipped to the glue fac- 

 tory at Gowanda. These hides were 

 spread out to dry in an adjacent field, 

 and it was not difficult to believe that 

 the seeds were given their start In 

 this way. 



