1889 



GLEANINGS IN ttEE CULTURE. 



227 



them disturbed, stood the cold snap without 

 any apparent injury. I am rather inclined 

 to think that there are extremes both ways ; 

 but I believe a good nice dry worker comb 

 is about as good protection as any sort of di- 

 vision-board. Perhaps you begin to think 

 that I do not have any very decided ideas in 

 regard to contraction, and I do not know 

 but that you are about right. 



HOW TO MAKE OUT AN ORDER FOR 

 GARDEN SEEDS, ETC. 



ALSO SOMETHING ABOUT DOING BUSINESS IN SUCH 

 A WAY THAT IT WILL ADVERTISE ITSELF. 



T"\ VERY season it makes me feel sad to 



L| see the amount of paper and the 



Wj amount of work that not only our cus- 



■^ tomers but our clerks here in the office 



often use to make an order, or 



make out a bill for a few cents' worth of 



garden seeds. Now, please have a little 



faith in Uncle Amos, and let him convince 



you that he knows best. First suppose you 



want 9 papers of garden seeds. Almost all 



of you would commence : 



One paper of Select Very Early Jersey Wakefield 

 cabbage seed 5 ets. 



The next item would be in the same way, 

 and so on for the whole nine. Some of the 

 friends who are in a hurry, sometimes, in- 

 stead of " one paper, 1 ' nine times, use ditto 

 marks. When you get to the 9th figure 5, 

 one above the other, I suppose that many 

 of you go to work and " add up " the 5's. 



Now, friends, you are wasting paper 

 and time fearfully ; yes, and you are wast- 

 ing money besides, because many of you 

 forget that 10 packages of seed are fur- 

 nished at 4 cents each, so our clerks will 

 probably charge you more for 9 packages than 

 they would for 10. Now, then, let me tell 

 how I would do. Thus : 



Please mail me garden seeds as follows: One pa- 

 per each— Wakefield cabbage, Eclipse beet, Forcing 

 carrot, Snowball cauliflower. Self-blanching celery, 

 Pepper-grass, Grand Rapids lettuce, Banana melon. 

 Silver King onion, Alaska peas, 10 papers at 4 cts., 

 40 cts. 



You will notice in the above, that, instead 

 of giving the long name of the article as 

 given in the seed catalogues, I have given 

 only just enough so there can be no mistake. 

 "Wakefield cabbage " tells what you want 

 just exactly as well as if you wrote out " Se- 

 lect Very Early Jersey Wakefield cabbage.' 1 



Now, where you order simply five-cent 

 packages the matter is very easy, you see ; 

 but suppose you have discovered that it is a 

 great deal cheaper to buy seeds by the ounce 

 than to get it in five-cent packages— how 

 then shall we do? The objections to saying 

 " one ounce each of the following seeds '' 

 would be, that they are not all the same price. 

 An ounce of one may be 10 cts., and another 

 may be only 5 cts., and still another may be 

 25 cts., and so on. Well, this makes the 

 matter a little more complicated, but it can 

 be arranged so as to economize space almost 

 as well as the other packages. 1 learned it 

 in the jewelry business. The traveling run- 

 ners whose bread and butter depended on 

 speed and expedition would make a correct 

 invoice of 100 or more items on a small piece 



of paper, and they would do it in a very few 

 minutes in the way I am going to show you. 

 Now then : Suppose you are buying ounces 

 as follows. Start your letter this way : 



Mail me one ounce each of the following seeds: 



5 10 



Eclipse beet, Winnings tadt cabbage, ft 15 



50 25 



Self-blanching celery, Kawson's cucumber, 75 



:!5 15 



Grand Rapids lettuce, Danvers onion, 50 



5 5 10 



Parsley, Early Globe radish, Lady-finger radish, rid 



25 



Mikado tomato. ~5 



#1.85 



Of course, half-pints, pints, and quarts 

 and pecks, can be run together in the same 

 way ; also quarter-pounds and pounds. If 

 you want to make your order neatly, 1 

 would take a catalogue and go through with 

 a pencil, marking the amount you propose 

 to order, on the margin, all the way from as- 

 paragus to turnip. When you have decided 

 on every thing you want from a certain cat- 

 alogue, then collect the 5c papers first. If 

 there are only 9, you had better make it one 

 more so as to get the 10 rate. After you 

 have collected the papers, then collect the 

 ounces. These two items alone will save a 

 deal of time and paper ; and instead of a 

 long lot of additions, you will have simply a 

 matter of multiplication. Do you ask how 

 it is when you want two ounces or three 

 ounces? Well, for two ounces you can 

 make a separate item. For instance, " 2 

 ounces Palmetto asparagus, at 10 cts. per 

 ounce, 20 cts.;' 1 but when it comes to 3 

 ounces, by all means order i of a pound. If 

 you will just look at it you will notice that 

 in most seed catalogues 3 oz. will cost you as 

 much, and oftentimes more, than I pound. 

 In fact, I am pained a great many times to 

 see our clerks charge a customer more for 3 

 ounces of seeds than they would if the order 

 had read i pound. When I remonstrate, 

 they reply, " Why, he wanted only 3 ounces 

 of seeds, and he sent the exact price accord- 

 ing to the catalogue." Now, I do not like 

 that sort of logic at all. I never saw any- 

 body yet who would complain because you 

 sent him more seeds than he asked for ; and 

 when a man sends money enough to pay for 

 i pound of parsnip seed, he should have i 

 pound, even if his order does read 2 ounces. 

 You will notice by the catalogue that pars- 

 nip seed is 5 cts. an ounce, or 40 cts. a 

 pound ; and you will notice, also, on the 

 first page, that we sell Hb. or i peck at peck 

 rates ; 2 ounces cost 10 cts. - , i lb. costs 10 

 cts. Some of the friends still urge, that, 

 when you give a man just what he asks for, 

 that that is enough. My friends, if you 

 want to build up a business, or if you want 

 to glorify the Master, make it your business 

 to give your patrons more than they ask for 

 whenever such a chance offers. Why, it is 

 just fun for me to give a man i pound of 

 seed when he sent for and expected only 2 

 ounces ; and I should not wonder a bit if 

 our present large business has been built up 

 a good deal in just that way. The great 

 world at large has had ample experience in 

 sending away their money and getting less 

 than the printed advertisements promised, 



