222 



GLEA^I^dS i:< iJEE CULTUllE. 



Mar. 



year in and year out. Nothing helps a man 

 like sticking to his calling, as if he meant 

 everybofly to understand he meant it to be a 

 life purpose with him. Meet your custom- 

 ers regularly, if possible, and in regular 

 order. When the weather is suitable, a light 

 wheelbarrow will be quite a help. Get up 

 with the sun ; work every hour in the day ; 

 and when you can not see to work outdoors, 

 read the various periodicals devoted to your 

 line of industry. Study books on gardening, 

 which are now to be had by the score. 



Pay as you go, and encourage your cus- 

 tomers by every possible means in paying 

 cash down. Always keep change in your 

 pockets — enough to make change rapidly. 



A great many people waste time and make 

 blunders because they do not use the estab- 

 lished plans of doing business. As an illus- 

 tration : Suppose somebody takes a bunch 

 of radishes and a bunch of lettuce, and gives 

 you a half-dollar. Lay down the vegetables 

 with one hand while you scoop the change 

 from your pocket with the other hand. 

 Then count this way: Lay the goods in the 

 pan or on the table, or such place as is most 

 convenient, counting as you drop them, " 10 

 cts." Then take a dime from your handful 

 of change and lay that beside them and call 

 it " 20 cts." N"ow put in a nickel, and say 

 "25 cts.;" then put in a quarter, and say 

 " 50 cts.," counting out loud. You have the 

 lady's half-dollar, and she has licr Zi) cts. 

 in goods and change on the table or in the 

 pan. You see, there is no subtracting by 

 this method— it is just addition. She gave 

 you a half-dollar, and you gave her half a 

 dollar back, the vegetables making 10 cts. of 

 her half-dollar. Make change this way all 

 along, count out loud, then tell your cus- 

 tomer to please see if it is right. Make 

 everybody you deal with count after you, 

 and express themselves satisfied ; if you 

 don't, you will have misunderstandings, 

 contradictions, delays, and perplexities. Tlie 

 time-clerk in our establishment, when she 

 pays the hands Saturday afternoon, has 

 positive instructions to insist that every 

 man count his money. Sometimes they 

 grab it and push it in their pockets, all 

 wadded up. She tells them her instructions 

 are that every hand must count the money, 

 and see if it is right. Two or three times 

 they have neglected my instructions. For 

 instance, a young man who had been recent- 

 ly employed, came to me saying that the 

 time-clerk gave him a dollar too little, and 



To he continued 



that she refused to make it good. She de- 

 clared she gave him the dollar, and he 

 counted it, and he said it was all right. lie 

 admitted this, but said he made a mistake 

 when he counted the first time. After ar- 

 guing the matter some, I directed that the 

 dollar should be given him, to keep peace in 

 the family. How do you suppose it turned 

 out? When the room where he worked was 

 swept out, the paper dollar was found in the 

 shavings. The time occupied by the con- 

 troversy and by different hands stopping to 

 listen to the argument, and to hear each 

 one's story about it, cost me, perhaps, some- 

 thing near the amount in question. The 

 time-clerk was an old hand at the business, 

 and was right. And it will generally be 

 found so. The one who is familiar with his 

 routine of business is not so apt to make 

 mistakes as one who does not handle money 

 very often. The largest amount of work 

 can be accomplished in a day if you can do 

 it so surely and accurately that you won't 

 be hindered by accidents and misunder- 

 standings. Have your wits all about you, 

 and do every thing as if your life depended 

 upon being accurate and quick. If you are 

 a sleepy individual— one who is in the habit 

 of sitting down in the sunshine, and yawn- 

 ing, and telling stories, and gossiping in the 

 middle of the day, I can not help you. Yon 

 win probably be poor all the days of your 

 life, and unhappy besides. Why, it some- 

 times seems to me awful to see great stout 

 men sitting still, or lounging around with 

 their hands in their pockets, during these 

 bright spring days. 



Now, then, take a low seat and work hard 

 till your fellow-men bid you sit up higher. 

 Astonish your customers by the beautiful 

 heads of lettuce— by strong thrifty plants of 

 celery and cabbage— so strong that almost 

 anybody can see that each one is sure for a 

 crop, and have some great thrifty handsome 

 tomato-plants ready just at the time when 

 everybody Avlll be wanting them. A good 

 strong plant, well rooted, ought to be worth 

 a nickel, giving your customers a pot to 

 carry it in. The same general rules will ap- 

 ply to every thing you raise on your ground ; 

 and when you become an expert in produc- 

 ing nice plants in email beds, you can ex- 

 tend the same process to acres, working 

 slowly and carefully, and increasing your 

 area only so fast as you can do it and do 

 your work well, according to the spirit of 

 the text at the head of this chapter. 



April 15, 18S6. 



