146 THE AFTER TREATMENT OF NURSERY STOCK 



to investigate a number of companies before placing their 

 order. Many college man are going into the fruit business 

 and as a rule they are quite certain of just what they 

 want. Nursery companies are well aware of these condi- 

 tions and utilize their best efforts to get out catalogs 

 that are true and accurate and will convey the information 

 that the buyer wants. There are still many catalogs 

 issued that are gaudy imitations of the real thing but few 

 buyers are fooled by them. 



A good catalog is well illustrated by photographs: 

 they deceive less than the pen drawings. The descrip- 

 tions are ample, often more so than necessary. Methods of 

 propagation and the various tools used are often depicted 

 which increases the interest and knowledge of the reader. 

 Great mysteries and secret processes are no longer included. 

 Companies realize that the catalogs represent them as 

 their salesmen and in order to continue in business the goods 

 that are delivered must be an exact duplication of the de- 

 scriptions in the books. Good catalogs are expensive 

 and it is not uncommon to invest from twenty to forty 

 thousand dollars annually in their publication. 



The prospective buyer who places his order from the 

 study of catalogs, likes to have those from a dozen or more 

 different companies to select from. He reads over care- 

 fully what each one has to say, draws his own conclusions 

 and makes his own selections. Often his opinions are the 

 result of his own experiments or inferences may be drawn 

 from the study of government or state bulletins. In any 

 case his judgment is apt to be quite correct and nursery- 

 men like to cater to his opinions. 



