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16 



The Florists' Review 



July 20, 1922 





Class of 1922, Davcy Institute of Tree Surgery. Thorough scientific education, plus 

 /practical skill trained into them, makes these young athletes master Tree Surgeons 



A Million Dollar Business 



Saving Trees 



in 



By Martin L. Davey, General Manager 



Ti 



I HE business of The Davey Tree Ex- 

 'pert Company is now running at 

 the rate of one million dollars for 

 1922. It has taken more than twenty 

 years of steady building to reach this 

 volume. The Davey Company sells noth- 

 ing but service — the service of carefully 

 selected, highly trained, scientiflcally 

 educated Tree Surgeons, who save trees 

 without guessing or experiment, when 

 they can be saved. This service is 

 available almost everywhere in the east- 

 ern half of the United States. Nearly 

 fifteen thousand clients have been served 

 up to this time, many of them regularly. 

 I^ieut. Colonel Frank K. Hyatt, treas- 

 urer of the Pennsylvania Military Acad- 

 emy, in a letter written to The Davey 

 Tree Expert Company, December 2, 1921, 

 said: 



"Three of your men are performing 

 tree surgery at the college and while 

 I had only engaged them for two 

 days, their work was of such char- 

 acter that I was compelled to hold 

 them longer. In fact, they will 

 probably be with us four or five 

 days. 



"They seem to have thorough knowl- 

 edge of their work and the fore- 

 man in charge is a very unusual 

 man. It ^ives me pleasure to con- 

 gratulate you on the character of 

 work which your employees are 

 doing." 



This letter is typical of many hundreds 

 of voluntary letters of commendation re- 

 ceived by the Davey Company from its 

 clients. They come regularly from every 

 section served by Davey Tree Surgeons. 

 It IS significant that nearly every letter 

 emphasizes the high-type men, their ap- 

 parent skill and ability to do their work 

 with accuracy and thoroughness and 

 speed, but more particularly the fact 

 that tliey are diligent and zealous 

 workers. 



The evolution of Davey Tree Surgerj' 



compared to the automobile 



I do not presume to say that every last 

 client is 100% satisfied. That would be 

 too much to expect from a human or- 

 ganization. But more than 95% of the 

 clients are fully pleased with both the 

 work and the service. Nor would I claim 

 that the I^ave.v organization has always 

 been as good as it is toda.v, nor that the 

 methods employed have always been as 

 remarkably good and successful as they 

 are now. 



Davey Tree Surgery has been before 

 the public nearly as long as the auto- 

 mobile, and its development has been al- 

 most parallel. You will easily recall the 

 automobile of fifteen or twenty years 

 ago. You recall how often it broke 

 down, how many times it was laid up by 

 the roadside? You remember its imper- 

 fect mechanism, its poor lighting, the 

 hard job of cranking? Well, the funda- 

 ?n"SJital principles of the automobile were 



the same then as now. The wonderful 

 advance has been made in the refine- 

 ments and the mechanical improve- 

 ments. Then • think of the really mar- 

 velous piece of machinery that you buy 

 in the modern automobile! 



Just so with Davey Tree Surgery. The 

 fundamental principles were the same 

 fifteen or twenty years ago as today. 

 It was then relatively crude and Imper- 

 fect. But honest effort and a determined 

 purpose have produced refinements and 

 mechanical improvements and scientific 

 accuracy that are both marvelous and 

 inspiring. 



Only two or three men out of a hundred 



applicants are finally accepted 



However, it is the human element of the 

 Davey organization that I wish to de- 

 scribe. The high-type men, their surpris- 

 ing efficiency, their zeal and skill and 

 knowledge are the result of something 

 back behind. That something is a policy 

 that could produce no other result. 



From time to time we need additional 

 men. We run advertisements in the 

 cities witliin a reasonable distance of 

 our headquarters, giving our specifica- 

 tions. Many replies are received. An in- 

 formation blank is sent to each ap- 

 l)licant, in which he must give his life 

 history. If a hundred information 

 blanks are returned, our experience has 

 shown that not more than fifty seem to 

 meet our requirements. The others are 

 cast aside. 



We then send our representatives to 

 these cities and notify the fifty to report 

 at a certain hotel for personal inter- 

 views. Out of the fifty men thus inter- 

 viewed, we select not more than five who 

 seem to be the right kind. 



A regular training field where practical 



training is given to every man 



These five are brought in to Kent (Ohio) 

 for jiractical training, where we main- 

 tain a regular training field. These five 

 are put through a thorough course of 

 practical training for several weeks, at 

 the end of which we select not more 

 than two or three as qualified and made 

 of the right stuft'. 



Thus, out of an original hundred 

 definite applicants, we get not more than 

 two or three. The process of selection, 

 though it is severe, works wonders and 

 fAives us unusual men for the very im- 

 portant work which we do. 



Those who finally pass are sent out 

 into the field, always under the direc- 

 tion of master Tree Surgeons. They sim- 

 ply grow into the work and acquire al- 

 most intuitive skill. 



A chief expert travels regularly from 

 squad to squad 



Then, we have a chief expert who spends 

 all of his time traveling from squad to 



squad to check up on all the details of 

 the work and the merit of each Individ- 

 ual — to see that our high standard is 

 consistently maintained. Occasionally 

 he tells us that a certain man is not our 

 kind and should not be in the Davey 

 organization. That man is promptly di.s- 

 mlssed. Very often he tells us that cer- 

 tain men are doing especially fine work 

 and recommends advancement. Such 

 men are promptly advanced. 



So the really good men remain with 

 us — and they like their jobs mighty well. 

 Naturally enough, they give superior 

 service. 



Constant supervision by local 



representatives 



In addition to this, a number of squads 

 are under the contstant supervision of 

 each local representative, of whom we 

 have nearly thirty whose highest self- 

 interest requires watchful care of the 

 interests of each client, to see that he 

 gets the maximum service. 



More than this, we require perioflic 

 reports on every man in our field force. 

 Our local representatives give detailed 

 monthly reports on the foremen under 

 their supervision. Each foreman gives a 

 monthly report in great detail concern- 

 ing each man in his squad. Every bit of 

 information from every source about 

 each individual goes into his personal 

 service record. And every one knows 

 that his service record is complete and 

 strives to keep it good. 



The only place in the world where the 



science of Tree Surgery is taught 



When a man in the field force has 

 reached a proper state of development, 

 he is brought into Kent to attend our 

 resident school. This course covers two 

 years — four months each year. We main- 

 tain a regular school with complete li- 

 brary and laboratory equipment and a 

 corps of instructors with fine scientific 

 training from various colleges and uni- 

 versities, plus special training In the 

 Davey organization. There Is no other 

 school in the world that teaches Tree 

 Surgery, so we maintain the Davey In- 

 stitute of Tree Surgery as a matter of 

 practical necessity. In this school we 

 teach only those things required to make 

 real Tree Surgeons — nothing superfluous 

 or unnecessary. The course includes 

 Botany and Dendrology, Pathology and 

 ?3ntomology. Soils and the Feeding of 

 Trees, Spraying and Fruit-growing, and 

 above all the Theory and Practice of 

 Tree Surgery. 



Every man in the Davey organization is 



a trained man — Davey trained 



When a man has been with us long 

 enough, has had the necessary amount 

 of complete training, and has demon- 



