SHIPPING TAGS, STATIONERY, LABELS 89 



establishment, is the use of a neatly printed letter-head and bill- 

 head in all business transactions. On farms of any size there is 

 quite a little correspondence, inquiries are received, asking for 

 prices on stock, eggs and so on, and if these are answered in a 

 poor handwriting on scraps of paper, or if bills are rendered in 

 some obscure, back-woods style, they are sure to create a very 

 unfavorable impression. It is unfortunate, perhaps, but we are 

 frequently judged by these apparently trivial details. 



Mail. — It should be a hard and fast rule, that all mail be 

 answered promptly, preferably the same day it is received, and 

 it should be answered courteously and fully, paying the same at- 

 tention to a small order as to a large one. The person who writes 

 for a setting of eggs to-day, or this season, may be in the market 

 for a thousand eggs next month or next year. If bills are paid, 

 or money is received on deposit, it must be acknowledged, with 

 thanks, immediately. Indifference to these matters has a far- 

 reaching effect. Business men are accustomed to extending and 

 receiving certain formalities, and they expect them; it is a part 

 of our great commercialism. 



Printing is so cheap these days, there is seldom any excuse for 

 a farm being without printed stationery, which should include a 

 letter-head, bill-head, envelopes, shipping tags and labels, if such 

 are used in place of tags, as, for example, on egg cases. There is 

 usually a printer in every town of any size, who will get up some 

 ideas at a small cost; or, stationery may be obtained through 

 mail order houses, such as the publishers of agricultural journals 

 and weekly papers. Aim to have the printing as attractive as 

 possible, on fairly good quality paper, and to include the name of 

 the farm, its location, its products, any of its most salient fea- 

 tures, and wherever possible a trade-mark. Do not use anti- 

 quated wood cuts, meaningless ornaments, poor half-tone re- 

 productions of the owner, or his house, or one of the hackneyed, 

 conventional electrotypes of a trio of fowls; people are not in- 

 terested in such things, because they convey absolutely no mark 

 of originality or distinction. 



Trade-Mark. — ^Try to think up an original idea for a trade- 



