November, 1905 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



159 



STRIKES, DELAYS, AND COMPLAINTS 



"T^HE last few weeks have brought hun- 

 -*- dreds of complaints because of the non- 

 receipt of magazines. There have been sev- 

 eral reasons for this: During September the 

 drivers of the New York mail wagons went 

 out on strike, and for several weeks magazines 

 were delayed. For instance, the mail of a 

 certain Friday, Saturday and Monday (to 

 complete which the bindery worked nights) 

 was still in the city on Monday night, there 

 being no wagons to haul the magazines to 

 the trains. Many publishers offered to 

 deliver the mail direct to the trains, but the 

 red tape of the Postofhce Department, based 

 on the laws of many years, does not per- 

 mit this, the result being that hundreds of 

 subscribers complained that their magazines 

 were not sent promptly or not sent at all, the 

 proof offered being that the October issues 

 of our magazines were on sale at the news- 

 stands. We wish to say now that all sub- 

 scribers' copies are sent from our office to 

 reach the subscriber at the date when pub- 

 lication is made through the newsstands. 



ON JANUARY I, 1906 



we are looking forward to a possible strike, and 

 we may then have to ask our advertisers and 

 readers to bear with us. The Typographical 

 Union, which controls the typesetting of most 

 offices in New York, has made certain de- 

 mands which the employers' union — in this 

 case " The Typothetas " — are unwilling to ac- 

 cede to. This may affect our February num- 

 bers, and we speak of the matter thus far in 

 advance so that our readers may know that 

 everything is being done that can be done to 

 prepare for the great misfortune of a strike, 

 if it should come, and that they shall be put 

 to no more inconvenience than is absolutely 

 necessary. 



ERRORS ABOUT 2 PER CENT. OF COMPLAINTS 



For some years we have been carefully 

 building up a Complaint Department, where 

 all difficulties in connection with any sort of 

 complaint are carefully attended to. Of the 

 total letters of complaint received we have 

 now worked down the average error on our 

 part to be about 2 per cent, of the whole, and 

 we are hoping to very much reduce this per- 

 centage. What often appears to be bad 

 management or carelessness is sometimes the 



" To business that we love we rise betime 



[ And go to 't with delight." — Antony and Cleopatra. 



result of causes entirely beyond our control. 

 For instance, every Christmas we replace 

 hundreds of numbers taken by the janitors of 

 apartments, the Christmas issue being the 

 number most admired by certain classes of 

 people who borrow from the mail without 

 notification to the addressee. The burden 

 of our song is this: If anything does not go 

 right in our dealings together let us know the 

 fault fully after you have allowed a few days 

 of grace for the delays in mail, for a great 

 many of our troubles are smoothed out by 

 letters which cross each other. We cannot 

 promise to make no mistakes, but we can and 

 do promise courteous and prompt attention to 

 anv dissatisfaction brought to our attention. 



r- 



Country Life 

 in America 



Cover for November — from a photograph 

 A $4 MAGAZINE LOR $3 



Beginning in February, the price of Coun- 

 try Life in America will be raised to $4 a year; 

 at the same time the magazine will be en- 

 larged and improved. Orders may be sent 

 now at the rate of $3 a year or $6 for two 

 years. The price of single numbers will be 

 35 cents, except the double numbers, which 

 will be 50 cents as before. 



A "GARDEN MAGAZINE" GOLD MEDAL 



This magazine is going to give itself the 

 pleasure of presenting a gold medal now and 

 then to a person who accomplishes some- 

 thing of interest or value to horticulturists. 

 Messrs. Tiffany & Company are preparing 

 such a medal, which we shall send to Mr. 

 Thomas Murray, of Tuxedo Park, N. Y. 

 who has succeeded in growing the fringed 

 gentian from seed. This is a notable and 

 most delightful achievement. A full account 

 of its successful working out will appear in 

 the Christmas number of The Garden 

 Magazine. At the holiday season the gar- 

 den is supposed to be dead and perhaps for- 

 gotten, but the editor in this Christmas 

 issue does not accept this view. Here are 

 some of the articles which will help to 

 make the Christmas number notable: 



House Plants fcr Christmas. 



A Heme Planted for Winter. 



Gardening Books for Christmas Presents. 



The Secret of the Fringed Gentian Solved. 



Raising Hardy Chrysanthemums from Seed. 



Wonderful Californian Flowers. 



Saving Specimen Trees from the Woods. 



An Amateur's Cactus Garden. 



Redeeming a City Back Yard. 



and a great many short articles on notable 

 achievements in gardening. 



THE SUBSCRIPTION SEASON 



The Garden Magazine has never had the 

 good fortune to have seen what we call the 

 "Subscription Season," namely the months 

 of November, December and January, having 

 only been started in February, 1905. Our 

 readers can help us to make the next four 

 months a season of rare achievement by doing 

 one or all of the following things: 



1. Recommend the magazine to friends who are interested 



in the subjects treated in The Garden Magazine. 



2. Give subscriptions for Christmas presents. 



3. Become an authorized agent to receive and forward 



subscriptions. 



The price, $1 a year, includes two double 

 25-cent numbers — the two planting issues, 

 fall and spring. 



FALL BOOKS 



We call special attention to the list of fall 

 books on page 189 of the magazine. There 

 are several very important and beautiful vol- 

 umes announced which will particularly in- 

 terest the readers of this magazine. 



