June, 1911 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



303 



with each bulletin would be sent a postal 

 card addressed to Pleasant View Farm to 

 facilitate the mailing of orders. 



When, after several weeks, by sending 

 out these bulletins, we had succeeded 

 to a certain extent in directing trade our 

 way, then a public announcement was 

 inserted in the local newspaper, in a con- 

 spicuous place in the column devoted to 

 Local Items, worded somewhat as follows: 



Pleasant View Farm. — During the coming 

 season we shall be prepared to furnish vegetables 

 poultry, small fruits, berries, and cream. Prompt 

 attention to inquiries and orders, and best of 

 service. 



Local telephone. 



It was intended by this newspaper "ad" 

 to reach all those who had not received 

 the bulletins. In addition to this adver- 

 tising, wherever it was possible, personal 

 interviews would be had with persons 

 who would be desirable customers. 



Now we were confident the field had been 

 pretty well canvassed. Much valuable 

 time and effort which otherwise would 

 have been expended in peddling and per- 

 sonally soliciting orders could be devoted 

 to the garden. Orders would come in 

 by telephone and mail, and the delivery 

 clerk could receive them on his rounds, for 

 he was provided with a bulletin. 



In preparation for getting out orders 

 as expeditiously and attractively as pos- 

 sible, the sugar house was converted into 

 a work room, and an old kitchen stove 

 was there set up. Rough tables were made 

 of boards, for sorting the vegetables and 

 dressing the poultry. A supply of paraf- 

 fine paper and good quality of wrapping 

 paper was ordered. To avoid any waste 

 of produce or of time and effort in gather- 

 ing it, a Distribution Sheet was devised 

 for listing the orders and classifying the 

 various items they contained. As soon as 

 received the names would be entered on 

 this sheet and the items distributed by 

 quantities in the different columns ar- 

 ranged to show the total required of each 

 kind of vegetable, poultry, and other 

 articles. On the morning of a delivery day, 

 after entering items from early orders, 

 received in the first mail or by telephone, 

 the columns were footed up. Thus it was 

 known just what quantities to gather of 

 each kind of vegetable, and the number 

 of chickens to be killed and dressed. (For 

 most of the poultry ordered was broilers, 

 and these would be killed the day of de- 



livery, to be used by the customer the 

 following day). By this use of the Dis- 

 tribution Sheet, the work of gathering 

 the produce was intelligently directed, 

 no more was gathered than orders called 

 for, and consequently there was no surplus 

 of dried-up and useless vegetables to be 

 thrown away at night as we learned had 

 been the case where a wagon load of truck 

 was sent out by a predecessor to be peddled 

 off. Moreover, the sales would have been 

 no greater by sending out a peddler's 

 wagon, for all whom we desired to sell 

 were notified well in advance of every- 

 thing we had to offer, so that every one 

 had abundant opportunity to order what 

 was required by telephone, by mail, or 

 through the delivery clerk. As it might be 

 necessary to change the delivery route 

 frequently, because of some "rush" orders, 

 the route for each day was indicated on 

 the Distribution Sheet. (See below). 



The next care was the work of actually 

 getting out the orders. Early in the morn- 

 ing on a delivery day, the fire had been 

 started in the stove in the sugar house, and 

 three or four pails of water were put on 

 to boil. A hose from a tap in the garden 

 kept several pails full of cold water for 

 washing the vegetables. As the latter were 

 brought in fresh from the garden they 

 would be thoroughly cleaned in water and 

 set aside on a general supply table. Then 

 the chickens, killed by cutting off the heads, 

 were deposited in a basket near the stove. 

 Two men, sometimes more, would work 

 together on the poultry. As each fowl 

 was taken from the basket it was dipped 

 into a pail of boiling water, to render 

 plucking easier. After immersion, the 

 fowls were plucked clean, and then turned 

 over to another man to be dressed. The 

 latter would deposit the dressed fowls in 

 a tub of clean water, to be washed later 

 and have all pin feathers removed. 



The vegetables all cleaned and the fowls 

 washed, the stock was ready from which 

 to fill orders. With the Distribution 

 Sheet posted up above the general supply 

 table little time was consumed in pre- 

 paring the produce for delivery. The 

 vegetables on each order were carefully 

 wrapped in white manilla paper and tied, 

 each kind in a separate package, and the 

 package marked with name and set over 

 on the delivery shelves. After decorating 

 each fowl with a piece of parsley, it was 

 wrapped first in paraffine paper, then 



DISTRIBUTION SHEET 



in manilla wrapping paper, and set on the 

 delivery shelves. When all the orders 

 were complete and had been checked off 

 on the sheet, the wagon, standing outside 

 in readiness, was loaded in accordance 

 with the delivery route for the day, as 

 indicated on the Distribution Sheet. The 

 packages were arranged in the order of the 

 calls, those to be delivered first being in 

 the rear, where easily accessible. 



From the Distribution Sheet charges 

 were made in the Sales Book, for with few 

 exceptions all produce sold was charged, 

 both for our own convenience and that of 

 our customers. Our trade was select, 

 and it would have been an annoyance to 

 collect for each order. During spare 

 time the Sales Book was posted, and bills 

 detailing every purchase for the month 

 and showing total amount due were ready 

 to be mailed the evening of the last day 

 of the month. Before the tenth of the 

 following month settlements of most open 

 accounts had been received. Our books, 

 of course, were kept by double entry, and 

 monthly trial balances assured us of the 

 correctness of our work and enabled us to 

 keep track of the general run of business. 



The entire procedure of handling the 

 trade and preparing the orders has been 

 described in detail, because it was owing 

 to the methods employed that we were 

 able to work up the trade in a short time 

 and give perfect satisfaction. Everything 

 reasonable was done for the convenience 

 of customers. The neat, even attractive 

 way of doing up the orders appealed at 

 once to cooks and housekeepers. Of this 

 we had a striking illustration when a 

 horrified housekeeper described how six 

 broilers had been delivered on a "hurry" 

 order by one of our competitors, wrapped 

 all together in a newspaper, contrasting 

 this with the attractively dressed fowls 

 received from Pleasant View Farm. 



The methods in use at Pleasant View 

 Farm became an object lesson to neighbors 

 when they found that cityites had stepped 

 in and secured the cream of the trade in 

 one season. Yet nothing underhanded was 

 done. Simple business methods were 

 employed and the constant effort was to 

 please the buyer. Under conditions exist- 

 ing, competition was overcome, not by, 

 intimidation, deception, or combination,] 

 but by producing a first-class article and' 

 gaining the good- will of customers by fair 

 treatment and enterprise. 



Sept. 6, ig — 





NAME 



VEGETABLES 



POULTRY 



JELLIES, ETC. 



MISCELLANEOUS 



ch'k 



TOMA- 

 TOES 



i pk. 

 2 pks. 



CELERY 



BEETS 



CAB- 

 BAGE 



PEPPERS 



CORN 



LETTUCE 



BROILERS 



ST . CHKNS. 



TURKEY 

 POULTS 



BLACK B. 



RED 

 RASP- 



ST.PRES. 



CREAM 



EGGS 



APPLES 



J 



si 



i 



Chidwick, W. B. 9 -7. Tel. 

 Smith, K. 9-8. Mail 

 Jones, L. 9-9. Tel. 

 Allwind, S. 9-7. Mail 

 Cotwick, M. 9-9. Mail 

 Bulyon, J. 9-8. Tel. 

 Candelo, W. 9-9. Tel. 

 Jelletoe, T. 9-7. Mail 

 Barnwold, A. 9-7. Tel. 



2 b. 



3 b. 



1 b. 



2 b. 



2 b. 



3 b. 



I 

 2 



4 



6 



12 

 6 

 3 



2 doz. 

 3doz. 

 1 doz. 



1 doz. 



2 doz. 



2 h. 



3 b. 



4 h. 



3 h. 



2 small 



4 large 

 4 large 



4 small 



2 small 



I 



I 

 I 



I 

 2 



4 



I 

 2 

 2 



2 



2 



4 

 3 



I P t. 



iqt. 



iqt. 



1 qt. 



i doz. 

 2 doz. 



1 doz. 



2 pks. 

 i pk. 



Route: Pine Cottage Colony, "The Oaks," " Briarwild." Wolf Pond Rd., Main St., Postoffice, Home. 

 This Distribution Sheet was the keynote of the system. Only such quantities being gathered as were actually called for in advance. This meant economy of 



both labor and material 



