S30 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



Mat, 1914 



II-THE-TALK'0F-THE-0FFICE1 



li s U zzzzziz: j a r ^= a 



ABOUT COMPLAINTS 



A publishing house like ours has to do with 

 several thousands transactions a day and there 

 are three main chances for mistakes. To begin 

 with (if you will excuse us for saying so) on the 

 part of the customer. For instance, we get 

 money constantly in plain envelopes with no 

 means of identification, not a word of writing, 

 and in other ways our friends make mistakes 

 which appear to be ours; then, secondly, we 

 have plenty of opportunities to make mistakes 

 ourselves when we actually get the business in 

 hand; and thirdly, after the magazines or 

 books leave our hands a great number of errors 

 may be committed by the express companies, 

 the post office or the railroads which transport 

 the articles. 



The point we wish to make is this: 



Doubleday, Page & Company are willing, in- 

 deed anxious, to rectify any error that we may 

 make, or anybody may make in transactions 

 with us. We have a complaint department 

 which gives careful attention to every letter 

 that comes in. Our statistics show that for 

 the month of February (the last figures we 

 have complete) the actual number of com- 

 plaints were reduced one-third from the record 

 of last year, and for every six complaints re- 

 corded we were at fault once, the other five be- 

 longed to some one else. 



The worst complaints of all are those not 

 addressed to us but are spoken of to other 

 people; these do us no end of damage. If you 

 receive a badly made book or magazine, or 

 have any transaction with Doubleday, Page 

 & Company which does not please you, we 

 beg that you will notify us and give us a chance 

 to explain or rectify. We want to know if 

 our efficiency has improved one-third or 

 whether our customers are only becoming too 

 good natured to complain. 



THE HARVESTER, 



by Gene Stratton-Porter, author of "Freckles," 

 was the best selling book in the United States 

 in the month of February. Published last 

 summer, it has month by month increased its 

 friends until it is now the book most widely 

 purchased in the whole country. This is 

 because it has had the best of all advertising 



"To business that we love we rise betime 

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



— the recommendation of one reader to 

 another — the only advertising which creates 

 a really large popularity. 



The Harvester has been inspiring to a good 

 many people and its influence has been wide- 

 spread. Here, for instance, is an extract from 

 a letter written by a prominent American 

 business man, recently received by Mrs. Porter: 



I want to thank you for what you have done for me 

 in writing "The Harvester." I am ashamed to con- 

 fess that until I read your book the sex question never 

 appealed to me as you put it. I never stopped 



to think how small and mean A a thing a cheap 

 conquest was in comparison W\ with captaining 

 your own soul. I am writ £1 ing these lines 

 and signing them with a mm name and busi- 

 ness address you can lo £j cate if you desire, 



because it is right that you should know that, through 

 having read your book, at least one man washes out 

 past records and starts anew. For the remainder of 

 my life I stand on a moral record as white as David's 

 and lend all my influence toward the same among my 

 employees. 



LAST CALL 



Every year a good many hundred people 

 are disappointed to find that the annual issue 



of The Garden and Farm Almanac is, as the 

 booksellers say, o. p., or out of print. It costs 

 more to reprint this annual than the reader 

 pays for it. We shall not print another edi- 

 tion this year and there won't be a copy left 

 by May 15 th. If you can find it at a news- 

 stand or book shop, the price is 25 cents; if 

 we mail it to you, we add 10 cents for postage. 

 191 2 edition was the most successful and 

 largest we have issued. It is a good almanac, 

 and the only one of its breed. 



COMING 



Soon after this is printed we shall have 

 ready a new novel by the Williamsons called 

 the "Guests of Hercules"; a story of Monte 

 Carlo. The authors have lived on the Riviera 

 for years and they know Monte Carlo, and 

 describe it as it has never been described be- 

 fore — a true picture of the remarkable life 

 of that famous rendezvous of the world. 



renewals 



The best evidence that a publisher can have 

 of the success of a magazine is to tally the 

 renewals of subscriptions. If the readers like 

 a magazine they renew their subscriptions; if 

 not, they turn a deaf ear to the notice: "Your 

 subscription has now expired." It has pleased 

 us to watch the renewals since October and to 

 note that the percentage of renewals has 

 increased this year over last from 10 to 30 

 per cent., for all of which we are profoundly 

 grateful. 



iris in the garden 



These paragraphs are usually devoted to the 

 modest statements of achievement, or near 

 achievements in connection with publishing 

 ventures; but we should like to speak of one 

 matter of perhaps greater importance. In May 

 we hope those of our readers who are within 

 striking distance of Garden City will stop in 

 at Country Life Press to see one of the most 

 interesting little collections of Iris. It is not 

 so large as it is choice — about 1,200 speci- 

 men plants, the gift of our esteemed contem- 

 porary, Mr. Edward Bok of Philadelphia. The 

 bulbs are planted in the court around the foun- 

 tains in front of the building. 



