OFflCE OF THE 



PRESIDENT 



E. W. TOWNSEND & SONS NURSERIES 



SALISBURY. MARYLAND 



DEAR FOLKS: 



I had so many good things to list in our catalog this time that my 

 annual letter was crowded out. No, I have not used up the space with 

 overdrawn pictures. You will find this book practically the same in 

 this respect as all other editions I have ever sent out in the last 27 

 years. Just all Facts, as nearly as I can possibly write them. The 

 Townsends Nurseries has been built on Truth and a Square Deal to every 

 customer. This is the only way that I want to do business, and the only 

 way I ever expect to. 



Not very much style about us, just common every day farm folks. 

 Every one here works in his shirt sleeves, and the President usually has 

 his rolled up to the elbows. Our Family has grown until we now have 

 more than fifty thousand good customers. If that ain't enough to make a 

 fellow work hard and over-time then I don't know. Twenty-seven years 

 ago I did not have a customer in the world and very few dollars. I was 

 on "easy street''. I wrote my first little catalog that year, the re- 

 sults were very discouraging. I had a partner in with me, and the start 

 was so disappointing that he withdrew the first year. I never was a 

 "quitter", and went in the second year with a strong resolution, and a 

 determination to win. The year 1901 was a winner for me. Wherever I 

 sold a small order in 1900 more orders came in. One instance I received 

 more than a hundred orders — the results from only one small order 

 shipped the first year. This one fact was the real starting point in my 

 business life. It led me to believe from the start that if I sent out a 

 good article that would please my customers, that more business would 

 follow. And Friends, I want to repeat that the selling of good plants 

 and good Honest Service to my customers has been the secret of my suc- 

 cess all the time. 



No, this business I am speaking of, is not all roses. It is hard 

 work, but I like it. My Customers have made me a little "stuck up". 

 Thousands of them write to me every year telling about the wonderful 

 plants that we are sending them. How much our plants are beating plants 

 received from other nurseries. How much better our services are than 

 others and all of this and so much of it is sure to cause a fellow like 

 me to work overtime. Well I just want to say this. I believe that we 

 have just about the .best bunch of customers on earth. When we have made 

 mistakes you have been good enough to write us telling us about it. And 

 always we have fixed it up to your own satisfaction. And when you have 

 been more than pleased with our services you have told your friends, and 

 recommended them to us. Failure is an impossibility with such co-opera- 

 tion. I would not trade my satisfied customer list for $100,000 worth 

 of farm journal advertising a year. It is natural we should work hard 

 to please them, isn't it? 



I welcome this opportunity to write a personal letter to you, 

 because it gives me a chance to talk to you about some things that are 

 always close to all of us. Nearly all of us like to buy wherever we can 



