THE EFFICIENT OFFICE 



21 



Next in importance to the mailing list is the stock 

 record. This must be so constructed as to tell you in- 

 stantly just how many plants of a given kind you have 

 on hand at any time — even right in the midst of the 

 selling season. The first thing you must do is take or 

 have made an inventory of every plant, tree, and shrub 

 on the place, to include its size and a short description. 

 Whether you put this information on cards or in a book, 

 or have some more elaborate system, the data should be 

 arranged somewhat as follows: 



Nurs- 



Name Descrip- Height ery Inven- Price Book- 



tion Block tory ings 



Berberis Thunbergii. . . . xxx 2-3' 14 575 75c. 

 (Japan Barberry) 



Rosa Rugosa. . . poor 18" 12 300 25c. 



(Japan Rose Pink) 



The bookings should be made, of course, every time you 

 make a sale and then you will always know just where you 

 stand; by going over the bookings weekly you can keep 

 in mind just what you are short or long on and order 

 more plants, or push the sale of those you have, as may 

 be necessary. 



Never was a nursery run that had everything on hand 

 that every customer wanted, so it is highly desirable that 

 you keep a catalog file. Fifty catalogs heaped in a 

 pile on a table don't help much when you have a customer 

 waiting while you find where you can get five plants of 

 Helleborus niger. But put those same catalogs in a 

 regular correspondence file drawer and index them, and 

 you will be surprised at the ease with which you can 

 locate any needed plants. 



Another great help in any nursery "is an adequate 

 library. The questions that customers can ask is be- 

 yond human comprehension and Bailey's Cyclopedia is 

 not the only book that is needed. The list of books given 



