PREFACE 



With the advent of the new nurserymen's slogan, 



"It's Not a Home Until It's Planted," 



it behooves every florist or would-be nurseryman to 

 realize that the demand for the planting of home grounds 

 ha^ just begun and that he should prepare himself for 

 this demand by starting a landscape department. This 

 book is written with the hope of guiding the footsteps 

 of the novice in the business end of the nursery. 



Just as a book on automobiles would undoubtedly fail 

 to tell the reader how to run a garage, so does the average 

 horticultural literature fail to pay much attention to 

 selling methods and business practice. For those who 

 wish to learn about the growing of stock, there is an ample 

 Hbrary available; a short list of such books is given in 

 Chapter XIII. 



There are, of course, many details that have purposely 

 been omitted from this book (such as the principles of 

 bookkeeping), for such things need a volume to themselves. 

 Rather have I tried to outline a course of action and of 

 study, and I have tried to present the gloomy as well as 

 the rosier side of the business. 



I wish to give thanks to the many nurserymen who 

 have contributed to parts of this work and particularly 

 do I wish to thank one who has given many helpful sug- 

 gestions and who first guided my footsteps over the path 

 of nursery selling — S. Mendelson Meehan of German- 

 town, Pa. — he to whom this book is dedicated. 



Nelson Coon. 



Rhinebeck, New York 

 January 1, 1923 



vii 



