A CHAT WITH JO. S'* jFATUOJYS AA m D 
CORRESr OJYHEJVTS. 
On'S of the main objects in publishing this 
sheet, is that I may become better acquainted 
with my patrons. That through the medium of 
its pages a familiarity may spring up between us, 
that without its aid would be impossible. I 
therefore, wish to be allowed to drop the im¬ 
personal ice in this department, and talk as free¬ 
ly as I would to a friend in person, without seem¬ 
ing egotistical. 
I am continually receiving letters from my 
friends and patrons, which require answers 
which it is frequently impossible for me to give 
owing to lack of time. The same query is of¬ 
ten propounded by different parties, and an an¬ 
swer to one will be of interest to many. There¬ 
fore, I wish all my patrons to receive Seed- 
Time and Harvest, regularly, and of course 
wish all subscribers to become patrons. I have 
made the terms so liberal that all may do so. 
There is probably no other business in which 
a man can engage, that requires the confidence 
of its patrons to a greater degree in order to 
make it a success, than the production and sale 
of seeds. A man may open a store and stock it 
with dry goods and groceries; if customers do 
not come the goods may lay upon the shelves 
for months or years without diminishing in val¬ 
ue, and the patrons can readily judge for them¬ 
selves whether the articles offered for sale are 
worth the price asked or not. But it is not so 
with the seed business, A pound of old, mixed, 
impure, or wholly worthless seeds may appear 
just as valuable as the same quantity of the 
purest strains. Therefore, it behooves the pur¬ 
chaser to exercise the utmost care in deciding of 
whom to purchase his supply, as the amount 
paid for a quantity of seeds is but a tithe of the 
loss or damage in case they prove unreliable. 
I have selected the seed business as a life-work 
and give it my personal supervision. I am 
young in years and in business, this beiDg the 
first real undertaking of my existence. It is my 
earnest wish, and highest earthly aim that it 
shall be in every particular a successful business. 
I would much rather keep every customer I 
have, though I make but a penny a year in my 
business relations with him, than to make a dol¬ 
lar and lose him. Bemember, friends, my bus¬ 
iness is one that requires patronage, and your 
patronage is desired, and solicited. My goods 
must be sold while they are salable whether 
any thing is made on them or not. Some of my 
customers seem to think that it is almost an un¬ 
pardonable transgression for them to bother me 
with an order for seeds, especially if they are 
so situated that they might have got them near¬ 
er home! 
I recently received a small order from a lady in 
a western town,to whom I had sent my catalogue 
regularly for some years, who actually made a 
handsome apology for sending to me and troub¬ 
ling me to send her by mail a small list of seeds 
for which she inclosed an amount of cash more 
than sufficient to pay me the catalogue price for 
the same ! She “might have got them nearer 
home,” the letter said, but had “delayed until 
they were all sold, and must now trouble me for 
them !” Indeed ! Isn’t this a case of “loves 
labor lost?” Did she suppose I was sending her 
my catalogue merely to show her what a nice 
business I was doing at home, and what nice 
things she might purchase if she were only here! 
Little does it matter whether you live one mile 
or three thousand miles from La Plume, if I have 
anything on my lists that you, reader, would 
like to possess, and if the price is not more than 
you would be willing to give, to have the article 
delivered free of all expenses at your very door, 
I will thank you to favor me with the order 
whether it amounts to ten cents or ten dollars, 
