502 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
AUG. 2 
unknown. If planters will use common sense in their pur¬ 
chasing, and deal only with houses of established reputa¬ 
tion, and remember that “cheap” nursery stock, is very 
dear as a gift, there will be fewer complaints on this score 
in the future. Let them learn to sift the agents and the 
firms, to insist upon credentials from the former and 
“good repute” in the latter. 
3. In my answer to the last query I have indicated how 
such mistakes may be avoided. There can be no fair settle¬ 
ment, where the mistakes are numerous and intentional. 
But occasionally even the most reliable firms make errors 
and in some unfortunate way, label a “Spy” as a “ Red 
Astrachan ” ora “Concord” grape as a “ Niagara,” etc. 
As “ mistakes will happen in the best regulated families,” 
now and then some such error as the above occurs. What 
is a fair settlement in such cases? Well! there are two 
ways to settle with reasonable men, who know the error 
was unintentional; and the first is to refund the money 
paid for the trees,—and the second, which is the one gener¬ 
ally accepted, to furnish the same trees again free of charge. 
Any action for damages against an honest nurseryman, in 
such a case, is unwarranted, unreasonable, and usually 
results as it should—in the discomfiture of the man who 
has brought the suit. Where, however, the dishonesty is 
apparent and extensive, no punishment short of electrocu¬ 
tion is too great for the miserable rascal who is guilty of 
the crime, though, as is almost always the case, both with 
the flea and the dishonest dealer, “ when you try to put 
your finger on him he isn’t there ! ” 
4. This is a difficult question to answer, and a correct 
“ diagnosis ” would doubtless be “ worth money.” There 
is but one way to “develop” the business, and that is to 
secure a sufficient number of good agents. If you will 
solve the problem—so puzzling to all nurserymen—how 
this can be done, the “developing” is “as easy as rolling 
off a log.” A paying trade cannot be secured without good 
salesmen, and the demand for them is so great that few 
men in the nursery business to-day are doing as well as 
they were five years ago, when competition was less fierce 
and agents more plentiful. First, the men must be found, 
and what is of more importance, they must be held. This 
is a difficult thing to do, and requires great tact, knowl¬ 
edge of human nature, and liberal treatment. A good 
man must be paid well, and made loyal to you personally. 
It is a wonder to me that some firms retain their salesmen 
through a single season, so dogmatic and close and incon¬ 
siderate and inhuman is their system. To hold one’s 
trade, the nurseryman must first hold his men, then he 
must supply first-class stock and see that it is properly 
and courteously delivered, and. lastly, after supplying 
planting directions to his customers, he must furnish free 
at the next delivery anything that was paid for promptly, 
and after proper care failed to grow. If he will do this, 
canvass the same territory year after year with the same 
salesmen, and keep himself “ abreast of the times” in the 
way of new and reliable varieties of stock, he will have no 
difficulty in “ holding a paying trade.” A good reputation 
is like character—it takes time to build it—but it grows 
rapidly and surely when it is founded on the rock of 
honesty and square dealing. J. AUSTIN SHAW. 
The Agent Has Planted the Western Plains. 
We consider an agent a necessity: in fact, there would 
have been very few trees planted on the Western Plains 
without him. The agent himself is not to blame for the 
mistakes made in the sending out of trees that are not true 
to name; the parties who are at the bottom of this busi¬ 
ness are the tree dealers, who buy whatever they can get 
the cheapest, and pay no attention whatever to varieties. 
Such people have no fixed place of business, or of resi¬ 
dence, and are not responsible for their swindling schemes, 
and if they are held responsible for their schemes, they 
cannot be found. We are trying to get rid of the tree 
dealer by replacing him with agents of our own, who will 
allow us to bill out and pack the trees so that we alone 
are responsible. We believe that if all the nurserymen 
would stop having anything to do with the dealers, and 
sell their goods through their own agents, packing their 
trees themselves, the problem would be solved and a new 
era would arrive, not only among nurserymen, but among 
planters. CARPENTER & GAGE. 
Agents Multiply the Business by IOO. 
1. Most assuredly he is. But for the tree agent not one 
tree would be planted where now there are hundreds, and 
we think it is plainly to be seen that there is not too much 
fruit in the country yet. 2. With reputable concerns mis¬ 
takes come through the carelessness of employees, and 
cannot be avoided altogether. 3. By employing careful^ 
pains taking men to put up the orders, and, in case oi 
error, making the party who receives the wrong tree satis¬ 
fied in some manner, either by sending him such as he 
ordered, or making a reduction on his bill. 4. By growing 
the best possible stock, sending out varieties adapted to 
the section where they are to be planted, handling them 
when digging and packing in such a manner that their 
vitality will not be impaired, employing careful men to de¬ 
liver them, and educating the planter to give them proper 
care and attention. R. G. chase & co. 
No Use for the Agent. 
1. The “treeagent” is not necessary to the well-being and 
success of the intelligent, reliable and enterprising nursery¬ 
man. He may be necessary to dispose of the stock of un¬ 
reliable growers, whose customers must be sought among 
ignorant people who do not read standard agricultural and 
horticultural journals, and are incapable of distinguishing 
the bogus from the genuine. 2. Certainly the person who 
makes the mistake, be it accidental or intentional. If the 
employees of a nursery are guilty of the error they are 
responsible to tne nursery, and the nursery to the customer. 
But if the nursery “ winks at ” or accepts the erroneous 
work of its employees, then the nursery alone is responsible. 
If it v m intended to ask who makes the greatest number 
of intentional mistakes in the billing and delivery of nur¬ 
sery stock, I would unhesitatingly answer: “The inde¬ 
pendent tree agent or tree dealer,” with whom the country 
is filled. This animal professes boldly to represent some 
nursery of good reputation, but which knows nothing of 
him. He buys job-lots, culls and refuse at any price, and 
labels them to correspond with the fine names, pictures 
and samples that these slick rogues always carry. They 
cut the throats of both honest nurserymen and the planters 
to whom they sell. There is also a class of so called 
“ Greatest Nurseries on Earth,” which employ armies of 
agents. They work a section till they become disreputable 
there, then change to new and distant pastures. The 
country is large and fools plenty. There are nurseries 
which try to do a reliable business with agents, but having 
to compete in effective show with the corrupt agents, they 
must either show as large pictures and as big samples, and 
tell as slick stories as their competitors or abandon the 
field, for the people take it for granted that, on general 
principles, one agent is as reliable as another. In considera¬ 
tion of the above conditions of the agency business, the most 
reliable nurserymen will not stoop to such a degraded and 
degrading competition, and consequently they do all their 
business directly with their customers, or through their 
catalogues, which are carefully compiled and reliable. 
Such nurseries have the most intelligent people in the 
country for their customers, and agents soon learn who 
they are and give them a wide berth, for fear of shot-gun 
and dog. Such nurseries are solid, old (if the time since 
their organization permits) institutions, more intent on 
preserving their reputations by strictly reliable dealings 
than on driving a trade by importunity, at any price. 
3. Mistakes are reduced to the smallest number by al¬ 
ways doing business directly with the customer, for to 
build up and maintain such a trade requires that perfect 
integrity, system and order be preserved, and to do this 
men of the best information and expertness in the work 
are needed. A fair settlement of an unintentional mistake 
is to replace stock not true, or in poor condition when 
leaving the possession of the nurseryman, upon satisfac¬ 
tory evidence to that effect; or to refund the money—not 
more or less—received therefor. A fair settlement for in¬ 
tentional mistakes, such as are the chief characteristics 
of the “ tree agent ” and “ dealer ” would be payment for 
all the damages resulting therefrom, together with the 
original purchase money, and interest should be paid to 
the purchaser, and a fine and imprisonment in aggravated 
cases should be imposed by law. * T. V. MUNSON. 
Proprietors, Not Agents, Are Responsible. 
1. To push and develop new business; yes. Where ad¬ 
vertising is advantageously employed ; no. 2. As in the 
case of any other business, the principals are mainly re¬ 
sponsible, not the agents or employees. It is absurd and 
unjust to charge upon subordinates errors that grow out 
of a want of system, or the proprietors’ disregard of hon¬ 
orable and correct methods of transacting business. 3. A 
determination to follow such methods and to employ only 
reliable men in all departments, whether propagating 
growing, packing, or selling. 4. Simply follow the well- 
established and clearly-defined rules applicable to all other 
kinds of legitimate business—good grade, fair prices, care¬ 
ful packing, and enterprise in management. Where the 
business has been conducted in this way there is little, if 
any, cause of complaint; trade is constantly being en¬ 
larged, and there is little tendency toward trying to build 
one’s self up by pulling others down, or towards blaming 
poorly paid employees for many things for which they are 
in no way responsible. Dishonest agents have enough to 
answer for as well as the nurserymen and dealers that 
countenance and encourage them ; but a reliable, enter¬ 
prising agent is a credit to the business in every way. It 
is like the effort “to pull one’s self up by his boot straps” 
to hold agents, as a class, responsible or up to ridicule for 
all the odium or discredit of what in the aggregate may be 
called, at best, a poorly-organized and carelessly-managed 
industry. FRED. w. kelsy. 
IVoman s IVork. 
THE SECRET OF A BEAUTIFUL COMPLEXION. 
HE Chief Cook still retains a vivid recollection of the 
time, when, as a little girl, she conceived an imme¬ 
diate dislike for any stranger with a shiny nose covered 
with “ black-heads,” irrespective of the personal charac¬ 
ter of the unfortunate individual who was obliged to 
endure these blemishes. She remembers something of the 
torment which a skin which burns and freckles easily can 
be, even to a sensible girl; if the girl be plain, she thinks 
the freckles make her look still more “horrid ;” if pretty, 
she can ill endure to have her beauty marred by the un¬ 
sightly marks. A young woman once half maliciously 
told her little freckled sister that an Indian remedy, 
“1-o-o-t,” was a sovereign wash for the brown spots so trying 
to her peace of mind. Eager inquiry developed the rem¬ 
edy into “el-dah-blow tea”—in other words, a tea made 
from elder-blossoms; but the disappointed little girl did 
not find it effectual, perhaps because she had not faith to 
use it persistently. 
If pretty, how to be prettier; and, if plain, how to look 
as nearly pretty as possible—these are very natural desires 
on the part of the girls. Nor should they be frowned upon, 
unless they are perverted into inordinate vanity and self- 
conceit. Surely, every girl has a right to look as pretty as 
she can, provided she does not give to her possible pretti¬ 
ness thought which should be expended on more serious 
things. The city girl is familiar with cosmetics of every 
sort; yet has little need of them except when on an out¬ 
ing among the mountains or at the seashore. While the 
country lassie, with her free, out-of-door life, picking 
berries, tending flowers, going on pic-nics, walking or 
riding constantly in sun and wind, often without the pro¬ 
tection of parasol or covered carriage, has continual need 
of a complexion beautifier; but can find little recom¬ 
mended aside from the patent dangerous cosmetics, which 
in most cases, she is too sensible to use. In the rare in¬ 
stances in which her desire to be thought beautiful out- 
reaches her common sense, she soon finds, to her dismay, 
that her skin is hopelessly roughened, and that the deceit¬ 
ful cosmetic has become her master, and she must con¬ 
tinue to use it with more and more frequency in order to 
look at all presentable. This is bad enough, but if the 
poison in time affect her health, she is indeed to be pitied. 
It is said that a drop of ammonia added to any mixture 
which contains arsenic or lead poison, the most common 
deleterious substance used in druggists’ cosmetics, will 
cause it to turn black instantly, thus forming a reliable 
test for this poison. 
The very best treatment that can be given for the com¬ 
plexion is so simple that probably few can be induced to 
try it: it consists In the frequent use of very hot water, 
giving the face a thorough bath with it till the skin looks 
like a lobster, then making use of a cool rub, and of fric¬ 
tion to promote thorough dryness and good circulation. 
This treatment cleanses the pores, and will banish black¬ 
heads, if persevered.in. It may occasionally be applied to 
the whole body with advantage, if care be taken to cool 
the surface well before drying. A recipe that is often 
given for cleansing the hair and scalp is an egg beaten with 
a very little water: either the yelk or the whole egg may 
be used. It is not generally known that this preparation 
also forms a most effective complexion wash, besides being 
a better detergent than soap. The skin, after its use, feels 
soft and satiny, and the fresh pink-and-white brightness 
of the complexion is noticeable tor several days after its 
use. The hair, after treatment with it remains smooth 
and oily for a long time, even quite perverse tresses yield¬ 
ing to its soft persuasion, and becoming tractable. 
To those who feel that they could scarcely tolerate the 
stickiness and non pleasantness of the above application, 
“cold cream’’and corn-meal or bran offer many advan¬ 
tages. The cream is made bv melting together one-half 
pint of oil of sweet almonds, one fourth ounce of sperma¬ 
ceti, and one gill of rose water. While cooling, it is beaten 
to a paste. It is said that she who uses cold-cream at 
night, and corn-meal and soap in the morning, will never 
have rough hands. 
To remove freckles use a lotion prepared as follows: 
Scrape horse radish into cold, sour milk ; let it stand 12 
hours, after which apply several times a day. 
Vaseline is perhaps as good and cheap a lotion as can be 
bought, and the many to whom glycerine is torture, may 
use this to advantage, especially when the hands are 
chapped or roughened. If carbolized, it forms a soothing 
and healing application for the lips during the progress of 
a “cold in the head,” as by its use most of the suffering 
caused hy the skin becoming raw is done away with, al¬ 
though the odor of the salve is, of course, unpleasant, 
when first applied. A very pleasant lotion for chapped 
lips may be made from four ounces of oil of roses, one 
ounce of white wax, and one half ounce of spermaceti. 
These are to be melted together and kept in a glass or 
china vessel. 
A simple dressing of thick, sweet cream, well rubbed in, 
is often as good a lotion as can be applied to a roughened 
or chapped skin. This alone, with old kid gloves worn at 
night, will suffice to keep most hands smooth and soft. A 
pair of such gloves, or even a pair made of closely-woven 
unbleached muslin form an excellent protection for the 
bands while sweeping, gardening or doing many other 
kinds of work which roughen them. Since preven¬ 
tion is so many times better than cure, it may be well to 
notice the causes of chapped skin, in order, ft possible, to 
avoid them. Cold, raw winds, careless drying after the 
bath, working in dirt or dust, and the use of caustic soaps 
are the chief producing causes of this very unpleasant 
state of the cuticle. The last is often the wholly un¬ 
suspected cause of much trouble in this direction, the 
soap which agrees with one skin sometimes seeming al¬ 
most like poison to another. The ill effects of dish-wash¬ 
ing cannot well be avoided, but these can be overcome to 
some extent by the use of a little mop, and by especial 
care in washing, drying and smoothing the hands after 
the distasteful work is finished. 
Quite a little can also be done for the beauty of the 
hands by taking good care of the nails. Few can afford the 
services of a manicure, or even the set of tools thus 
called; but the almond shape so sought after may be se¬ 
cured by daily pushing back with the fingers of the other 
hand the skin that tends to grow forward over the nail, 
and the oval tip may be attained by careful filing of the 
corners. An ivory or other not too sharp point should be 
used to remove superfluous matter from under them; a 
sharp instrument roughens them, and causes them to col¬ 
lect dirt more rapidly, as it then adheres so much more 
easily. A polishing powder can be obtained at the 
druggist’s, which, applied with a bit of chamois, will 
add the finishing touch of neatness and beauty. 
gHi.oct’Uunmi.s 
In writing to advertisers, please mention The R. N.-Y. 
When llaby waa sick, we gave her Caatorla, 
W hen she was a Child, ahe cried for Caatorla. 
When she became lllss, she clung to Castorla, 
When »he had Children, she gavetuem Castyrta. 
