A Tew Remarks. 
This catalogue is mv traveling salesman, his salary is very modest,, 
and his expenses, including hotel bills, horse and buggy to drive out to 
your home, etc., is a lc stamp. He has plenty of time and will not press 
you into conversation when you are hurrying to finish some important 
piece of work before night, but will quietly lay on the shelf or on )Our 
desk until the day’s work is done, you have had your supper, and are com¬ 
fortably housed before a good warm fire, when you will no doubt enjoy 
his company until bed time. Your order! Yes, that is his object in vis¬ 
iting you, but you will not be urged to give it tonight but any time when 
it suits yon only he sure not to put him off until you are ready to set 
your plants. He will offer you good goods at fair prices. I am not in, the 
bargain counter business and do not bait my hooks with misrepresenta¬ 
tions to fish for suckers. Neither do I claim to be the only honest man 
who grows strawberry plants for sale, and when the fellow who does 
make that claim comes around on a friendly call better keep your hen 
house doors locked and the key in your inside pocket. More representa¬ 
tives than my little salesman will probably call on you and some may offer 
you varieties at $2 per 1000 while others charge $4 p6r 1000 for the same 
variety; the natural tendency is to buy from the former, but the one that 
does so seldom gets twice the value for his money. I have bought a good 
many thousand plants from a good many different people and my exper¬ 
ience has generally been that a man usually gets about what he pays for. 
When you buy cheap plants you will generally get your money’s worth 
and when you pay a higher price you will also get your money s worth. 
The lest is none too good and is almost always the cheapest in. the end. 
But unfortunately a strawberry plant is a strawberry plant with a good 
many growers. We buy our trees by their age, size, straightness, etc. 
Fruit demands a price according to its size and conditions, roses sell 
largely according to the length of their stems, but with many fruit grow¬ 
ers it seems to make no difference whether a strawberry plant weighs 12 
pounds to the 1000 or 40 pounds; whether they have been carefully hand¬ 
led from the time the fork was put under them till the cover was nailed 
on the crate, or whether they were treated roughly and carelessly. . These 
different conditions are not always represented accurately in the 
price but they are to a considerable degree, and the fellow who thinks he 
is getting three or four dollars worth of plants for two dollars is pretty 
sure to get fooled and the fellow who pays a reasonable price seldom gets 
cheated by so doing. In this business as in others there are two classes of 
dealers. One attracts the people who are always looking for something 
cheap. The other demands fair prices for good goods and gets customers 
who want quality rather than cheapness. The people who seek cheap 
things may be the shrewdest, hut the men who have made a success of 
trucking, fruit growing, etc., have a way of buying their seeds, plants,, 
fertilizers etc., where they can get the best and expect to pay a fair price 
for it. While people who run too much to cheapness generally run 
against the same tendency in others whom they are seeking as customers. 
Hoping you have all experienced a prosperous year in 1902 and wishing 
you greater success in 1903, I remain, Yours faithfully, 
W. F. ALLEN, 
