The National Nurseryman. 
FOR GROWERS AND D-EALERS IN NURSERY STOCK. 
Copyright, 1893, by the National Nurseryman Publishing Co. 
VoL. 111 . ROCHESTER, N. Y., DECEMBER, 1895. No. ii. 
THE NURSERY SALESMAN. 
The following paper was read by C. E*. Lansing at 
the recent meeting at Salem, Oie., of the Oregon Nur¬ 
serymen’s Association : 
The manner and how to successfully dispose of nursery stock, with 
us, has gotten to be a subject of thoughtful and careful consideration, 
and for that reason, if my twenty years’ exi)erience in employing and 
acting in the capacity of a nursery salesman will be of any benefit to 
this association, I assure you, you are all welcome. The time has been 
with us, and that but a few years ago. when it was an easy matter to 
sell large numbers of fruit trees at a fair price. Every industry of our 
country was flourishing, money was plentiful, people from the East 
were here to buy and improve new homes, a.nd the whole country was 
on a boom, and the nursery interests kept pace with the rest. Then 
almost any one with a plate book under his arm could go out over the 
fields and through the lanes, and do good work selling trees, at good 
prices. Then the tree planter and the farmer were looking up the tree 
man. Then the acreage of every nursery was increased, and matiy 
others who never had been in the nursery business before, planted 
small nurseries hoping to grow rich in a few years, as they believed 
others had done. But soon after, the hard times came, money was not 
as plentiful as before, the boom died down and the nurseries all over 
the country were caught with an over suj)ply. .sales were not made as 
easily as before, and instead of the planter looking up the tree man, as 
before, he is now trying to keep out of his way. 
The hard times coming on and competition becomitig greater, it has 
become a question with many, whether it will pay to continue the busi¬ 
ness, longer, or stop at once. Some have stopped and others will- have 
to stop, unless their stocks can be sold at a price that will pay for the 
growing. 
In such straits as these it is 011I3" natural that we begin to think how 
trees were sold before the boom days, and our minds run back a few 
years and we wonder if the poor despimd apple tree agent wasn’t of some 
account after all. 
A few years ago a few price lists, a few local agents, a few catalogues, 
in a few localities would sell the whole output of almost any of our 
nurseries ; but now the output is much greater, competition is stronger, 
the times are harder, money is scarcer, and the price of trees has been 
dropping lower and lower until what a few years ago was (allied 
‘ ‘ wholesale prices ” are now considered ‘ ‘ double first-class retail prices. ” 
And it has got to be that if you ask a man above three or four cents foi- 
a tree, you scare him. Why, not two months ago. I asked a man seven 
dollars per hundred for first-class, two-year-old select prune trees, and 
he nearly had a fit. “Why,” says he, “I bought them the last two 
years for two and one half dollars, anil times are harder now than then,” 
and he thought he ought to get them this year for two dollars ; and he 
only wanted me to pay the freight on them a distance of one hundred 
and fifty miles besides. 
Now. what has brought about the slaughter of prices V My answer 
is, the price lists scattered abroad over the country have done it. With 
a great many of our nurserymen (especially those of little experience) 
their only idea of disposing of trees is to lower the price of some one 
else, and they get hold of some other nurseryman’s price list and cut a 
little lower still, and so it has been cut, cut. cut until there is .scarcely 
anything left to cut. And I tell you now that if we don’t cut loose 
from that kind of business, we will soon all be cut out. 
We have now looked over the cause of this condition of affairs ; let 
us now suggest some remedy. For my part I will have to suggest the 
nursery salesman, commonly known as the fruit tree man or the apple 
tree peddler. 
The nursery salesman stands today in the same relation to the nursery¬ 
man as the commercial traveler (commonly known as the drummer) is 
to the wholesale dry goods or hardware merchant. It is the nursery 
salesman who travels the lanes and by-ways and finds sale for many 
thousand dollars worth of nursery stock that otherwise would go begging 
for a buyer. It is the nursery salesman that educates the plain, honest 
farmer in the new varieties, and impresses him with the necessity of 
planting more trees. It is the nursery salesman that keeps up- the 
price of trees and educates the buyers to believe that a good thing is 
worth having at a fair price, and is worth taking care of when he has 
it. It is the nursery sidesman that has made thousands of farms more 
valuable, tens of thousands of homes niore pleasant, hundreds of thous¬ 
ands of peoi)le more healthful, and to-day stands at the head of the list 
as the greatest factor of any in the sale of uurserj" stock. 
I do not mean by this that the catalogues shoidd be dispensed with. 
It is an education to a certain degree, but it lacks the force and vim of 
a wide awake and energetic salesman. The modern catalogue is too large 
and too fioweiy in language, and the majority of common people get 
confused with its many varieties and throw it aside, and there it lies 
until some good tree man comes along and before he knows it he has 
purchased a good bill of trees. He may make some remarks to his 
neighbors how he didn’t want the trees, and that the tree peddler just 
talked him into buying them ; but in after years, when they begin to 
produce good fruit, he is glad in his own heart that he bought them. 
All the catalogues in the country could not have sold him that bill of 
trees. 
The requisite (]ualiricatious of a good tree salesman are the same as 
are reipiired in any other salesman, in whatever line he may engage. 
The first and most needed is a thorough knowledge of the business he 
follows. He should be well versed in the different varieties of fruits 
and be able to tell their characteristics in a plain, common-sense way ; 
tell the time of ripening, the character and growth of the tree and be 
able to answer all ({uestions asked him in an easy and intelligent way. 
He must be energetic and determined to succeed in his line. He must 
be able to talk intelligently and candidly, and have a gentlemanly ap¬ 
pearance, that he may command the respect of those with whom he 
expects to trade. He needs not only the appearance of a gentleman 
but should have the true iiualities of one. No man can command the 
respect of another, unless he has the appearance of respectability, at 
least. He should be neat and tasty in his dress, for even the most 
slovenl j' farmer respects neatness. He should be pleasing in his address, 
as that is the key-note in first securing the attention of the person he 
approaches. He must have a love for gain and to better his condition 
financially, for without that love of gain there is no incentive for hard 
and determined action. No lazy man ever made a first class salesman 
in any line. He should have a love for truth, and an honest intent, 
that he may at all times be able to speak a good word for his competi¬ 
tor, which will do more for himself, than a full hour’s abuse. No man 
can keei> the confidence of the public long who resorts to mean tricks 
to get their trade. They very soon learn to believe that he who knows 
so much meanness is liable to practice it at times himself. He should 
keep his business affairs to himself, as volunteer accounts of big sales 
and profits are disgusting to those who believe differently, and often¬ 
times makes him the laughing stock of his competitors, 
j We have now looked over the reiiuisite qualities of a good salesman ; 
let us now for a little while see how he should be treated. The object 
"of emi)loying men in any line is gain, and the better the man the better 
the profits. We should feel that his interests are our interests. If he 
fail we lose by the failure. If you have a good agent, treat him as 
^^rone, and pay him good, fair wages for his services. The work is hard 
and oftentimes unpleasant, and no good, honest tree man was ever 
^over paid. And when I sjieak of agents I include the commission 
’’"'man anil the brokers as well. For the love of fairness, don't send into 
^ his territory a lot of price lists (quoting stock for less than what he is 
^'selling it for. I have known such prices quoted less than the price the 
