JD Sez, Sez 'e 
Ladies A-N-D Gentlemen! Behold Public Optimist 
Number One! ‘That’s me—JD”. For proof, just 
notice how many order blanks go with this catalogue. 
You see, I’m so optimistic I think you’ll not only 
send large orders, but later on will browse through 
this catalogue and find something more that you want 
in seeds, bulbs or plants. 
Speaking of order blanks, however, please rest as¬ 
sured that no special kind of blank or paper is neces¬ 
sary for making out an order for us. Any old paper, 
any size, any shape or color, written with pencil, 
pen or typewriter, will bring home your bacon from 
Boulder. Have had orders on bits of paper not much 
larger than a postage stamp, and others on an old 
paper bag or slab of wall paper. And we “welcome 
to our city” small orders as well as large. 
The two most important things to watch when you 
make out an order are to have YOUR name and ad¬ 
dress plainly written or printed, and to use one line 
for each item you order. 
You’d be surprised to know how many customers 
forget to put down their names, or addresses, or both. 
Best way is to write name and address firs! at top 
of page. 
Thirty years practice reading all sorts of hand¬ 
writing enables us to figure out almost every name. 
But we do get stumped at times. Even Jesse Jones, 
run off in a flowing hand can be mistaken for Jesse 
James. 
You can help us a whale of a lot if you list your 
order so as to keep all the GLADIOLUS items 
separate from the rest of your order, either by using 
separate order blank for the Glads, or listing the 
Glads on one side the sheet and other things on the 
reverse side. 
Or, just skip a few lines, leaving a sort of No- 
Man ’s-Land between the Glads and the rest of the 
order. Reason is, the Glads are put up in a separate 
department and we can handle your order quicker 
and more efficiently if made out along the line 
suggested. BUT no special manner of making out 
the order is really necessary. 
I had to do plain and fancy carving and condens¬ 
ing to steal 4 pages for order blanks, in addition to 
the two-page blank slipped in loose. 
More telescoping had to be done to give me this 
perfectly good page to mess up with conversation 
instead of using it for more good reasons why “You 
can’t go wrong, if you buy from Long.” (By the 
way, a customer wrote that slogan. Don’t praise or 
blame me for it.) 
The job of carving included not only pruning de¬ 
scriptions, but slicing several illustrations. Turn to 
some of the Glad blossoms, for example. Had to put 
up a fight with our printer to do this. Almost had 
to carve him a bit. He shook his head, and said 
plenty—and thought still more. 
I began carving in the Fall catalogue. Imagine my 
surprise when, a few weeks after our fall catalogue 
was mailed, here comes Collier’s Magazine showing 
only half the face of a beautiful blonde. The west 
half of her face adorned the front cover page, the east 
half had “Gone with the Wind.” (Thanks, Mr. Col¬ 
lier, thanks lots for backing me up.) 
Maybe I pulled a boner, however, when carving 
the page of Onions and Onion sets. After cutting 
the descriptions and prices, I had a yen to slice 
off a slab from that fine Improved Mountain Danvers 
onion, thus reducing it to single column width. 
Now I fear that the sliced onion may bring tears 
to your eyes, so you can’t read even the boiled-down 
descriptions of Onions and Sets. 
I’d sure hate to have you lose out on those special 
HAZEL SIZE SETS, that have made such a hit with 
thousands of our customers who order them year 
after year. We ship them from coast to coast, and 
pole to pole—almost! Such solid, medium size sets 
and so many of them in the heaped quart we send. 
Good for early green onions and extra good for 
growing large, mature onions. Easy to grow a crop 
for fall or winter use. 
Carving Climax. Had half a notion to run my 
picture on this page. I say half a notion, meaning 
half the picture. I kept on carving. The more I 
carved, the better it looked. Finally I decided it 
looked swell, as you see it now. “Or don’t you?” 
When should a catalogue be mailed? Search me. 
For 30 years I’ve wrestled with this question. 
Usually, the mailing date of our Spring catalogue 
hasn’t been optional with me. Because I seldom 
find time to prepare the copy soon enough to permit 
mailing before last of January. 
This season I all but busted a gallus, working on 
the catalogue, so we can begin mailing Jan. 10th 
or a few days earlier. You see, we have many cus¬ 
tomers in the southern states who make gardens 
while we northern folks are digging ourselves out of 
snow banks. That’s one reason our catalogue should 
be all dressed up and ready to go, early. 
The disadvantage of early mailing is that some 
will mislay or lose the catalogue before they get 
around to make out their orders. The baby may have 
a grand time tearing it to pieces, or the pup may 
chaw it up with glee. If you can’t find your Long 
catalogue, drop a post card and another will come 
romping to you suddenly. 
Do you loan your catalogue? Many customers do. 
Some years ago a good customer (she sure WAS 
good to do this) loaned her copy of our catalogue 
until it had been in every home in her block, in 
Salida, Colorado. Good old Salida, where we have 
a grand bunch of perennial customers. One Salida 
lady kept a copy of every Long catalogue since first 
one she received over 20 years ago. 
How long is a long time? Just 30 years ago we 
printed our first mail order seed catalogue. Funny 
little booklet. But was an entering wedge. This 
season I thought some of celebrating. But when I 
recalled other firms that started out years before I 
was born, and are still among those present, my 
little 30 years didn’t look very impressive after all. 
On the other hand, they do say that most business 
undertakings fall by the wayside in less than 30 
years. So maybe we are justified if we “point with 
pride”. Anyway, it’s no snap to carry on through 
thick and thin for 30 years, with Prosperity playing 
hooky around the corner so much of the time. I 
know, because I have inside information. An under¬ 
standing, generous rich uncle would have helped a 
lot. But no such animal was ever located in the 
branches of my family tree. 
It seems to simmer down to this: Our customers 
have had a square deal, and they are keen enough 
to know it, and generous enough to stay with us, 
as well as tell their friends the good news. 
As a high pressure salesman. I’m a flop. And I’m 
rather glad of it. I’d rather do better than I promise 
than promise more than I can deliver. Is slower 
getting new customers, but proves “Best in the 
LONG Run.” 
Many radio announcers are a pain in the neck 
to me. Yet, after all, it’s the sponsor who deserves 
panning. One night not long ago I was cruising 
around on my radio dial and caught a most unusual, 
refreshing announcement. 
This announcer was plugging for a well known 
brand of cigarets. He didn’t claim his brand was the 
only good one. Even said there were other good 
brands. He didn’t blat, “Go TOMORROW and buy 
our brand.” 
He simply told of the good qualities of his product 
and invited—not commanded—his listeners to try 
his brand some time, and do all the deciding. He 
actually assumed that we have a grain of sense our¬ 
selves. Now that’s the way I feel about this seed 
and bulb business. Just send us a trial order and 
do the judging yourself. And you won’t die if you 
fail to do this “TOMORROW”. The day after tomor¬ 
row, or even later, will be quite all right. 
It so happens that I don’t smoke, but I do appre¬ 
ciate a sane radio announcement, such as given by 
a firm that, you might say, hasn’t gone off the “Gold” 
standard. 
Why don’t I smoke? Well, for one thing, there 
was a man in our town who celebrated his 100th 
birthday by smoking. Only a few weeks later he 
died. I wonder how long he might have lived if he 
hadn’t dissipated. Some one should have told him 
these things. 
“Imagine My Embarrassment!” Last season my 
son, and partner, Everett (see page 11), took over 
the growing of our Glads, and other garden work. 
I told him if he would GROW the Glads, I’d SELL 
’em. 
But Land Sakes Alive! With the help of experi¬ 
enced men who have been with us for years, Ev pro¬ 
duced the biggest crop we ever dug. Now you know 
why I’m making special offers, and filling your 
orders so liberally. The “younger generation” has 
put me on the spot. 
