96 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
“false economy,” and reason with our customers and we 
will surely all gel along better in this world. 
Down th(‘ })essimist with every chance that opens it¬ 
self and look up and admire the optimist. There is noth¬ 
ing so had that could not pcrha])s he worse. Let us 
mak(‘ the best of everything as it comes along and re- 
iiKMulxM' that w(‘ are and must, out ol sell-preservation, 
s('ll llow('rs, talk dowers, and kill the enemy who even 
dar(‘s to say anything against our industry, or rather use 
lh(‘ gas on him or her. Let these grandstand orators feel 
that w(; have an antidote for their gospel that is more 
(dfective than they surmise. Let us live to be sincerely 
patriotic and let us set a pace and give those who are 
working for us and share our burden, a good chance to 
make a living. That will make them also feel that they 
must do their bit for our country, the country that gives 
us the best living of any counti’y in the world. 
The tlorists of America and Canada are setting the pace 
and their industry has grown and kept step with eveiy 
other industry in the new world. Are you going to let 
the newspapers, false economy criers, and a handful of 
insincere or thoughtless i)atriots, who can perhaps enter¬ 
tain a crow d of jjeople w ith their oratory, hut who do not 
think deej) nor long enough and who cannot produce 
('iiough to supi)ly their owui individual needs, run your 
j)rofession dow n or ruin your trade by making a man be¬ 
lieve that he becomes a slacker or a pro-kaiser if he takes 
a bunch or box of tlow ers home to his sick wife or family 
or for his mother’s birthday? Anyone that talks that way, 
I am sure will think nothing at all of buying the most ex- 
p<'nsive flowers for someone else’s wdfe or lady friend, 
and that is surely nothing else hut a traitor’s work, war 
or no w ar. 
Melail florists, let us all help to keep our profession on 
the high level that we have arrived at after so many years 
of the hardest kind of labor and study, and let us all help 
to bring it up to a still higher standard and we wall surely 
w in the admiration of the general public, w ithout being 
called non-patriots and our trade being put on a basis of 
“non-essentials.” 
TllLNGS TIMELY AND IMPORTANT 
By G. II. Bra)tun, Bristol, Tennessee, Before the Tennessee 
State Florist Association, Nashville, Tennessee, 
January 29th, 1918. 
That I, a memher wdio attended his first Convention 
only last year, should he called upon to follow' our lion- 
or(‘d President on the program is to my mind rather un- 
sei'inly and ill advised, but I shall he glad to make a few' 
general remarks and hope if, by chance, it shall go to 
j)rint that I may have better treatment at the hands of 
tin* j)rinler than a certain restaurant man who gave a 
swell luncheon; in describing the same the paper an¬ 
nounced the astounding fact that the guests partook of 
lUMMlle soup. The irate restauranteur sought the editor 
w ho passed the matter off lightly by saying it was a typo- 
graj)hical (U'ror and that ot course noodle souj) w^as in¬ 
tended. So it is often hard for one to gel his ideas put 
on paper. 
The subject given me was “Things Timely and Impor¬ 
tant.” Now some are saying that the times are out of 
joint, and things all “out of whack” but I determined 
that I would leave war talk and the abominable weather 
out of this talk entirely and say a word or tw o on “Co¬ 
operation and Individual Concentrated Effort.” To my 
mind one of the greatest assets wm have today is co-opera¬ 
tion. There is no line of business which admits of a 
w ider range of imi)rovement -more study or has a wider 
horizon than the business represented here today, and no 
man can afford to set at naught the opportunity of im- 
])roving his prospects by rubbing up against his fellow 
florist and getting and giving as much as possible. I am 
happy indeed to meet with my fellow florists here today 
and hope to get and give something in the hours we spend 
togetlier. We may co-operate in many ways, some 
united work is already in hand. 
This Annual Convention is one of the means of getting 
all of us florists into touch so that we can teach and 
learn from each other to the continued betterment of the 
florist trade in our state. We can co-operate by showing 
the utmost courtesy to the visits of other florists, to our 
places of business and to their inquiries for information 
by mail. We can even offer a suggestion to our neigh¬ 
boring florists as to the best methods we have found in 
some particular thing, and we can cut out any petty jeal¬ 
ousy which we may have imbibed and become broad¬ 
minded and act broad with our fellows for we can easily 
prove that such policy will beget better business for our¬ 
selves and we will in return gain much more than we 
can possibly give out. 
We are now co-operating along the lines of the F. T. 
D. and the move for a National Advertising Campaign is 
admirable and should get every body’s hearty support. 
A better day is coming when we, through our annual 
gatherings can be brought together for a more thorough 
interchange of thoughts and working methods than any 
we have yet undedrtaken. Where experts will confer 
with us on all important subjects relating to our trade. 
Could we have time here we might go into details about 
improved store methods, city delivery and shipping facil¬ 
ities. The best credit and book-keeping plans, the best 
construction and effective shipping and working houses, 
the legal side, safe and economical insurance and many 
other things which can best be worked out by the large 
number interested rather than the individual and save 
time, labor, and expense and increase the efficiency of 
our forces immensely, but the concentrated, undivided 
effort is what is also necessary to insure business. That 
florists who can cut out war talks, be neither a pro¬ 
nounced optimist nor pessimist, but just plod along, 
keeping his eyes open and his mouth shut—that is, trying 
to see everylliing which will make for the advantage of 
the trade and not prophesying nor complaining—he will 
give his best to his business and his business shall lit¬ 
erally “blossom as the roses.” If things look a little dark 
for us we must not worry nor stop our efforts. It is well 
to ponder the saying that “a good hen never stops scratch¬ 
ing because worms are scarce”-—Now is a good time to 
all pull together for better things and for each to look 
carefully at his own business, to mark the weak spots and 
make them strong again—with suck effort we may dupli¬ 
cate the record business of 1917, nay, make a new and 
higher record for 1918 . 
