246 
I^HE NATIONAL NITRSELYM AN 
Reminiscences of a Nursery Salesman 
T he v(My prevak'iil idea that to be a sueeessful 
sal('sinaii one must have unlimited elieek and a 
veiv Ihiek hide does not seem to hold iirood in ae- 
*/ t-j 
Inal praeliee. A better e(iuipment is a good knowledge' 
of lh(‘ business, tael in ai)j)roaeliing |)eople, and unlimited 
(Milliusiasm and belief that he is selling goods that will 
hemdit the })urchaser. 
Sf'Iling lo the trade is (juite ditlerent to selling to the 
eonsumer. The trade is easily approaehed and to a eer- 
laiu exhmt knows what it wants, hut in most eases the 
eonsunK'r has lirst to he interested and a desire created. 
M<‘rely im])ortuning })eople to buy is about as productive 
of good results as ])laying a })iano by main force. 
■ Ih'rsonally I ahvays found finding the prospects and 
gc'lling a lu'aring th(> most dinieult part of getting an 
Older. To land in a lown in mid-winter, unknown, with 
snow on the gi-ound, requires (juite a little courage and 
pt'rsisteney to find pi'os()eelive buyers. People are not in 
lh(‘ humor lo talk i)lauling, yet this is really the best time 
lo go al'h'r husimxss, and if done systematically it is pro¬ 
duct iv('. of results. 
Th(^ man building a new honu^ in the suburbs is invar¬ 
iably a good prosp(K*t if an inlelligent |)roposition can l)e 
|)ut Ix'fore him. Then tlnu’C is the constant buyer who 
lak('s a p(U'soual intei’est in his gi’ounds. 
Tlu're ar(^ few men who work in oflie<^s, especially 
among llu^ Ixdter class, who have not a longing to try 
llu'ir hand at a ehick('n farm, orchard or some interest 
(‘oniK'eled with the soil, and the man who knows trees 
and plants is usually welcome if they can be approached 
at th(‘ right time and in the right way. 
During a trip in the south, 1 recall an instance where a 
customer told me of a prospect who had just built a new 
home in a small country town. It was an out of the way 
|)lace and I could not afford to lose a day lo investigate. 
1 found however, there was a train that would land nu' 
tluu’C at nine in the evening and a through train that left 
at midnight, by which I could continue my journey. 
Landing at the small town at nearly 10 p. m. I went 
stund)ling along unlighted and un})aved streets trying to 
iind my prospect. Everyone seemed to be in bed or just 
about ready lo go. 
My sj)irits were about at zero wondering if they would 
set the dog on me or have me committed to a lunatic asy¬ 
lum, as luck would have it when I eventually located the 
itous(‘, they advised me Mr. B. was still at his office fur¬ 
ther down the street. 
Arririjog at his office I presented my card and told him 
who 1 was. that I was train stayed until midnight and 
looked him ut‘ to sec if I could not put the lime in talking 
landscap(' gaj'dcjiing and })lants. 
We talked until midjiight and he took me to the station 
to see me off on the train w ith an order that approximated 
JF500.00. 
The most unlikely times and places are often produc¬ 
tive of n^sults, the opposite is also true, where you ari' 
expecting big things it is not uncommon to have the big¬ 
gest item on your expense sheet. 
DITCHING WITHOUT HARD LABOR 
By M. C. Potter, Iowa. 
I believe in blasting ditches wdth dynamite where soil 
conditions are favorable. Strangely, the condition that 
is most favorable to blasting is about the most unfavor¬ 
able for any other method. The condition that especially 
calls for the dynamite treatment is a wet swampy soil— 
in many cases, completely covered wdth several inches of 
water and oftentimes the difficulties fuither complicated 
by a net-work of roots, or cattail grow th, or sunken logs, 
etc. 
I blast ditches in this ty[)e of soil by what is knowui as 
the propagated method; that is, place a cap and fuse in 
the charge in a center hole and let that charge by shock 
communicate down the line of charged holes on either 
side of the center. 
The spacing between holes must be governed by soil 
conditions. Thirty inches between holes is about the 
maximum distance that the method will work. It is best 
to try about five holes spaced at the maximum distance to 
begin with and see if it will cl(‘an out the ditch. If not, 
shorten the distance between holes until it is gotten right. 
Always aim to get the greatest possible distance between 
holes because by so doing the amount of dynamite is re¬ 
duced and the cost kept down to the minimum. 
I have just finished blasting a ditch by the method re¬ 
ferred to. For the first time I have tried using forty per 
cent, straight N. G. dynamite. Heretofore I had always 
used the sixty per cent, graded biit as that sells at retail 
for seven cents per pound higher than the forty per cent. 
I decided to try the latter lo see how it would work. I 
find that with the exception that it does not give me (juite 
so deep a ditch, it works just as satisfactorily in other 
respects. It will he readily seen that the substitution ef¬ 
fects a very large saving in the costs. 
In this case, I spaced my holes 15 inches apart, using 
tw o cartridges of the 40% straight N. G. dynamite to the 
hole. It gave me a ditch 7 feet wide at the top and 4 feet 
deep. The bore holes were punched about 34^ feet deej). 
No tamping was used because the holes filled with water 
over the charges. 
Where the mud is softer, it is sometimes possible to get 
a ditch almost this depth by using one cartridge of dyna¬ 
mite to the hole, but when this is done the cartridge must 
not be placed in deep holes. About 2iA feet is the limit 
