357 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
Pacific Coast Association of Nurserymen—President S. C. Miller, 
Milton, Oregon; secretary-treasurer, C. A. Tonneson, Tacoma. 
Wash. Place of next meeting to be decided later. 
Pennsylvania Nurserymen’s Association—President, Adolf Muller, 
Norristown, Pa. Secretary, Henry T. Moon, Morrlsvllle, Pa. 
Southern Nurserymen’s Association—President, O. W. Fraser, Blrm- 
InKham. Ala.: Vice-president, H. C. Caldwell, Atlanta, Ga.: Secre¬ 
tary and Treasurer, O. Joe Howard, Pomona, N. C. The next meet¬ 
ing is to be held in Birmingham the 21st and 22nd of August. 
South Western Nurseryman’s Association—President, W. A. Wagner. 
Durant, Okla. Vice Pres., J. M. Ramsey, Austin, Texas. Secre¬ 
tary-Treasurer, L. J. Tackett, Fort Worth, Texas. The next meet¬ 
ing will be held in Dennison, Texas, First Wednesday in Septem¬ 
ber. 
Tennessee Nurserymen’s Association—President, George W. Poague, 
Graysville, Tenn. Secretary-treasurer, G. M. Bentley, Knoxville, 
Tenn. 
Tennessee State Florists’ Association—President, Leon Geny, Nash¬ 
ville, Tenn. Secretary-treasurer, G. M. Bentley, Knoxville, Tenn. 
Texas Nurserymen’s Association—President, William B. Munson. 
Denison, Texas; secretary-treasurer, J. M. Ramsey, Austin, Texas. 
Western Association of Nurserymen—President, Lloyd C. Stark. 
Louisiana, Mo.; secretary-treasurer, E. J. Holman, Leavenworth. 
Kan Meets annually second Wednesday in December. 
INERTIA 
Tlioiiias Carlisle said “Men have immense irresolution 
and inertia” possibly this exjilains the indifferent atti¬ 
tude of nurserymen and others towards matters that are 
a])parently vital to them. Market Development, Foreign 
Plant Exelusion, Standardization of Nursery Products, 
a uniform practice in selling at wholesale, etc. Per¬ 
haps once a year at the various conventions these sub¬ 
jects are brought up, discussed, committees are appointed 
to act upon them and then they are scarcely heard of 
again by the great majority until another year rolls 
around. Each individual is apparently too busy w ith his 
own ])articular affairs su he leaves it to George and 
George has more than he can attend to. » 
What a tremendous interest wmuld be given to any of 
these movements if every nurseiyman with an opinion 
of his own would write hisyiew^s to the trade papers. 
What a help it would be to the few" wmrkers in the Na¬ 
tional Association and how" much quicker would senti¬ 
ment crystalize either for or against any particular line 
of action. 
Rut as my old professor in physics used to say “Inertia 
is difficult to overcome, things w"Ould rather stay as they 
are.” 
“Say it with Flow"ers” is the slogan adopted by the 
Florists. 
The nurseryman, not l)eing so sentimental and much 
mor(‘ practical, w"ill have to adopt “Do it by Planting” as 
Iheii s if they w ish to keep up w ith the band w agon. 
HOW DO YOU FIND YOUR BUSINESS? 
It is not all of us who have sufficient ca])ilal to adver¬ 
tise so as to have sufficient husincss handed to us by the 
mail (‘very morning. 
When we hav(^ figured out the larg(‘st appropriation 
we possibly can. it looks pitiably small in comparison 
with what w(‘ ought to have, and tlu’n how" to spend it 
so it will h(‘ tnost effective to bring the most profitahh* n*- 
sults is a problem. 
N(‘aiiy (‘V(‘ry publication and advertising nK'dinm, 
giv(‘n th(‘ opportunity, w ill begin to convince you by facts 
and tigni‘(‘s that th(*ir particular medium is by far the 
h(‘st. " ' 
Altei’ considering tiu'm all the (juestion is far from set¬ 
tled in your own mind just what to do. Find husitu’ss 
you must in one way or another. Whether you ar(‘ the 
propri(‘tor of a on(‘-horse concern or the director’ gen- 
ei’al of a million dollar coi’por’ation the [U’oblem is the 
same. 
flow best to do it you will hav(i to decid(‘ for yourself. 
Advei’tising of the [rresent day has become so complex 
and of such gi’cat volume that oidy thousand dollar 
shouts ai’e likely to he heard w hen addi’essed to the mul¬ 
titude. Many of us feel this so sui-ely that we have little 
faith that oui’ hundred dollar scjueak will be lu'ard. 
This is a w rong view or a misleading one Irecause ad¬ 
vertising is done mei’ely to find more business for our 
own particular concei’n and it may not be necessar’y to 
shout so very har’d if we can gain the attention I'ecpiired 
by other methods. 
Advertising ice skates in Florida or apple trees to city 
dw eller’s is not likely to be profitable. 
Five dollars <(mi1h of phone calls to selected par’ties 
is preferable to a thousand dollars spent in such a man¬ 
ner so that after all it is up to eacli individual to figure 
(rut his owm problems, how" to find business?. 
The i’(‘tail nursei’yrnan depends pr’imai’ily on his mail¬ 
ing list of selected names, acquired by acquaintance, sug¬ 
gested to him by others, blue books, transfer of pr’op- 
er’ties clipjred fi’orn the newspapers, garden clubs, lurild- 
ing renoT’ts and numei’ous other sources. The inor’e care¬ 
ful this list is compiled and kept up to date the mor’e val¬ 
uable it is. Among these be finds business, by personal 
solicitation, letters, catalogues, special offers, or in any 
way be can possibly arouse their interest in wdiat he has 
to sell. 
Customers are like money, if w"ell taken care of they 
grow’ in quantity. 
A satisfied customer is the best possible asset a bus¬ 
iness can have, and prosperous is tbe business that can 
grow in sucb a manner. 
The wdmlesaler’s problem of finding business is not 
(piite so complex. 
His maling list is mucli less expensively compiled and 
is more or less fixed. 
Tbe main problem is to convince tbe buyers that deal¬ 
ing w’ith him is to be preferred to all others, on account 
of quality, service, liberality or some other obvious rea¬ 
son. 
Other things being equal, or nearly so, the firm most 
likely to g(‘t the business is the one that makes it (‘asy 
for th(‘ customer t(» do business w ith them. 
