i8 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
GOOD PHILOSOPHY 
Should a Young Man Choose the Nursery Business for a Vocation? 
A. WILLIS, Ottawa, Kansas 
The choice of a vocation is one of the most serious things 
that comes to a young man. To many young men it means 
the directing of his whole life in some direction; to others it 
means a start to be abandoned for something else the first 
time some glittering gewgaw is presented to attract atten¬ 
tion. These are not now under consideration. Very many 
young men never choose a vocation. Their circumstances 
are such that they naturally drift into this business or that, 
and when once started no particular time comes when any 
inducement to change is seen; and so it is settled with no 
particular choice on the part of the young man as to what 
he shall do for his vocation. 
It is said in China a son must follow the vocation of his 
father. In many cases in this country he is in this or that 
just because he is. But the young man we have in mind is 
one of your intelligent, purposeful men, who has somewhat 
of education, goCd habits, and a purpose in life to make his 
life count something of usefulness to his fellowmen and to 
himself. He is one of the kind who, when he puts his hand 
to the plow goes forward and says, “My choice is made, and 
now the question is, how to make the best of it.” He has 
learned something of the losses and risks and uncertainties 
incident to this business. He has also learned something of 
the value of this calling to the farm and village and to the 
country at large. He also knows something of the 
inducements offered by other lines of business. He is 
at an age when, if he ever chooses, he must choose. 
You have a friendly interest in this young man; you would 
advise him if you could. You have knowledge of the 
business, its history, its opportunities, its usefulness, its 
influence on young men and on the community in which the 
business is conducted and on the country at large. You 
know something of the young man, his abilities and capa¬ 
bilities, and his adaptability to this work. You want him 
to succeed in getting the largest success for himself in all 
lines. You are anxious his business should be a help in the 
community where it is situated, and that it should contri¬ 
bute its share in beautifying and benefitting the country at 
large. With all this before him, shall he choose the nursery 
business for a vocation? Would you advise him to choose 
this business for his vocation? 
Remember, that few nurserymen are rich. So far as 
is known to the writer, there is no nurseryman worth a 
million who has made his money in the nursery business in 
this country. There is, so far as known to the writer, no 
nursery firm who has ever handled a million dollars worth 
of nursery stock in any one year in the regular way of trade. 
There have been few great men among nurserymen and few 
ever held high official positions. This calling does not 
promise large success in a business or financial way, nor yet 
in official honors and preferments; but it does promise, if 
faithfully followed, a comfortable support and in some cases 
a degree of luxury for its members. It promises, if carefully 
cultivated, good character, and in large degree the con¬ 
fidence and good will of those with whom you associate. 
You will have the satisfaction of knowing that no one 
does more to adorn the landscape or make beautiful the 
home of the working man or the mansion of the rich, and no 
one has contributed more to promote the pleasure and good 
health of his fellowmen than the people who have supplied 
the planter and the orchardist and the landscape artist 
with the fruit and ornamental trees they have needed for 
their work. 
LEST YOU FORGET 
Before deciding how you would advise this young man, 
let me ask that you call to mind your own experiences as a 
nurseryman. Do not forget the drouth that cut short your 
crop nor the hail storm that destroyed it when it was partly 
grown. Do not forget the bogus dealer who bought a big 
bill of you and then paid nothing. Do not forget the man 
who came to you with fair promises and whom you trusted, 
and who when payday came laughed at you and did not 
even thank you. Do not forget the railroad company that 
delayed your trees en route so your plans for your packing 
were altogether disarranged, and when you shipped them 
out failed to get them to the place of delivery on time, and 
then refused to make good the loss their neglect had caused; 
for if you are a nurseryman you have suffered all these things 
and probably more. You have done your best work and 
seen it fail to bring the results you thought should have been 
realized. 
While all these things are true and they brought 
loss and trouble, do not forget you also have had your 
measure of success. The bright sunshine and the gentle 
rain and the fertile acres and the efforts you have been able 
to put forth have brought you a measure of success that has 
given you much satisfaction. Life to you has been a battle 
and you have felt the joy of victory much more often than 
you have felt the sting of defeat, and the sum of your vic¬ 
tories has been so much greater than the sum of your defeats 
that now you look over the past and say you have been the 
better and are today the stronger for the opposition you 
have met. It must be remembered that riches and official 
honors and the honors that many esteem so highly are not 
the greatest things in life. You feel stronger for the fight 
you have made, and your experience is worth much, so that 
from the present, as we look back, we say we have more to 
be thankful for than we have to complain of; and we should 
not hesitate to say, or in any way qualify the statement, we 
are glad we have given our life to the calling of the nursery¬ 
man, and we should advise, if the young man was a suitable 
man for such calling, that he go forward to his life work as a 
nurseryman with courage and hope and a purpose to suc¬ 
ceed, believing that if he will he may succeed well. Then 
should a young man choose the nursery business for a 
vocation? Yes, if he desires to do so. 
