THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
156 
THE GOVERNMENT PRESS SERVICE 
The United States Department of Agriculture main¬ 
tains a press service, from that office came, last month, 
a document entitled “Government brings streams of new 
giants for field, forest , garden and doorgard.’’ 
A sub-heading, in the form of a quotation by Henry 
Van Dyke: “He that planteth a tree is a servant of God,” 
etc. The article was released for Thursday morning pa¬ 
pers, not being held for the magazine section of the 
Sunday morning papers, indicates a lack of finesse by 
the Government press agent. 
There is something lacking in dignity when a depart¬ 
ment of the Government of so great a country copies the 
methods of a press agent of a circus to arouse the inter¬ 
est of the people in the work it is carrying on. 
If the Dep artment of Agriculture feels it necessary, 
to the public welfare, to tell of its work in the way of 
plant introduction, why not give a little credit to that 
vast army of horticulturists, travellers and explorers and 
nurserymen who through private initiative and enter¬ 
prise so enriched the country before the department put 
a stop to it by quarantine. 
It is perhaps well the Government has put a stop to 
all such initiative and enterprise of her citizens. By 
quarantine 37 a reason was given—to prevent the intro¬ 
duction of insect pests and diseases. But to claim so 
much credit for its wonderful work is unbecoming, be¬ 
cause the cost is passed on to the taxpayers. 
Governments, like other institutions, are an evolution, 
and it is beginning to appear as if its functions cannot 
well be defined. It begins to prescribe what we shall eat 
and what we shall drink and what we shall wear but 
for another decade, at least, it should not usurp the in¬ 
dividual’s prerogative of being foolish. 
National Planting Service 
A TO MAKE - 
MERIcA beautiful 
CONDUCTED BY AMERICAN ASS'N OF NURSERYMEN 
F.F. ROCKWELL,^ 
BRIDGETON, N. J." 
QUARTER OF A MILLION BOOKLETS DISTRIBUTED 
IN ADDITION TO OTHER WORK CARRIED ON 
New Slogan Being Used Bg Many Newspapers As Well 
A s By Nurserymen 
Building more business for the nurserymen of the 
country was the job for which the National Planting- 
Service, which is carried on by the Market Development 
Committee of the American Association of Nurserymen, 
was created. 
The work which the National Planting Service has 
carried on during the past year has been highly success- 
lul. The newspapers of the country are realizing more 
and more that their readers are really interested in infor¬ 
mation concrning gardening and planting of all kinds, 
and are using the material sent out more freely than they 
ever have before. 
In addition to the material used, there has been a very 
noticeable increase in the amount of editorial space de¬ 
voted to planting, and particularly to permanent plant¬ 
ing, the growing of trees, shrubs, vines and hardy plants 
which will help to turn the house into a home. 
PUBLICITY SERVICE FOR MEMBERS OF AMERICAN 
ASSOCIATION ADDED 
In addition to the general publicity articles, covering 
different classes of ornamentals, fruit, evergreens, etc., 
telling the people what and how to plant and suggesting 
why they should plant, there has been added this year 
to the work carried on by the National Planting Service, 
an individual publicity service for the benefit of the mem¬ 
bers of the American Association of Nurserymen. 
The aim of this service is to help, in every way possible 
and practical, the individual members of the association 
with material and suggestions for their own individual 
efforts. When everybody is “planting publicity,” to 
quote President Paul, the harvest will, of course, be very 
much greater than if the work is left to the Market De¬ 
velopment Committee alone. The work of the Associa¬ 
tion should help the individual; and the work of the in¬ 
dividual will help the association—and in this way there 
is more business built for everybody. 
The first effort along this line was the preparation of 
two booklets which, while they would have been rather 
expensive for any individual firm to get up, were, when 
published in quantity, cheap enough so that they could 
be used freely in correspondence for “following up” 
small order customers, to send to inquiries, etc. 
The first of these booklets, “It’s Not a Home Till It’s 
Planted,” is eight pages, with the first page in color and 
points out in a suggestive way the advantages and the de¬ 
sirability of so planting the home place that it becomes 
not merely a house, but a home. 
The second booklet, “It’s Not a Farm Home Without 
Fruit,” covers both the advantages of plenty of fruit 
for the home and also is a summary of the facts and fig¬ 
ures which are available to proove that the country faces 
a decreasing fruit supply for the immediate future and 
the opportunities which there are in fruit growing. 
The orders received for these booklets so far have to¬ 
taled a quarter of a million, and from the comments and 
letters which have been received, it seems very probable 
that a half a million more will be wanted for this fall’s 
work. 
SLOGANS WIDELY USED BY BOTH MEMBERS OF THE 
ASSOCIATION AND NEWSPAPERS 
Another part of this publicity service to nurserymen 
was the furnishing of cuts of the twin slogans, “It’s not 
a Home Till It’s Planted” and “It’s Not a Farm Home 
Without Fruit.” 
By purchasing a quantity of electros of these cuts, in 
both single and double column size, it was possible to 
offer a complete set of six cuts to members of the asso¬ 
ciation for one dollar. 
These cuts, concerning which we have received many 
enthusiastic comments, have been purchased by over 
90% of the members of the association and have been 
used freely in catalogues, circulars, on letterheads, en¬ 
velopes, etc. 
At the present time, the American Society of Landscape 
Architects is assisting in the preparation of a new draw- 
