42 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
timistic about the future of perennials grower and be¬ 
lieves there lias never been a better opportunity than right 
now to make this group of plants what it should be to the 
flower lover. ‘‘I have so much confidence in our peren¬ 
nials/' he says, “that we are adding twenty more acres to 
our present outfit and these will be filled with them this 
year, if I should have to use the trowel myself.” And 
there is room for many more growers, for in my estima¬ 
tion, nine-tenths of the people do not know what they are. 
Many nurserymen, florists, seedsmen and even land¬ 
scape gardeners are not using them or are discouraging 
the selling of them because they do not know them. They 
don’t know what they are missing. 
It is the easiest thing in the world to sell an Old-Fash¬ 
ioned Flower-garden, or flower border for it is flowers 
the people want and rather those which require the least 
care. The perennial does not require much care and if 
once planted flourishes for many years. 
We do a little old-fashioned gardening ourselves for 
the reason that no landscape gardener or nurseryman 
around here seems to care about it and we have never 
failed yet to sell interested customers from 500 to 2000 
plants each, if we would plan it for them. 
For the nursery agent, they are splendid leaders and 
never failing starters of orders. A man may be hard to sell 
but the lady will usually fall for a fifty cents perennial 
and pave the way for the agent to book the important or¬ 
der. 
That is what I think of the perennials and we are mak¬ 
ing them as fast as we can and I believe, that if the grow¬ 
ers of perennials in America will grow the quality, and 
give everybody who can put them before the consumer, 
the service, it will not be long when every agent, land¬ 
scape gardener, florist and seedsman will be talking per¬ 
ennials and we have added a most valuable and profitable 
asset to our nursery business. 
THE PASSING OF THE OLD GUARD 
The way in which the Old Guard was steam-rollered 
at Chicago was certainly a beautiful piece of work, 
worthy of the Old Guard itself in its best days, when it 
did not hesitate even to turn over the nominations of the 
\ ice-Presidents’ Committee, if such recommendations 
did not conform to its ideas. It was a great piece of 
work, carefully thought out and planned in advance 
even to the minute details and stage effects, and such 
careful and efficient work always brings results. 
The campaign was opened by that evidently inspired 
article of Lovejoy’s in The Country Gentleman, notify¬ 
ing “the old-timers of the gang who sit with their fingers 
crossed and knock” that they would be fought to a finish. 
Advertising men, dry-goods men, newspaper men and 
magazine men were brought in to tell us what the nur¬ 
sery business needed. Silver-tongued, leather-lunged 
and strong-voiced orators were brought from near and 
far to the front line, and kept constantly and vociferously 
busy, so that if the Old Guard had any idea of making a 
contest they didn’t have a “look-in,” but were simply 
drowned out by words and sound and noise. 
The Old Guard never was much for oratory and noise 
and their methods were “pussy-foot” and “gum-shoe,” 
more like those of Tom Platt, the easy boss of New York 
State in the old days (perhaps Tom was a pattern). The 
Old Guard never had but one real orator and well do I 
remember the beautiful way in which he, at the behest 
of the Old Guard, upset the recommendation for Presi¬ 
dent, made by the Vice-Presidents in St. Louis. 
During the reign of the Old Guard, dues were nominal, 
expenses were light, necessary work was handled after 
a fashion by committees, many members of which la¬ 
bored faithfully and without recompense for the inter¬ 
ests of their fellow-members, and in a way, the adminis¬ 
tration of the Old Guard was efficient and satisfactory. 
Times do change and the world do move. The Old Guard 
did not read the signs and did not realize that the old-time 
“stand-pat” methods must give way to “progress,” “re¬ 
form.” “uplift” and “brotherhood/’ and at Detroit there 
appeared a Moses who promised to lead to a happier and 
better land and the time was ripe for such a leader. 
Why should the Old Guard—or anybody else— 
grumble and be sore? Why not stop and consider the 
benefits? We have taken over market development with 
its assets and liabilities, and have indirectly forced 
every nurseryman to subscribe to the publicity fund 
whether he believed in it or not—if he desired to retain 
his membership in our Association. (This has resulted 
in shrinking our membership to about two hundred.) 
We have the pleasure of paying largely increased dues. 
We have a paid secretary and manager with permanent 
office and office staff, equipment and expense account. 
Last year, we had a president and secretary constantly 
on guard, ready to journey east, west, north, or south to 
speak in our defence. We are in close touch with editors 
and advertising managers of agricultural and horticul¬ 
tural papers who have given us the pleasant opportunity 
of admitting that their suspicions of our rottenness and 
corruption were justified but that we were about to re¬ 
form and become like Ivory Soap—99 44-100% pure. 
(Read that inspiring article of Mr. Lovejoy’s in The 
Country Gentleman of June 19, 1920 and see how nobly 
and courageously his direct challenge to the Association 
was met by the action and report of our Vigilance Com¬ 
mittee). 
Why be critical and not constructive? Consider how 
our business was increased last year by publicity, and 
advertising the Association trade-mark with “The Asso¬ 
ciation’s assurance of satisfaction back of every pur¬ 
chase.” Why be suspicious that the Association or its 
responsible members may be called upon by an aggrieved 
purchaser to make good on its quarantee? Why worry 
until you are hit? Why not enjoy the pleasures of in¬ 
creased business and increased profits coming to all of 
us through such advertising? Perhaps no customer will 
get sore and perhaps it will be regarded as “bunk adver¬ 
tising” anyway, so, why should we worry? 
Why should the Old Guard wish to return to the old 
days, when everybody was expected to work for the 
good of the Association, when we can have a paid secre¬ 
tary and be managed by advertising salesmen, printers, 
and dry-goods merchants, who all assure us that a few 
thousand dollars spread over these great United States 
will bring us increased business and untold wealth? 
The Old Guard is dead; the old methods are out-grown. 
Let us go forward in the path mapped out for us. An¬ 
other increase in dues—more money, more advertising, 
more paid officers, more expenses; but—on the other 
hand, the satisfied feeling that we are operating under 
