266 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
the most popular nursery items arranged in collections 
in such a way that any of them can he folded out. What¬ 
ever they ask about is folded out and attracts first atten¬ 
tion when opened. At the same time we refer the name 
to our nearest saleman. 
We can already see results from our campaign al¬ 
though we did not look for any real returns the first year. 
Advertising does and will pay any nurseryman who 
properly adapts it to his particular business. Our cam¬ 
paign would not .lit a mail order nursery or even an 
agency nursery operating near a large city. Before start¬ 
ing an advertising campaign a study of the particular 
problem in hand should be made, even if it, takes six or 
eight months. Before we placed a line of advertising we 
sent out about a hundred letters to advertising agencies 
and farm papers to get their ideas on the subject. A few 
years ago when we first began to think about an adver¬ 
tising campaign we sent out between three and four 
thousand letters to nurserymen in order to find out the 
general opinions on size of ads and other points. Then 
a few months before getting the copy ready, we sent out 
twelve hundred letters to repreentative farmers of the 
Northwest to find out about nurserymen from their point 
of view. This last letter was not sent out on our own 
stationery, so we received some true sentiments. 
If a nurseryman would consider an ad as his double 
he would readily be convinced that advertising pays. 
Isn’t it true that a nureryman is questioned many times 
a year about planting of some kind ? As he travels among 
his friends and neighbors, at social gatherings, at golf, 
at lodge, and even at church, he is cornered and asked 
about shrubs and trees; about a windbreak or orchard. 
People think about trees and plants when they see their 
friend Mr. Nurseryman. But a man cannot be in more 
than one place at once so this kind of advertising and good 
will building is limited. An ad, however, may be read 
by a hundred thousand people in one evening and if 
properly written up and illustrated can create the same 
goodwill and friendship that the nurseryman can him¬ 
self. By right kind of advertising a nurseryman can ex¬ 
tend his personality over a large area and if consistently 
carried on until folks become acquainted, they will re¬ 
member him when they place their order. 
We want to help convince fellow nurserymen on the 
value of advertising for the more of us that get into it 
the more we will all profit. But we know a national 
campaign will never be perfected if attempted along the 
same methods as recently tried. There are too many 
opinions about advertising. When things get nicely 
started some unbeliever will knock out part of the foun¬ 
dation and the whole structure will topple. The only way 
to get results is to find the best man in the country for 
the job, pledge him an advertising appropriation of from 
$50,000.00 to $100,000.00 a year for not less than five 
years and then put him in full and absolute charge for 
five years, with death or disloyalty the only reason for 
removal from office. But if he is subject to orders from 
a committee of two or a dozen, watch out for squalls. 
Progress is sure-footed and sooner or later nursery¬ 
men will come to advertising and a national campaign. 
It took us several years to decide upon our present cam¬ 
paign and will take that many more to scare us off. But 
by that time we hope to increase our appropriation and 
we would like to see other nurseries follow our lead. 
Then and only then will advertising have a fair chance 
to do lor nurserymen what it has done for other indus¬ 
tries. 
The inclosed ads are some of our recent ones. 
Yours very cordially, 
WEDGE NURSERY, 
Y. L. RUSHFELDT, 
Sales Manager. 
The leaflets and folder enclosed prove the author is do¬ 
ing his own thinking. 
Most nursery literature is as set in its style and phrase¬ 
ology as that belonging to ecclesiasticism. 
That from the Wedge Nursery is refreshingly different. 
EDITOR. 
AS I SEE IT 
By M. T. Nutt 
I heard a man once say, "It takes an optimist to be a 
successful nurseryman, and he said a mouthful. A nur¬ 
seryman who cannot say, “Oh, wed, better luck next 
time,” better give away his business and take a job as 
office boy in a “skyscraper” in Dunkirk, N. Y. 
I know of no undertaking where a man takes more 
“chances” than the nurseryman. Gambling is mere child’s 
play along side of it. A nurseryman takes chances on 
the weather, too wet or too dry, or an early freeze up in 
the fall' or a late opening in the spring Ilail, heavy wind 
storms that blow out promising buds that have just 
started into growth, scale, Japanese beetles, cut worms, 
gypsie and brown-tail moth, State and Federal legisla¬ 
tion and quarantines, and then when he finally has his 
crop ready for the market, there is likely to be an “over¬ 
stock” and he has to sell it at cost or less. 
If there is a general “slump” in all business he is the 
first to feel its effects—and when it improves, he is the 
last one to benelit by it. 
At this writing, just in the middle of shipping season, 
he is threatened by a general railroad strike and his cus¬ 
tomers are writing him, “Cancel my order, I am afraid 
the ‘strike’ will tie it up on the road.” By the time the 
strike is over, or even if it does not come.off, it will be 
too late to pick,up these orders again. 
Railroad strikes and embargoes are the bane of his 
life. They most always occur in the spring, right in the 
middle of shipping season. I think this is the first one, 
in my recollection, when a railroad strike has occurred 
in the fall. 
It looks as though it will be a “fizzle,” but I believe we 
are all hoping that if it does come off, that it may be a 
fight to the finish, even if we do suffer loss now. If there 
is one thing the nurseryman needs more than another, 
it’s lower freight rates, and it seems to be the consensus 
of opinion that railroad wages must come down before 
there can be a revision of freight tariff. 
There is a prevailing opinion “outside” the trade that 
there is an enormous profit in the nursery business. If 
a tree is sold for $1.50 the net profit to the nurseryman is 
