THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
11 7 
That lesson soaked in. Every business man knows it is a 
part of sound business not to extend credit unless there is a 
good reason to believe the bill will be paid promptly. As a 
rule, firms who will not give prompt, courteous replies as to 
their financial responsibility and commercial standing are 
not entitled to credit. A man who becomes insulted because 
his credit is questioned is not worthy of credit. A party 
who is financially responsible but who is a faultfinder or 
disagreeable, is not as desirable a customer as the honest, 
decent man who is not financially responsible; I’d rather 
extend credit to the latter type. When you extend credit, 
do it with your whole heart, if you refuse credit do it in a clear 
way that the other man will understand the first time; if 
he gets mad you may know you have acted wisely. There 
is no inflexible rule for extending credit in the nursery busi¬ 
ness; I’ve credited a man on faith in his particular human 
nature with entire satisfaction; I’ve credited a man because 
of the way his name was spelled, and collected quick; I’ve 
credited a man because he was a nurseryman in Rochester, 
New York, and never got the pay; I’ve filled a telegraphic 
order from a financially responsible firm who refused the 
goods because they said they did not send the telegram, 
received a written order from the same firm, which was 
returned with the information that the letter must be sworn 
to before a Notary before the order would be accepted, and 
finally got the money on that particular transaction. 
Prior to 1906, twenty to twenty-five tree men were due 
us balances of from $10.00 to $100.00 each; the parties were 
not entitled to credit, they had ordered more than their 
remittances amounted to of goods that looked to be unsala¬ 
ble; we shipped the stuff and took our chances on collection. 
The accounts were of two to five years standing, the parties 
had stopped dealing with us. On July 1st, 1906, I wrote a 
nice letter to each, begging pardon for the account and 
enclosed a receipted bill, saying I had taken the liberty of 
paying the account myself, and if anything was wrong we 
would make it satisfactory. Only one man replied; he sent a 
post office order for $6.00 and said he “did not need to have 
no man pay for his poor trees.’’ More than 50% of those 
men sent us business the next season but always cash with 
the order, if a small balance the bill was receipted in full. 
Rather than sell your surplus stock on credit to doubtful 
parties, burn it, you will make more money, save your ink 
and postage and be a heap happier. . A tree man who is just 
a little bashful about paying, is the most diffident man in 
the world; a tree man who is plumb honest and can’t help 
it is a little nobler than the other honest *man. 
I’ve credited men who were financially responsible, who 
paid promptly, but from whom I would not dare buy, and 
right here is the most particular part of the whole business. 
Buyers of nursery stock are fast learning to investigate the 
credit of the men with whom they deal. “The nursery 
trade of the country is fast going to a higher plane, unrelia¬ 
ble tree men are being eliminated all for the betterment and 
permanency of the business.’’ 
The nursery business is calculated to show up the indi¬ 
viduality of men; it will give you a pretty good idea if the 
party you deal with is fair and decent and loves to “tote’ 
fair, or if he is mean and will take advantage of little things 
to get ahead of you a nickle. 
To you men who are growing nursery stock for a living, 
I want to say, the day is just dawning for the nurseryman 
who knows his business and attends to it the best he knows, 
who sees to it that his stuff is a trifle better than he has 
represented, who is square and liberal and demands the very 
top prices for his product. That type of nursery business 
will always find a market among the very best customers in 
the land. 
FRENCH GARDENS IN THE VICINITY OF PARIS. 
Vegetable growing is almost a fine art in many parts of 
France. The French gardeners are among the most expert 
in the world. While there is considerable similarity of 
method throughout France, yet in the vicinity of Paris, a 
system somewhat peculiar to the region, prevails. In that 
section, the principal crops are lettuce, of the cabbage and 
cos varieties, radishes, endives, turnips, carrots, spring 
onions, etc. The French system aims to produce early 
crops by using warm, moist soil and artificially moistened 
atmosphere and an abundance of plant food. 
Crops which bring the largest returns are those which 
appear in the Parisian markets from one to three months in 
advance of their natural season. Nearly all crops are 
grown under some system of protection, but this protection 
is not given by use of greenhouses as is the case in this coun¬ 
try. Frames of one sort or another are used almost ex¬ 
clusively. Under this French system then, no green¬ 
houses are employed. 
The seeds are sown in the ground and, contrary to the 
usual practice are not transplanted at all. Under the best 
conditions, three, four and even as high as six or seven crops 
are taken from the same ground in one year. To illustrate, 
let us begin about the middle of February when a crop of 
radishes and carrots is sown and among these lettuce is 
planted from a bed sown in the autumn. The radishes are 
pulled in five to eight weeks. While this has been going on 
the carrots are thinned and cauliflowers are planted in the 
places where the lettuce is cut out. This has all been going 
on under frames and we have now arrived at a time in the 
spring when the protection is removed. The carrots are 
harvested in April and May and the cauliflower in May and 
fune. This gives practically four crops within five months. 
As the cauliflowers are being removed other crops such as 
open-air tomatoes, vegetable marrows and celery or broc¬ 
coli are put in. 
The way in which this is all done requires a great deal of 
attention to detail and the expenditure of a large amount of 
labor and considerable investment of money. It looks 
excessive to say that the expense of developing and carrying 
on the work on an acre for the first year will amount to 
$8,000 but on the other hand returns from $3,000 to $3,500 
are looked for the first year and thereafter, while the work¬ 
ing expenses drop to about $1,000 per acre. 
PECANS. 
A good pecan story comes from Texas. It is stated that on the 
ranch of P. B. McCourry, situated in San Saba County, there 
stands a giant pecan tree which has yielded as much as 560 pounds 
of nuts, selling for 50 cents per pound, or $280. It is reported that 
the owner of the tree has refused $150 for the crop this season, but 
be expects to realize much more for it by selling the nuts at 7 5 cents 
per pound, which he claims to be able to secure. 
