160 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
Chicago at Hotel Sherman. Five hundred of the leaders 
in American Iloiliciilture should be in attendance on this 
occasion. We should every one of us go there determined 
to put something into this convention, and if we do we 
will get something out of this meeting. This is going to 
be a business meeting, and there wilt he something do¬ 
ing every hour of the three days. Furthermore, it is 
your meeting. Not only should it be your pleasure to be 
present, but it is your duty. There will be a report from 
a special committee on Association policy that you can’t 
afford to miss. This committee will endeavor to recom¬ 
mend to the convention a policy of standardization which 
should be far reaching in its effects. Don’t miss this 
report. The Executive Committee has collected and dis¬ 
bursed your funds for a year and will render account of 
their stewardship, you should be there to approve or dis¬ 
approve their action and direct their future course. And 
if you are on the job with your eyes open and your ear 
to the ground, you should be there determined that the 
future of American Association of Nurserymen shall be 
FORWARD. 
I expect to see you in Chicago, June 25th. 
Yours for a great meeting, 
J. R. Mayhew^ President. 
Waxahachie, Texas, May lOtli, 1919. 
The Yeast is Beginning to Work 
National Service Bureau Publicity Campaign Showing Results. More Nurserymen 
should take advantage of Syndicated. Articles and Lecture Service. 
“Does general educational publicity build business?” 
“Yes, it does—and we can prove it” says Manager 
Rockwell of the Nurserymen’s National Seiwice Rureau. 
“You don’t have to take my word for it, however. Just 
consider the following facts: 
“Every time anyone suggests National Publicity for nur¬ 
serymen and mentions, as an argument in favor of it, 
what the California Fruit Growers, or some other asso¬ 
ciation, has done, somebody in the back row is seen to 
rise up and say: 
“ ‘Yes,—yes. Rut our ])roposition is different. You 
can’t standardize nursery stock. And without standar¬ 
dization publicity ain’t wortb a Tiidcer’s Tink!’ 
“Well, let’s see about that. Let’s take the things near¬ 
est akin to the nursery trade—seeds and flowers. (And, 
incidentally nobody bas ever succeeded in standardizing 
seeds or flowers!) 
“If you know any seedmen at all, you know what the 
demand for vegetable seeds bas been this last three 
years. Last year it ran way ahead of the year Ix'fore; 
this year, according to a suiTcy just com])leted by the 
Seed World, 40 per cent of the retail seed houses report 
sales running ahead of last yeai', notwithstanding greatly 
increased prices. Mr. Pack. President of the National 
AV'^ar Garden Commission, told me the other day that they 
estimated from their field agents’ reports, a veiy substan¬ 
tial increase in the number of home gardens this year— 
although the war is over. 
“WHY? 
“Any seedsman will tell you that the Publicity given 
to home gardening by the National War Garden Com¬ 
mission and the Department of Agriculture has helped 
tremendously the sales of vegetable seeds. The point of 
greatest interest is: the demand has kept iij) even after 
the war stimulus has ceased! 
“And as to flowers: cei'tainly they cannot be standar¬ 
dized. They are, compared to either vegetables or nur¬ 
sery stock, a luxuiy. Rut last year, with the war still on. 
and Red Cross and War Chest Campaigns being pushed, 
business in flowers increased! 
“WHY? 
“Well, the leading florists of the country are satisfied 
that the increase was due to their publicity campaign. 
That they are not merely talking when they say that is 
proved by the fact that they are putting up more money 
this year than they did last year for the publicity cam¬ 
paign, although the war is over. And when a man talks 
with a check, he means what he says. 
“And this year, although prices are higher than they 
have been for several years, nurserymen have found a 
bigger demand for their product than ever before. 
“Again, why? 
“Again, the answer is Publicity. The work of the nur¬ 
serymen’s National Seiwice Rureau was not started un¬ 
til the beginning of this year, but for weeks past pros¬ 
pective planters have been urged by the series of edu¬ 
cational articles which the Rureau has sujiplied to over 
600 especially selected newspapers throughout the eas¬ 
tern and mid-western states, to plant. Over a million 
and a half prosjiective buyers have been told the advan¬ 
tages of PLANTING, have had suggested to them what to 
PLANT, and have been instructed how to plant for suc¬ 
cessful results; they have been helped in the care of the 
things they have already planted—and in the proportion 
that they sueceed with whatever they have already 
planted they will plant other things. 
“Read carefully the letter above from Mr. Charles Dex¬ 
ter Allen, Manager of the Sendee Division of the Inde¬ 
pendent. 
“When Mr. Allen asked me for a list of nurserymen 
who could be recommended he did not know that any 
publicity had been carried on by the nurserymen. He 
did not know that I was connected in any w^ay w ith the 
nursery industry. Rut he did know, as his letter states, 
that the magazine w ith wdiicli he is connected, and which 
has a large country circulation, had been receiving a 
NOTICEABLE INCREASE ill the nuuiber of in(|uiries regard¬ 
ing where certain trees, shrubs and ornamentals could 
be obtained. Of course, the work of the Nurserymen’s 
