120 
NURSERYMAN 
THE NATIONAI 
the order for the goods and shipping instructions written on 
it. If there is anything else to write about at the same time, 
write i$, on a letter sheet,—don’t put it on the order sheet. 
Most well regulated offices file their orders separate from their 
letters. 
I have here a copy of an order sheet such as we use. Un¬ 
fortunately in many cases the instructions noted thereon 
might as well be omittted because no attention is paid to 
them, thereby resulting in confusion and vexation finally to 
the party from whom we ordered the goods as well as ourselves. 
This order sheet states how to ship the goods and if to be 
forwarded direct to our customer, it is plainly stated. Where 
we have the stock shipped direct to us, it is to cover some 
item that is required to fill an order of one of our customers. 
To simplify matters we have a system of letters and numbers 
by which all correspondence pertaining to such orders can 
easily be traced and when shipment reaches our packing 
house the foreman can tell at once without opening the box 
or bale what order the goods are to be used in and it is set 
aside unopened until it is required. 
For instance we send an order to James Blank for certain 
stock,—it is to be marked “M. S.” No. 36. The digging sheet 
containing the order in which Blank’s stock is to be used is 
marked ‘'Purchased stock M. S. No. 36” with a record of 
Blank’s name affixed, or several names if more than one 
order of stock has been purchased for this shipment. When 
our goods are dug and sent into the packing house the fore¬ 
man can quickly assemble the several shipments that have 
come in marked “M. S. No. 36” and everything works lovely. 
Now that all seems very simple, and the instructions on the 
order sheet are very plain, but a good many people to whom 
we send these orders seem to think it was gotten up especially 
to annoy them or give them extra work,—at any rate they 
do not pay any attention to it. Trouble first starts when we 
receive a printed acknowledgement of the order, reading 
something like this,—“Yours of the 24th received and will 
have our careful attention.” That is clear enough as far as 
it goes, and does not commit them to anything in particular. 
The order sheet reads “Mark number of order and initial on 
bill and acknowledgment” but he does not pay any attention 
to that. We may have sent him three separate orders on the 
24th and the card acknowledgment gives us no idea of which 
of the three it refers to. After some work in hunting through 
copies of orders we have sent out and perhaps after all have 
to send the acknowledgment card back to the sender to get 
the information, we get it straightened out. This loss of 
time would have been saved if instructions had been followed. 
When the bill is forwarded, we probably have to go through 
the same thing again, because the number and initials were 
not marked on it as directed and we cannot properly check 
it up. 
Finding that these instructions were so frequently neglected 
it seemed to be that we had asked more of the nurseryman 
than he was willing to do, and the omission occurring so 
frequently and creating so much confusion we had a special 
acknowledgment postal card printed, which we now fill out 
with the order number and initials and enclose with each 
order sent out. That seems to fix it so far, but I expect to 
get a card back some day without any signature on it,— 
then we will have to commence filling in the signatures too. 
THE TAG PROBLEM : EXPRESSAGE. 
We have our printed tags to be used and attached to all 
shipments sent to us. On these we note the order number 
and initials and the name of the firm from whom we ordered 
the goods so that the shipment can be identified when it 
arrives. On the tags used for express shipments we have 
printed “Notice to Express Agents.” This package con¬ 
tains plants or seeds and is subject to 20 per cent, legs than 
merchandise rates. “See General Specials.” We happen to 
occupy the position as express agent at Dresher Station and 
by checking up the way bills and comparing them with the 
tariff we found that agents were very apt to ship goods at 
merchandise rates and fail to give us the advantage of the 20 
per cent, discount to which all nurserymen are entitled. 
Since printing this notice on our tags this rarely happens now. 
AYu can save many a dollar on your express bill if you have 
this notice printed on your tags. There is another clause on 
the order sheet that we find it is difficult to have carried out. 
It reads “Charge to this Office. Do not confuse with any 
account or orders you may have from our Germantown 
Office.” 
That seems to be the hardest nut of all the crack. At the 
close of the season, nine times out of ten the bills for the two 
places are rolled into one account, and they have to be straight¬ 
ened out before settlement can be made. There is surely no 
excuse for this, and there is something wrong in an office 
where such a thing can occur. 
I was unmercifully “roasted” this spring, because I wrote 
a firm and explained that the letter he wrote we evidently 
referred to an order which must have been sent him from 
our Germantown office, and I could tell him nothing about it, 
It is a grave mistake for a manager of an office to let his temper 
get the better of him and it is even worse to put it down on 
paper. 
Did you ever notice how careless people are in drawing 
check and money orders? Our firm name is printed in good 
clear type on all our stationery and catalogues, and we have 
our bills printed “Draw checks to the order of Thomas 
Meehan & Sons, Inc.,” yet checks are received drawn to the 
order of Thomas Meehan, Meehan & Sons, T. B. Meehan & 
Sons, Thomas Meehan & Sons and so on down the list. 
LOOSE LEAF LEDGER SYSTEM. 
In the good old days when we got $20.00 to $25.00 per 
hundred for 2 to 3 feet Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora and 
never less than $15.00 to $20.00 per 100 for any variety of 
shrub of that size, and the “Surplus List” with" Prices cut in 
half” had not yet made their appearance, we made out our 
bills with pen and ink and wrote them in the day book or 
journal in the same good old way. That is too slow now,— 
we must keep up with the march of improvements if we ex¬ 
pect to keep our work up to date. It would take a small army 
of bookkeepers going now to do it in that way. 
The advent of the loose leaf ledger system was a help to us 
and we now make our entries from our day book and the bill 
for the goods at one time. This is done with a double sheet 
and carbon paper. We had a sheet prepared and printed 
expressly for our purpose. (Exhibited sheets.) You will 
notice that the outside of the sheet is printed in the form of a 
bill. The inside sheet is the copy to go in the day book. 
After it is written off on the typewriter the sheet is separated 
