A Personal Letter,—to you 
Dear Floral Friends, 
I have recently felt flattered by having several customers inquire about the 
pronunciation of Houdyshel. My nose has not veen itching so this was my first 
intimation that any one had been talking about me. It must not have been bad, 
or they would just call me “Old Who-dee-shell,” and let it go at that. 
There’s where the rub comes. Sometimes a far away customer is visiting 
So. Calif. and drops in to call on us. That is pleasing to us of course, but usual- 
ly Mrs. Houdyshel or I are addressed as Mr. and Mrs. Who-dee-shell, and no of- 
fense is intended. Naturally we can’t take offense but it does deflate us a little. 
Our trade mark had a two fold purpose when we adopted it. The hands 
are clasped as in a greeting, when one is saying ‘““Howdy do.” They are within 
a shell. Thus the pronunciation is illustrated, Howdy-shell, spelled Houdyshel. 
Only one person in 25 years since we adopted this as our trade mark has 
volunteered the information that our trade mark taught them how to pronounce 
our name. <A few do not at once grasp the idea even when we explain, We ex- 
plained the clasped hands in a shell once to a Jap boy, recently arrived from 
Japan, who was having a hard tussel with our language. A bright look of com- 
plete understanding finally spread over his bland, oriental countenance and 
thereafter he always addressed us as “Mr. Pleesto Meetchashell,” with such 
complacent satisfaction that I did not have the heart to correct him further. 
All this is a very solemn matter to me. Fifty or 100 years from now I may 
not be here to tell people how to pronounce this name and yet Crinum Cecil 
Houdyshel surely will be. One expert recently stated, “This is probably the 
outstanding Crinum hybrid of the whole world.” If it is, it will live like the 150 
year old Amaryllis Johnsonii. How terrible it will be if the popular pronuncia- 
tion becomes Crinum Cecil Who-dee-shel! ; 
I have hinted that another meaning is also hidden in our trade mark. The 
clasped hands also signify friendship and fellowship. This is no pose on our 
part, when I say that Mrs. Houdyshel and I are interested in your garden suc- 
cess. We are also interested in your welfare, good health and happiness and 
believe most sincerely that gardens and flowers contribute to them. We try to 
reflect this friendly feeling in all our relations with our customers. We want 
you to feel the same toward us. 
Naturally, we try to make a living. But I assure you we are able to forget 
profit, when a customer’s interest is against a proposed purchase. Once we had 
a Colorado customer who insisted on buying some tropical perennial plants to 
grow outdoors. We explained fully why he could not grow them but the custo- 
ee ae not believe us and we finally had to refuse a $50.00 order, thus offend- 
ing him. 
Pursuant to our policy, we do not publish testimonials. We try not to use 
so called “‘salesmanship,” of the high pressure kind, especially. We do try to 
offer only those items to a customer which are likely to succeed for him and 
to please him. 
We also try, in our catalogs, to give you the very best culture advice based 
mostly upon our long experience. We do try to describe plants honestly and 
fairly, and to- encourage a love for flowers and garden. We try to sell for the 
lowest prices possible. 
The increase in postal rates, ranging from 10% to as high as 70% has pre- 
sented a very difficult situation. We have not increased any prices to offset 
this. On the contrary, we have lowered several prices in this catalog. 
We are very heartily in sympathy with the wide-spread opposition to high 
prices of all commodities. We have advised before and we still believe that buy- 
ers have as good a right to strike against high prices as workers have to strike 
against low wages. We price our bulbs according to their real value as garden 
items and quantity of stock available. Because Haemanthus Katherinae is very 
rare and very beautiful, perhaps the most beautiful of bulbs, and very few bulbs 
are available, (it is indeed rare,) it is priced at $6.50 per bulb. Only a year ago 
it was priced at $10.00 each. Other rare Blood Lilies cost a little more, than 
more common but also desirable bulbs. 
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