MARCH 23, 1S99. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



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W. Atlee Burpee & Co.'s new building, Pnilidelphii. 



A MODEL SEED HOUSE. 



We present herewith a view of the 

 new warehouse of Messrs. W. Atlee 

 Burpee & Co., the well known seeds- 

 'men of Philadelphia. The picture 

 shows the North Fifth street front. 

 but the building extends through to 

 York avenue. The warehouse was 

 built especially for the carrying on of 

 . the firm's immense seed business and 

 a record was made in its construction, 

 the old building that formerly occu- 

 pied the site being vacated on May 1 

 last and the new building being ready 

 for occupancy the first week in Octo- 

 ber following. 



Every inch of space on the seven 

 floors is utilized to the fullest extent 

 and the system of aria-iging alphabeti- 

 cally the cases containing packet seeds 

 insures the greatest possible speed and 

 accuracy in filling orders, the seeds in 

 packets being on one side of an aisle 

 and those in ounce packages on the 

 other. Each of these pigeon hole 

 cases Is numbered so that if for any 

 reason it is taken away it can be read- 

 ily returned to its proper place. The 

 ounce packages are all dated with the 

 year, and we believe this is the only 



firm who does this. The items in an 

 order are gathered together In a bask- 

 et (if all small), being arranged in the 

 basket in the same rotation that they 

 appear in the order to facilitate check- 

 ing, which is done by employes es- 

 pecially trained for this work. 



The handling of the mail is reduced 

 to a science. It is opened on a long 

 table at which are places for the one 

 in charge of the work and several as- 

 sistants. At the side of each one there 

 are several slots in the top of the ta- 

 ble, one for money orders, one for 

 cash and checks and the other for 

 stamps. After the remittances are en- 

 tered on the orders they are dropped 

 through their proper slots and fall in- 

 to tall tin cases that are placed to re- 

 ceive them. These are afterward emp- 

 tied upon an adjoining table and the 

 contents arranged in proper order for 

 banking or redeeming at the postof- 

 fice when checks and money orders 



A record is made of each order and 

 the name of a new customer is at once 

 entered in its proper place, each state 

 having a separate book. In sending 

 out the annual catalog an order sheet 

 of a different color is used where the 

 name does not already appear on the 



customers' list and the appearance of 

 an order upon a sheet of that color 

 indicates a new customer. 



Each of the various departments is 

 connected with the others by tele- 

 phone and there are sixteen tele- 

 phones in the building. The boiler 

 that supplies the heat is placed out 

 under the pavement at the rear so 

 that the main cellar is kept cool for 

 the storage of seed potatoes, bulbs, 

 etc. 



The whole establishment is an ex- 

 emplification of the good results to be 

 obtained by thorough system and 

 good management when backed by 

 ample capital. Everything moves 

 with the precison of clockwork and 

 the large force of employes is like a 

 thoroughly drilled company of veteran 

 soldiers. 



Mr. Burpee is evidently a good or- 

 ganizer as well as a good seedsman, 

 and both are essential to the success- 

 ful conduct of a business of such large 

 proportions. We wish him a long and 

 successful occupancy of liis handsome 

 and well appointed new building. 



THE TRULY 'WONDERFUL LAWEON 

 CARNATION. 



We had an idea that a look at a doz- 

 en or two of this remarkable flower in 

 more ways than one would please our 

 customers and other people's custo- 

 mers. We knew all about its appear- 

 ance, for we were not like many who 

 forgot seeing it at Chicago in Febru- 

 ary. 1S98. We could walk blind-fold to 

 the spot where it rested in the Audi- 

 torium banquet hall, and fully realized 

 its great beauty, for I remarked at 

 lunch one day to Mr. Nicholson: "Why 

 don't you buy Mrs. Lawson?" "It's 

 not for sale," said he; "Too bad," said 

 I. Then again we saw it in Philadel- 

 phia with still better .stems, two feet 

 at least. So we sent a five dollar bill 

 the other day to the gentleman who 

 sells it in Boston. We got a bill re- 

 ceipted in full in return, which read: 

 "Mr. W. S.. bought of Mr. Make All 

 You Can: I dozen Lawson carnations, 

 $5.00. Paid, March 13, 1899." I al- 

 most forgot to say, incidentally, that 

 with the receipted bill came a dozen 

 carnations. Now I really did expect 18 

 flowers, but if the sample sent had 

 been such flowers as those exhibited at 

 Philadelphia, there would have been 

 "no kick coming," even at the exorbi- 

 tant and absurd price of 42 cents each. 



The stems ranged from !'■'> to 17 inch- 

 es. We had to show them in our win- 

 dow as they were advertised, but we 

 were ashamed to do it. We also 

 plastered the receipted bill on the store 

 window to convince people that we 

 were not palming off a Tidal Wave 

 sport on them. One customer put his 

 head in at the door and let drive the 

 Homeric proverb: "A fool and his 

 money are soon parted. " However, 

 we showed a va.se of our own selected 

 Bradts next day and the people had 

 something to look at. The annoying 

 part of this business is: does this man 



