aprii. 10. ]y 



The Weekly Florists^ Review, 



^03 



House of Asters at the Establishment of the Anchorage Rose Co., Anchorage, Ky. 



ty several ilays, their (lelicate color and 

 graceful habit rendering them very at- 

 tractive when massed in large bowls or 

 vases, as well as for their use in designs. 

 They can be used to good advantage as 

 a border, or massed in a lawn where the 

 rosy pink flowers contrast beautifully 

 with a velvety green lawn. Their easy 

 cultivation, habit of free blooming and 

 freedom from injury by drought .should 

 recommend their general cultivation. 



The plants remain green until killed 

 by frost, but should be lifted and dried 

 before, as they are very tender in this 

 respect. The bulbs shouldi be dug and 

 dried without removing the leaves, for if 

 the leaves are removed it has a tendency 

 to weaken them. They can be stored like 

 gladioli in a frost-proof location. There 

 is a variety with a white flower which, 

 while verj- prett.y, fails to attract as does 

 the pink variety. C. M. H. 



HOUSE OF ASTERS. 



The accompanying engraving is from a 

 photograph taken last summer of a house 

 of asters at the establishment of the An- 

 chorage Rose Co., Anchorage, Ky. Re- 

 plying to an inquiry as to his method 

 of handling this aster crop, Mr. Charles 

 Kayner, the manager, writes: 



''From the seed boxes in which the 

 seed was sown in April we pricked the 

 asters direct into the solid beds where 

 they were to remain. Continuous culti- 

 vation and a somewhat heavy mulching 

 of half rotted leaves, abundance of water 

 and a little bone, the latter once a week, 

 was all we found necessar}- for the suc- 

 cess ultimately attained. 



"The plants were grown in one of our 

 violet houses, which was erected some 

 nine years ago of inch pipe, the house 

 being 14 feet wide and 100 feet long. An 

 inch pipe was bolted midway to the 

 rafter pipes and upon these swing the 

 sash. The sash are movable and arc 

 placed in piles each summer, which en- 

 ables us to plant our asters with all the 

 advantage^ of outdoor grown stock and 

 with the additional protection afl'orded 



liv the ])ositinn and facilities for water- 

 ing. We have found this style of con- 

 struction for \iolct houses answers the 

 purpose admirably, being very durable, 

 cheap to erect and absolutelv water 

 tight." 



BUSINESS METHODS FOR BUSY 

 FLORISTS. 



la this scries of articles which it is 

 I)ro])osed to publish from time to time 

 tno writer will endeavor to point out the 

 way to corrcctl,y seep account of .not only 

 small establishments where the proprietor 

 may be nuinager, grower, fireman, book- 

 keeper and salesman, but will also offer 

 practical suggestions to larger establish- 

 ments where scores of people are kept 

 busy in the allied florist, nursery and 

 seed lines. He will not set down any rig- 

 id rules to follow but rather otter sugges- 

 tions, leaving the practical application of 

 them to each individual person or con- 

 cern as their own wants may demand. 



Be methodical and systematic in ev- 

 erything you do. Do not attempt any- 

 lliing unless you have a good reason for 

 doing it. If I were to teach a son the 

 road to success in mercantile pursuits I 

 would start with si/stem for the basis of 

 my teaching and end with system as the 

 finishing touch to a commercial educa- 

 tion. 



The greatest enterprises of modern 

 times are dependent upon strict syste-' 

 matic methods for their success. Rigid 

 scrutiny of income and expense, careful 

 analysis of each separate line of expense 

 and constant attention to details lie be- 

 hind and are most important factors of 

 success in every great business under- 

 taking. The great railroad systems of 

 to-day, the mammoth jobbing institu- 

 tions, the multitudinous manufacturing 

 industries, the great shipping interests, 

 the mammoth department stores, are shin- 

 ing examples of systematic methods in 

 the business world. Some one has tersely 

 w-ritteu "Eternal vigilance is the price 

 of Liberty." I would go further and say, 

 Eternal vigilance paves the way to all 

 success in life, I believe that three- 



fourths of the failures of business men 

 are due to unsystematic methods of doing 

 business. 



Nowhere — I am sorry to record it — is 

 the lack of system more apparent than 

 in the florist business. No line of busi- 

 ness is conducted on such slip-shod meth- 

 ods. This is not so mucu the fault of the 

 florists as of the business. The rush of 

 business at certain seasons almost pre- 

 vents a careful systematic record of busi- 

 ness being kept. Then so many men do 

 an their own work, everything comes and 

 goes into one pocket that to stop and 

 record every transaction seems like a 

 waste of time, when customers are wait- 

 ing or more important business should 

 be attended to. 



To all such objoctuins and objectors I 

 would say if vou start right there will 

 be no time lost in keeping right and be- 

 ing systematic. In short you will always 

 know where you are at. You need not 

 be an expert accountant, you need not be 

 a book-keeper in the common acceptance 

 of the term, but .you should be a record 

 keeper and any man who can sell goods 

 and make change can keep a record. 



Your profit in business is your income 

 less your expenses. But how few" really 

 know what their income is, or just what 

 their expenses are. If your income is too 

 small, be prepared to know how you can 

 increase it, what line of stock to discard 

 and what to plant more of if you are a 

 grower, or what line of goods to handle 

 or discard if you are a retailer. On the 

 other hand if your ex-penses are too large 

 be prepared to dissect your expense ac- 

 count and curtail some items if neces- 

 sary. There is no satisfaction in doing 

 business at a loss even when you can tell 

 to a certainty where the loss occurs. 

 There is infinitely less when you "can't 

 see" why it occurs. How often we hear 

 business men say : "I can 't see why I 

 didu 't do better last year. ' ' If such men 

 conducted their business on systematic 

 methods they would see and know why at 

 least once in 12 months. If in the art- 

 icles which follow we can assist a few to 

 see and know why we shall feel repaid for 

 the effort. System. 



