June 19. 1902. 



The Weekly Florists' Review, 



107 



Meeting of the Florists' Society. 



Saturday- Hit; annual meeting of the 

 Cincinnati Florists' Society was held 

 and the following were elected otficers 

 for the ensuing year: Wni. Murphy, 

 president; William Schuman, vice-presi- 

 dent; F. W. Ball, secretary; Ben 

 George, treasurer; George Murphy, di- 

 rector. The newly elected board imme- 

 diately took possession of their respec- 

 tive offices. The annual outing was the 

 main topic under discussion, and a com- 

 mittee was appointed to select a suita- 

 ble place to hold it. 



Notes. 



Fred Heekman, son of A. C. Heck- 

 man, of Covington, K}'., died suddenly 

 at bis home on Saturday last. 



Theo. Bock was a caller and all his 

 friends were glad to see him, as it has 

 been a long time since he has been here. 



Wednesday, June 18, is the date set 

 for the wedding of Miss Sophie Thul- 

 len and Geo. K. Tromey. They will 

 take a wedding trip through the east, 

 visiting New York, Washington, Atlan- 

 tic City, etc., being away two weeks or 

 more. Mr. Tromey, better known as 

 "Spunk," is Fred Gear's right-hand 

 man. 



Mr. T. J. Conger, Hartwell, Ohio, lost 

 considerable glass during the hail storm 

 last Sunday evening. He carries insur- 

 ance in the Florists' Hail Association, 

 so is well secured. 



C. J. Ohmer. 



ST. LOUIS. 



The Market. 



The past week was a very busy one for 

 St. Louis florists. Nearly everybody 

 was busy with some kind of work, mostly 

 school commencements and weddings, 

 but from now on the demand for flow- 

 ers from this source may be considered 

 over for this season. We would have 

 had still more to do had it not been 

 that flowers were not allowed at the 

 exercises in the schools, and something 

 ought to be done to overcome this one 

 bad feature which hurts our business 

 very much. 



Second quality stock of all kinds was 

 quite plentiful, but in first-class stock 

 the market was weak. The only first- 

 class stock in the market was fine sweet 

 peas and a few carnations. Of these 

 not nearly enough came in to go around. 

 Saturday, some excellent valley was seen 

 in the wholesale houses. Capes and peeo- 

 nies are out of the market and about the 

 only flowers that can be had now are 

 roses, carnations, sweet peas and valley. 



Prices on stock runs much the same 

 as in my last report, only that first-class 

 stock has advanced somewhat. Firsts 

 in roses went as high as $6 and as low 

 as $1 per 100. Carnations did not go 

 over $2 and from that down to 50 cents 

 per 100. These are becoming very scarce 

 and feel the effects of the hot weather 

 we have had. The past week sweet peas 

 were a great glut and the bulk of them 

 were very fine. These are sold very 

 cheap, as low as 50 cents per 1,000 in 

 5,000 lots. By the single hundred the 

 best brought 25c vrith the demand 

 good. Valley is very fine and calls for 

 $3 and $4 per 100 with a fair demand. 

 There is plenty of smilax in the market 

 which sells well at 15 cents per string. 

 Hardy ferns and Asparagus Sprengeri 

 were also in good demand the past week. 



Notes. 



Frank Weber, of Weber & Sons, nur- 

 serymen, at Gardenville, is back from 

 Milwaukee, where he attended the an- 

 nual convention of nurseiymen last week. 

 Frank is well pleased with his trip and 

 the way the Milwaukee brothers enter- 

 tained them. 



Ellison & Tesson are now in their new 

 place at Seventh and Locust streets and 

 report a good trade the past week. 



A thief ran away with the horse and 

 buggy belonging to Henry Berning last 

 Monday. The horse and the buggy have 

 been recovered, but the harness is still 

 missing. 



A visit to the Grand avenue florists 

 Wednesday evening found them all tired 

 out after a very busy day's work. Geo. 

 Waldbart says ' ' Trade is very satisfac- 

 tory this week, all we can possibly do." 

 Mary and George Ostertag, a few doors 

 down, have their hands full of school 

 work and decorations. Mrs. Ayers re- 

 ports a very busy week with schools, wed- 

 dings and funeral work. Charles Schoe- 

 nele, formerly on Washington avenue, 

 is now with Mrs. Ayers and he and Will 

 Adels have their hands full. 



The employes of E. F. Tesson have 

 organized a base ball team and say they 

 will play any team of florists at the an- 

 nual picnic next month. Here's a chance 

 for the C. Young & Sons Co. 's base ball 

 team. 



At the Charleston Exposition, which 

 closed June 1st, the medals for Missouri 

 were as follows: 49 gold, 30 silver, 27 

 bronze and 37 honorable mention, mak- 

 ing a total of 143. 58 of these are for 

 horticultural exhibits. These with the 

 Buffalo awards, which were 311, make a 

 grand total of 454. Secretary Bell says 

 that these will all be on exhibition at 

 our World's Fair in 1904. 



R. F. Tesson has been quite sick the 

 past week, being unable to leave his room, 

 but from reports today is mending and 

 will be able to attend business by the 

 end of this week. 



Bowling. 



The fine, cool evening failed to draw a 

 large attendance, and only seven of the 

 regulars were present. The following 

 scores were made: 



H 1 2 3 Total. 



F. C. Weber 35 141] ISO 186 508 



C. A. Kuehn G 168 157 166 491 



F. M. Ellis 35 153 157 16S 478 



K. Me.ver 15 16S 115 181 464 



J. J. Beneke 10 127 180 146 453 



.\. Y. Ellison 161 143 145 449 



Theo. Miller 30 156 130 142 428 



J. J. B. 



BUSINESS METHODS FOR BUSY 

 FLORISTS. 



VL 



Collections and Correspondence. 



These are two very important branch- 

 es of the florists' business and ones 

 which are so apt to be neglected and 

 overlooked. 



No matter what your skill as a grower 

 may be or how successful a salesman you 

 are, or how large your volume of busi- 

 ness is, your profits, the real, tangible 

 surplus of coin at the end of the season, 

 will be measured by your ability as a 

 credit man and collector. I make this 

 rather broad assertion on the assumption 

 that not more than one in a hundred 

 does a cash business. If you are that 

 one you need no advice on collections. 



Whenever credit is extended it should 

 be after being fully assured that the ac- 

 count will be paid. If you are doing a 

 small local business you will most liKely 

 know all your customers personally and 

 have a good idea of their paying pro- 

 pensities. If your business is largely 

 shipping you should subscribe for the 

 commercial agency rating books or try 

 some of the trade collection agency re- 

 ports. Never sell any one on credit un- 

 less you feel confident he can pay. Your 

 losses will be heavy enough on those 

 whom you feel certain are honest with- 

 out running any risk on poor or doubtful 

 ones. 



But having judiciously extended credit 

 you should exercise the greatest care 

 and diligence in collecting. When an ac- 

 count is due ask for payment of it. If 

 collection connot be made then ascer- 

 tain wnen it can be; get a promise and 

 after you get it be persistent until the 

 promise is fulfilled. It is the following 

 up of promises that brings success in 

 making collections. Eemember that 

 "eternal vigilance" is always the price 

 of success, and this is emphatically so 

 in the collection business. 



Many customers will have some excuse 

 for not paying when their bill is due 

 and presented. Be polite and courteous 

 when collecting the same as when selling 

 the goods and you will hold your trade 

 even though 3-ou are persistent in making 

 collections. If your collections are out- 

 siue your town use the same or greater 

 vigilance in following up the account 

 until it is finally disposed of. Avoid 

 law suits as you would poison. They 

 consume time and money and in the end 

 the profits are always found in the 

 hands of the attorneys. Except in rare 

 instances and for large amounts never 

 resort to the courts to make collections. 

 The writer has in mind a large concern 

 whose business amounts to millions 

 .vearly, much of it on credit, who has 

 never yet sued a creditor. Perseverance, 

 tact and systematically keeping after 

 them will work wonders, where the law 

 would accomplish nothing. In a word 

 be careful and systematic in extending 

 credit, and persistent in making collec- 

 tions and your losses will be lighter than 

 if you resort to more stringent measures. 



Your correspondence should also be 

 received, answered and filed away in a 

 systematic manner. If your trade is lo- 

 cal your correspondence will be light. If 

 your business is mostly shipping your 

 correspondence will be heavier. But 

 whatever its volume or nature, take care 

 of it at once and answer it promptly 

 and intelligently. A nice neat, well- 

 worded, courteous type written letter 

 will oftentimes make a sale where a per- 

 sonal interview would not. A good 

 salesman can sell goods by correspond- 

 ence as well as- orally. It requires tact, 

 a thorough knowledge of the goods and 

 plain, convincing language to sell your 

 goods by mail. Answer all inquiries 

 promptly and intelligently and follow 

 them up in a week or ten days with an- 

 other letter if your first does not sell 

 the goods. 



Employ a stenographer as soon as the 

 volume of your business 'will warrant 

 the expense. A neat type-written letter 

 is always plainer and more business-like 

 than a pen-written one, especially if 

 written by a florist after a hard day 

 potting or planting. If you can secure 

 a stenographer who is also a bookkeeper, 

 so much the better. 



