164 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



July 3, 1902 



as the buds open and placed in cold 

 storage it will keep for weeks. When 

 brought out into the light and warmth 

 it unfolds its peerless beauty. It must 

 be cut with long stems and these 

 seem to store vigor enough to push the 

 flower to its full unfolding. 



On some accounts it surpasses Baron- 

 ess Schroeder in its climatic adaptations. 

 The dry air of the west suits the former 



to perfection and makes it the very queen 

 of loveliness. It does not do so well in 

 the moister air of the east. Festiva Max- 

 ima is quite fragrant, which adds much 

 to its value. One trouble has been to 

 secure plants true to name. Some Holland 

 dealers have flooded the country with 

 spurious ones, and those who boftght 

 them have scattered them far and wide. 

 York, Neb. C. S. Harbison. 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



::r^ ;The End of the Fiscal Year. 



The 1st of July of each year has al- 

 ways been with us the end and beginning 

 of the fiscal year. Others may have 

 found some other date to suit them bet- 

 ter, but it seems to us that whether you 

 are in the wholesale or retail business, 

 whether you both grow and retail or only 

 keep a store for retailing, that from the 

 1st to the 10th of July is the deadest 

 calm in the whole cycle of 365 days. 



"Open confession is good for the soul" 

 and I don't mind owning that for many 

 (too many) years we went along in a 

 happy, go-lucky style, not knowing within 

 $1,000.00 what had been the profits or loss 

 of the business. The way we figured was, 

 "Well, we don't owe as much as we did 

 last July, and then we built that house 

 last fall, and we have lived, and we paid 

 ,$600.00 for paving the side street. Oh, 

 we must have done pretty well." 



Now, perhaps I was in the minority in 

 this slovenly way of looking into the 

 business, yet I believe I was numbered in 

 the great majority. There is no doubt 

 the largest firms know to a cent what 

 they have made and where they stand, 

 but the great army of florists, those 

 whose sales amount to from $10,000.00 

 to $20,000.00 a year, have little idea what 

 their year's business has returned, or 

 what is of still more importance, what 

 department did pay and what department 

 had a leaky attachment through which 

 the profits of one department flowed out 

 in a steady but continuous stream. I will 

 just interpose the remark here that I am 

 well aware that every business has to 

 carry some department that scarcely re- 

 turns any profit, but no one is obliged 

 to continue a branch of his business that 

 is a real loss and pulling down the 

 profits of another. 



I know a man very well who until 

 about three years ago did quite a large 

 business at his greenhouses in the resi- 

 dence portion of the city, which included 

 almost all departments. He also ran a 

 store or shop in the center of the city, 

 paying a large rent. For years this man 

 sent cut flowers produced at the green- 

 houses to the store, as well as the flower- 

 ing plants they could use. Orders taken 

 at the greenhouses were often filled at 

 the store, and orders for decorations 

 taken at the store were filled from the 

 greenhouses. No separate account was 

 kept, no credit given for the flowers and 

 plants sent to the store, and no credit 

 given the store for flowers that were 

 purchased for the store and then wanted 

 at the greenhouses. The general result 

 of the two places was lumped together 



and guessed at, as above described. If 

 he was hard up he had done badly; if he 

 was comparatively easy and the atmos- 

 phere and environment were rosy he had 

 done well. He had no definite knowledge 

 whether the store was keeping the green- 

 houses or the greenhouses paying the ex- 

 penses of the store. 



I trust there are many hundreds who 

 have such a business and not only know 

 what each end is doing but find them 

 both profitable, but alas, I feel sure there 

 are many who do not, and they sail along 

 with several leaks, yet they blindly stick 

 to the pumps and labor along just suffi- 

 ciently hard to keep the old ship afloat. 

 This man, who would rather talk plants 

 or building and several other things, 

 thought it was time to see how the store 

 paid, and three months' accurate watch 

 of the business with careful figures proved 

 that the store was eating up fifty per 

 cent, of the greenhouse profits, so as soon 

 as possible this end was "cut out" en- 

 tirely. The greenhouses were sufficiently 

 among the people that the store could 

 be dispensed with. 



In many cases, however, the store 

 would be indispensable and then instead 

 of abandoning it reform would have to 

 take place. It would have to be run 

 right, better stock, better attention, bet- 

 ter window and all that goes to make a 

 successful business, of which I am not 

 going into now. I merely cited this man's 

 experience to show that he jogged along 

 for years and then discovered the big 

 leak. This man has told me since that 

 the few dollars he spent in extra book- 

 keeping and which discovered to him the 

 true state of affairs was the best money 

 and time he ever spent. 



Now, reader, don't take what I have 

 said of this man's experience as any in- 

 ference that the store, even at high rent, 

 is not a good end of the business. In 

 the highest civilization and most ad- 

 vaiiced state of society division of labor 

 is the condition that prevails, and per- 

 haps there are as many instances which 

 could be cited where a successful store 

 man has run a "growing estaolishment" 

 at a loss as the successful greenhouse 

 man making a failure of his city store. 

 The all important thing to do is to find 

 out and remedy the weakness where it 

 exists. I have attempted to illustrate 

 where a serious loss may occur by having 

 two branches of your business and with- 

 out accurate bookkeeping you may be 

 unaware at which end it exists. There 

 are, however, for every firm who is so 

 situated at least twenty florists, big and 

 little, who do all their business at the 



greenhouse, or keep a retail store and 

 grow nothing, depending entirely on buy- 

 ing everything. It is just as essential for 

 them to know what they are making or 

 losing as for those who are more spread 

 out. 



It is notorious, if not to the world at 

 large, at least to me, that the really good 

 gardener and successful grower, yes, and 

 even good talker to his customers, is 

 seldom a good financial man. To be 

 bothered with figures and small affairs 

 is beneath him. His mind soars higher, 

 and he is apt to be absorbed in new 

 plans and methods, new ideas, and to 

 consider that as long as he is not in 

 trouble that accounts and bookkeeping 

 are of least importance. In this cruel 

 world, where every dog is trying to rob 

 the bone from the other Hog, the financial 

 end is of the utmost importance, and 

 smaller minds whose vision sees a dollar 

 bill continually before their noses, rea- 

 lize this and may neglect other ends of 

 their business, but they grab the dollar. 

 I don't wish to flatter or attempt to 

 exait the florist, and by that I mean the 

 real gardener, the lover of his plants, 

 the conscientious executor of his busi- 

 ness, has, I believe, an intellect above 

 the average business man, and will be 

 found too often indifferent or lacking in 

 the financial end of his business, and 

 for this carelessness the penalty is often 

 a chronic state of "hardupness" or 

 near the ragged edge. 



Now for the practical part of this 

 story. Every one of you should keep an 

 accurate account of your business. In 

 the matter of stock taking our business 

 is not so easily got at as the dry goods 

 or hardware marchant's, who can, on a 

 certain day of the week or of the year, 

 take an inventory of all that his store 

 contains, but that is not of so much con- 

 sequence with us, as you can form a 

 pretty good idea of how your stock com- 

 pares with a similar date a year ago, 

 especially when it is at its lowest ebb. I 

 am not going to tell you how to get at an 

 accurate knowledge of your business, be- 

 cause there are many methods, all good 

 if faithfully carried out. It is merely 

 to keep a daily record, all on one sheet, 

 of your cash sales, your charge sales, 

 your cash purchases, your credit pur- 

 chases, your steady or monthly expenses, 

 your daily incidental expenses. There is 

 more detail to it than I have attempted 

 to describe, but it takes but a few min- 

 utes at the close of the day or week, and 

 if you know at the end of the year what 

 your business has paid you, you can tell 

 more easily what each month, week or 

 day has developed. 



There are many men, brilliant in many 

 ways, yet cowards at money matters. 

 They would much rather give $5.00 to a 

 needy creature than to go out and col- 

 lect a just debt. Face the music, know 

 just where you stand and be ready to 

 retrench if needed. Don't let your mother- 

 in-law's small legacy of $900.00 put into 

 the business lead you to think you have 

 done well, but find out what your busi- 

 ness has actually done. If not paying, 

 find out why not, and if it is you are war- 

 ranted in increasing your area of glass, 

 William Scott. 



ROSES. 



Seasonable Hints. 



During such weather as we have been 

 having lately, cold and an excess of 

 moisture in the atmosphere, great care 



