Skptbmbbr 4, 1902. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



473 



The Beach at Hamilton, Ont., this Year's Convention City for the Canadian Horticultural Association. 



are lowest and time for the work more 

 plentiful than at any time during the 

 year. 



The first thing to be considered in clos- 

 ing the books is the inventory. A cor- 

 rect Ust of all merchandise handled by 

 you, should be made out carefully, with 

 the cost price attach'ed — unless goods are 

 shop-worn or damaged — in which ease a 

 reasonable reduction from cost price, for 

 depleted values, should be made. 



If you keep a store and handle baskets, 

 jardinieres, fern dishes, etc., etc., their 

 cost price is easily determined from the 

 invoice. When growing plants, however. 

 the case is different. Their value depends 

 largely upon the care and attention be- 

 stowed upon them. Most growers will 

 have one or more houses of roses for sum- 

 mer blooming, with perhaps several just 

 replanted for winter blooming. Or they 

 may have a house of ferns or palms or 

 mums, or several acres planted to car- 

 nations outside, the actual value of which 

 it will be difficult to determine. In the 

 case of blooming plants not yet in crop, 

 the market value at the time of planting, 

 plus the labor of planting and caring for 

 them and the cost of soil and fertilizers, 

 will give their approximate value for in- 

 ventory purposes. The actual cost of 

 blooming plants in benches is determined 

 by deducting from the cost of the plants 

 and the labor, soil, etc., used in planting 

 and growing them, the total proceeds 

 from sales (wholesale) at that date, 

 minus a fair percentage of profit. 



For fear this is ambiguous I will illus- 

 trate: On July 1st you have house No. 

 13 in summer roses, containing 2,000 

 plants. These plants at time of plant- 

 ing were worth $70.00, labor in planting 

 and caring for them Las been $50.00, soil 

 for benches cost you $10.00, fertilizers 

 used $10.00, and coal for heating $25.00 

 more. As they stand, they represent a 

 total cost of $165.00. You have sold 

 from this house 4,000 roses, for which 

 you received, at wholesale, $150.00. 



From previous years' records you as- 

 certain that roses can be grown for $2.00 

 per 100 for the season's average. The 

 4,000 already sold have therefore cost 

 you $80.00. Deducting this amount from 

 the $165.00 invested in the crop, gives 

 you $85.00 — the inventory value of the 

 roses in No. 13. The market value of 

 pot plants should be taken as their in- 

 ventory value. 



Your empty pots constitute another 



asset, the value of which will depend 

 upon their age and condition. I think 

 it is a fair figure to deduct 33 1-3 per 

 cent from the first cost of all pots after 

 being used once, and 50 per cent after 

 twice using. Paper, twine, boxes, tools, 

 etc., should also be inventoried, as they 

 are assets at the beginning of the year's 

 business. 



The next, and usually most valuable 

 items of the inventory, is the greenhouse 

 jilant; the ground they occupy, the 

 buildings erected thereon, the boilers and 

 all other property connected with the 

 liouses. To determine their value, no 

 set rule can be laid down. 



All greenhouses depreciate in value 

 from year to year ; some more, some less. 

 The wooden greenhouses erected 15 or 

 20 years ago depreciated in value much 

 more rapidly than the modern steel and 

 glass structures. A house kept well 

 painted and in repair from year to year, 

 depreciates less than one which is never 

 repaired: but whatever the material used 

 m construction, or the repairs annually 

 made, every greenhouse depreciates some- 

 what in value from year to .year, and a 

 certain percentage of its cost should be 

 deducted each year for depreciation. If 

 you have been in the business 15 or 20 

 years your past experience is a very good 

 I riterion for the present. 



If a house has to be rebuilt in 20 

 years it depreciates 5 per cent each year. 

 If it only lasts 10 years it depreciates 10 

 per cent annually, and so on in like 

 proportion. 



Your horses, wagons, harness, etc., 

 should be depreciated in the same man- 

 ner, though of course they will not last 

 as long as a greenhouse and the shrink- 

 age is that much larger. 



Having completed our inventory, the 

 next step towards closing the year's busi- 

 ness is to ascertain our total outlay or 

 expense. If an accurate account has been 

 liept the total can be easily determined. 



Our merchandise account can be totaled 

 in the same manner, and the amount of 

 tlie inventory deducted therefrom. 



The sales' account having been kept 

 from month to month, can be easily ar- 

 rived at. If you do a cash business 

 only, you know at the end of each day 

 and month just what your sales have 

 been. If you do a credit business you 

 must make some allowance for bad debts, 

 or in other words, anticipate your losses 



at the end of the year. As to what that 

 will be, each one is his own best judge. 



Some concerns lose as high as 5 per 

 lent, but they are rare cases. I do not 

 think the average retail florist loses 

 moi'e than 1 per cent of his sales each 

 season. If he does, he should improve 

 his methods. Tins anticipated loss should 

 lie deducted from the total of your sales' 

 account, leaving a net sales' balance. The 

 difference between this net sales' ac- 

 count and the sum of your expense and 

 merchandise account constitutes the 

 year's profit in business. If the sales are 

 smaller than the expense of conducting 

 the business a loss is shown. If the ex- 

 pense is smaller than the sales there is a 

 gain. The net profit in the business 

 ought not to be less than 10 per cent of 

 the gross sales, and your annual sales 

 ought to be from 100 to 200 per cent 

 of the capital invested. Unless a man in 

 business can make 10 per cent on the in- 

 vested capital each season, he ought not 

 lo remain in the business. 



System. 



CONVENTION MEMORIES. 



The Idlewild journey to Overlook Park 

 on Sunset Mountain with its glorious 

 panorama,' its exhilerating ozone, and its 

 watermelon festivity, will never be for- 

 gotten. Most of the "400" climbed the 

 high tower and "viewed the landscape 

 o 'er. ' ' When shall our eyes look upon 

 so glorious a vision again! As Alex. 

 Wallace sang it, so say we all: "Oh, 

 the beautiful hills!" It was worth all 

 the long journey, that morning on the 

 mountain top "nearer heaven," as Will- 

 iam Scott put it, "than many of you 

 will ever get again! " 



That "Biltmore" experience seems 

 like "a dream," so unreal, so impos- 

 sible. This great mansion, the wonder- 

 ful verdure, the forest, the finished drive- 

 way skirted for miles by exuberant vege- 

 tation, the perfection of everything iu 

 this far away country, so modern, so 

 dissimilar to all its surroundings. What 

 ran compare with it in all the world. 

 Miles upon miles of mountain scenery 

 with Mount Pisgah reaching its giant 

 finger to the heavens far away. 



The dances at the Battery Park hotel 

 were well attended. Several of the flor- 

 ists participated. Senator Charlie Mc- 

 Kellar was the "observed of all ob- 



