November 30. 19lS 



Advisory Board and Bulletins Sug- 

 gested 

 A plan that has struck me as prac- 

 tical is the establishment of an ad- 

 visory board consisting of three rep- 

 resentative men from each branch of 

 the trade — wholesalers, retailers and 

 growers — meeting twice a week to 

 discuss prevailing conditions. Sucn 

 meetings would help in a great meas- 

 ure towards bringing about closer co- 

 operation. Such board, for instance, 

 could issue bulletins after each meet- 

 ing, a separate one to the retailers 

 featuring the items that represent the 

 best value at the time, owing to the 

 quantity on hand. The prospects of 

 the cut for the next few days, as 

 gauged by the weather conditions and 

 by information furnished by the grow- 

 ers, would also help the retailer with 

 his plants. Retailers would be thus 

 enabled during times of overabund- 

 ance to get bargains if quantity inir- 

 chases are made, and should go out 

 and make a splurge, giving the pub- 

 lic part of the benefit of their large 

 purchases, thereby moving a large 

 quantity of stock (much the same as 

 the dry goods man in his line), re- 

 sulting in new customers, and a hand- 

 some profit, besides eliminating the 

 competition of the department stores. 

 The growers bulletin would contain 

 timely advice, such as; "Cut stock 

 tighter, due to prevailing heat wave. 

 Market overfilled on roses; pinch 

 what stock you can to have it come 

 later. Much stock arriving infected 

 with mildew. Get after thrips, etc." 

 The recipient of this bulletin would 

 stop to think whether any of his stock 

 has been neglected in any way, so 

 much could be accomplished toward 

 raising the quality of flowers received 

 on the market. Under prevailing con- 

 ditions the individual wholesaler often 

 hestitates to call a grower's attention 

 to his neglect, fearing he may lose a 

 consignor even though such advice 

 would mean many dollars in his pock- 

 et, still more to the grower and more 

 general satisfaction to the retailer. 



Wholesaler Should Be the Balance 

 Wheel. 

 P After all, the wholesaler, as the 



grower's selling agent, and the source 

 of supply for the retailer, controls the 

 situation. It is my honest belief that 

 he can do more than any other at this 

 time to furnish immediate relief, en- 

 abling the grower to continue his dif- 

 ficult task in these times of stress, and 

 by so doing improve his own welfare, 

 as well as that of the retailer. 



My general idea of improvements in 

 the present system to afford immedi- 

 ate relief for the grower, can be 

 termed as "cutting off the rough edges 



HORTICULTURE 



of the wholesaler's present practices" 

 and closer co-operation by both retail- 

 er and grower with the wholesaler. 

 Permit me to suggest the following: 

 Summary of Recommendations. 

 1. Growers, study the costs of pro- 

 duction, and bring them to the knowl- 

 edge of the wholesalers. 2. Whole- 

 salers, don't be bashful about asking a 

 price. Remember that your season's 

 return per flower must average above 

 the costs to enalUe the grower to live, 

 and that the price received during the 

 months of heaviest production decide 

 the average more than the seemingly 

 high prices usually prevalent when 

 cuts are low. 3. Wliolesalers, estab- 

 lish a minimum price of |1 per 100 on 

 roses, .50c. per 100 on carnations and 

 similarly on other staple articles. 4. 

 Wholesalers, always bear in mind that 

 even though you may lose a sale by 

 asking a price from a customer who 

 wants to buy for a song, by maintain- 

 ing uniform prices, some other man 

 will make a profitable sale, resulting 

 in mutual benefits, a. Growers, con- 

 sign your stock to the house through 

 which it reaches the retailer most di- 

 rectly. 6. Wholesalers, charge one 

 another full market price, you owe it 

 to the growers. 7. Growers, co-op- 

 erate with, and assist your wholesal- 

 ers by a uniform system of grading 

 and bunching, adopting such standard 

 sizes as 12 in., 15 in., 18 in., 24 in., 30 

 in., 36 in. and 48 in. for roses. 8. Whole- 

 saJers, remember that each inch of 

 stem costs money to produce and uti- 

 lize full length whenever possible. 9. 

 The election of a representative ad- 

 visory board of nine members three 

 to be chosen from each branch of the 

 trade meeting twice weekly in the 

 trade's interest. 10. The issuance of 

 two semi-weekly bulletins one for the 

 retailer, and one for the grower. 11. 

 Retailers to purchase as much as pos- 

 sible the items on the long side of the 

 market in sufficient quantity to pre- 

 vent stock from reaching the depart- 

 ment stores, thereby reaping the ben- 

 efit for themselves. 



It has been my aim to depict con- 

 ditions as they exist, not solely to crit- 

 icize, but with a view to affect im- 

 provements which will insure the fu- 

 ture prosperity of our business, and 

 result in mutual benefits. 



Figuring Cost of Production. 



Cost of production has been arrived 

 at by taking the total operating ex- 

 penses for the year, including proper 

 depreciation charges and 6 per cent, 

 interest on the total investment and 

 dividing this into the total number of 

 square feet of bench space. Thereaf- 

 ter the cost per square foot is used as 

 a basis for all other determinations. 



54.-; 



The cost of operation per square 

 foot of bench space of an exclusive 

 rose growing establishment for the fis- 

 cal year ending June 30, 1918, was 

 (!7.6c. per square foot, divided as fol- 

 lows: 



Cost of Operating Rose House. 



Cost in Cents 

 Itema per Sq. Ft. 



Wages 24.44 



Coal 11.32 



Commission on sales 10.14 



Depreciation on plant and equip- 

 ment 4.7,'{ 



Interest on investment 4..X'i 



General expenses 3.88 



Fertilizers 2.15 



Boxes and wrappings and express- 



"se 1.58 



Water (power bills and otlier ex- 

 penses) 1.40 



Plants and seeds 1.26 



Tnseetieides Tfl 



Taxes i.i:{ 



In.-iuranoe •. 03 



The present day cost of operating 



each square foot is, and the total for 



the current year will be, much higher 



than the average prevailing during 



the past year. For instance, much 



coal was bought the fore part of the 



year at lower- figures and with lower 



freight rates attached than obtainable 



now. Labor also is now considerably 



higher. The latter you will note 



comes first in order of importance 



with coal ranking next. These two 



represent a grower's heaviest expense 



items and any increases are reflected 



immediately on his balance sheet. Of 



course, the advances of other items 



since last year also add to a grower's 



difficulties. 



Minimum Gross Return per Square 

 Foot. 



Considering all advances and the ex- 

 tremely hazardous nature of the busi- 

 ness with little or no insurance, due 

 to the almost prohibitive rates, I feel 

 the gross returns per square foot per 

 season, to meet present condtitions, 

 and provide a profit commensurate 

 with the chances taken, should be no 

 less than 96.2c. per square foot on 

 roses, and similar crops requiring the 

 same high temperature, fertilizer and 

 amount of time to handle. These fig- 

 ures would be somewhat lower in the 

 case of carnations and other cool 

 growing crops. 



The cost of operating per square 

 foot is the basic figure for all other 

 determinations. Some varieties of 

 roses such as Russell are sometimes 

 set closer, but the average planting dis- 

 tance of most growers is 12 in. by 15 

 in. Each plant thus occupies 1*4 

 square foot of bench space. The 

 gross returns per plant on roses 

 should be not less than $1.20 on va- 

 rieties occupying tM sq. ft., and pro- 

 portionately according to distance set. 



The average annual wholesale price 

 that must be obtained to reach this 

 figure depends on the quantity of 

 flowers a plant will produce on an av- 



