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HOKTICULTURi: 



November 20, 1909 



TO UNITE THE RETAIL FLORIST 



TRADE. 



A paper read at a special meeting held in 



Chicago, Nov. 8, by J. A. Valentine, 



President S. A. F. 



We are here in response to a call 

 Issued by me as president of the S. 

 A. F. to see whether some plan can 

 be devised whereby that society can 

 render such definite and valuable 

 service to the retailer as will make 

 Its membership necessary and attrac- 

 tive to him. 



Prior to the last annual convention 

 of the society, I was impressed with 

 the fact that while there were nearly 

 1,000 florists enrolled, this number in- 

 cluded very few retailers who were 

 not also owners of greenhouses. The 

 men who were exclusively retailers 

 had not, as a class, found member- 

 ship in our society attractive to them. 

 I therefore recommended to the so- 

 ciety, that, instead of carrying on its 

 worlv as heretofore, in one large 

 assembly room, the work should be 

 divided into sections which should 

 hold their sessions in different rooms 

 and that a section should be organ- 

 ized and devoted to the interests of 

 the retailer. This recommendation 

 met with the unanimous approval of 

 the convention, and it was ordered 

 that a plan should be prepared and 

 submitted to the directors of the so- 

 ciety at their next meeting. That 

 meeting will be held in Rrocbester, 

 N. Y., in mid-Lent which will bring 

 it early in March. 



In order that the suggestion sub- 

 mitted might be complete and satis- 

 factory to the retailers, it seemed wise 

 to have them get together, so that 

 their needs could be formulated and 

 It would be certain in advance that the 

 plans adopted would meet with the ap- 

 proval of the people it was desired to 

 interest. To determine whether I was 

 right in thinking that the retailers 

 would be glad to join a movement of 

 this sort, I wrote nearly 100 letters to 

 such store men as I knew or had pre- 

 viously had dealings with. I made no 

 attempt to make the list complete or 

 exclusive. It was simply to see what 

 response would come from a fairly 

 representative list. The letter sent 

 out stated the action taken at the 

 summer convention of the S. A. F. 

 with regard to the proposed retailers 

 section. It asked for endorsement 

 and the privilege of quoting the 

 recipient as favoring it in a general 

 way. The letter further asked for 

 suggestions. The response was so 

 prompt and so general as to leave no 

 doubt that the movement would have 

 cordial support. I have had but one 

 unfavorable reply. 



Probably there is not a retailer pres- 

 ent today who has not. at some time, 

 been worried as to how he could 

 properly effect a delivery at some dis- 

 tant point. Most of us have had some 

 unpleasant experience resulting from 

 selecting a name haphazard from the 

 Florists' Directory. Such a man may 

 have gone out of business. He may 

 have a place largely devoted to vege- 

 tables and treat the flower business 

 as an insignificant side issue, or he 

 may be one of those cautious people 

 afraid to hand out the flowers unless 

 he can take in the coin at tlie same 

 time. 



Then there comes the matter of 

 discounts. Some say 15 per cent, 

 should be allowed — others say 20 per 



RAMBLER ROSE LADY DUNCAN. 



The aocomipanylng picture is repro- 

 duced from a painting of this beauti- 

 ful rose which is now being offered for 

 the first time by the Eastern Nurser- 

 ies. As a garden ornament or an 



Kaster forcing plant, it will take rank 

 with any and all of its predecessors. 

 The flowers are very large and beauti- 

 fully colored. The foliage is rich and 

 heav.v, denoting the influence of the 

 rugosa blood. 



cent, and I find that still others say 

 25 per cent. Some florists will remit 

 as soon as they get a bill; the ma- 

 jority take 30 days and some settle 

 when they have no other pressing need 

 of the money. The detailed directions 

 for delivery often make it necessary 

 to send long and expensive telegrams. 

 The florist in a small town may glad- 

 ly fill an order for a dollar's worth 

 of carnations and think himself prop- 

 erly paid at 50 cents per dozen while 

 the man on Fifth avenue will feel 

 that the expense of a long delivery 

 would make an order for ?1 a nuisance, 

 and that high rents compelled him to 

 charge three times as much per dozen 

 as the village florist. 



We will have accomplished a great 

 deal if we can form an organization 

 that shall include one or more repre- 

 sentatives in every city of the country 

 who can be depended on to properly 

 fill orders from any other member at 

 a rate of discount fixed in advance. 

 We must devise some plan where the 

 prompt payment for such orders is 

 made certain. We must have a tele- 

 graph code that is practical, concise 

 and comprehensive. The members 

 should be kept as fully posted as prac- 

 ticable concerning the prices prevail- 

 ing in different localities. 1 think we 

 will find no serious difficulty except in 

 the two points which may be said to 

 involve the character of the mem- 

 bers, viz.: Will the recipients of an 

 order fill it properly and will the 

 sender pay for the goods? 



Of these two questions, the former 

 is the more difficult of solution, but I 

 believe it will be solved. Any mem- 

 ber should see that his self-interest 

 demands the proper filling of orders 

 intrusted to him by another florist. 

 We must not allow the adoption of 

 any rule that would compel members 

 to send their orders to any given 

 florist. This would be fatal. Each 

 member must feel that the securing 

 of orders is assisted by membership 

 in the organization, but that the reten- 

 tion of patronage depends upon the 



quality of the service rendered. An 

 offender may not attend the annual 

 conventions, but he may be sure 

 others will do so, and that they will 

 exchange notes and get a line on how 

 orders are being filled by different 

 people. If service were bad enough, 

 it might well be the occasion for ex- 

 pulsion, but it would not need to be 

 very bad before the majority of mem- 

 bers would know about it. We should 

 encourage our customers to make in- 

 quiries from their friends and to re- 

 port on all deliveries, but, in con- 

 sidering such reports, we should bear 

 in mind the disposition of some peo- 

 ple to complain in season and out of 

 season. 



The matter of credits is difficult at 

 first sight; but seems certain of solu- 

 tion. In the first place, make mem- 

 bership cost enough so that it will 

 be too valuable to lose for a trifling 

 bill. In the next place, make the 

 annual dues enough so that the organ- 

 ization ran afford to exercise close 

 supervision in the matter of accounts. 

 I have given considerable thought to 

 this particular feature and am in- 

 clined to think that the following plan 

 is practical and equitable. In addi- 

 tion to a fixed membership fee, let the 

 member or members from each city 

 pay into the treasury a sum based on 

 the population of their city. If there 

 is only one member from the city, he 

 should pay it all; if a second member 

 comes in from that city he should pay 

 one-half of the population fee which 

 should then be refunded to the first 

 member — and so on — no matter how 

 many come in from that one city. The 

 total population fee in the treasury 

 from that city should remain constant, 

 and each member from that city should 

 have paid an equal amount. 



Let the money so paid be invested 

 and the interest from such investment 

 be combined with the membership fees 

 to form a guarantee fund. Should any 

 member fail or refuse to pay a bill 

 due to any other member for a speci- 

 fied time, say GO days, let this bill be 



