76 



HORTICULTURE 



January 15, 1910 



BUILDING UP A RETAIL TRADE IN 



A GROWING COMMUNITY. 



Read before the Florists' Club of Phila- 

 delphia Jan. 4th, 1910. by Edw. A. Stroud. 



In addressing you on the subject o£ 

 building up a retail trade in a grow- 

 ing community, I will tell you a few 

 of my experiences and some of the 

 methods I have employed in conduct- 

 ing a retail business which I estab- 

 lished some years ago in Overbrook. 

 It is possible for a florist in town to 

 confine himself to a few departments 

 of the business and make a success of 

 it financially, but I do not think this 

 is possible with a florist in the sub- 

 urbs. To make his business a success 

 he has to take up many different lines 

 of work. He should be a landscape 

 gardener, a grower of plants and 

 flowers, a decorator, and in fact a gen- 

 eral all-round man. 



After a family has moved from the 

 city, with its confined quarters and 

 few opportunities for the cultivation 

 of taste in the planting of their 

 grounds, and as a rule, with little or 

 no knowledge in this direction, it is 

 of vital importance that the suburban 

 florist be well versed in this depart- 

 ment, so that he may advise them 

 wisely and correctly. 



If the suburban florist is fortunate 

 enough to have some ground, in ad- 

 dition to his greenhouses, where he 

 can show his customers results which 

 may be obtained in the immediate vi- 

 cinity, he could give them object les- 

 sons; this I believe would accomplish 

 more good than any catalogue he could 

 issue. 



For example: The hardy border, 

 with the best and up-to-date peren- 

 nials; the rose garden; the spring show 

 of bulbs, pansies, for-get-me-nots, and 

 English daisies; the peony bed, with 

 its varieties neatly labelled. The 

 summer garden filled with annuals and 

 new cannas, the fall border with late 

 asters and helianthus, followed by the 

 hardy chrysanthemums. Some years 

 ago there was not a May-flowering 

 tulip in Overbrook; from the method 

 described I sold this fall some 15,000 

 bulbs, and from a small bed of colum- 

 bine last spring I sold 1000 plants. 



Now, of course, to carry on this 

 business it is necessary to make de- 

 sirable connection with the nursery- 

 men, seed and plantsman, and also the 

 wholesaler of cut flowers, acting as 

 their agent. Let me give you an ex- 

 ample: For instance, when Mr. A. 

 comes along and admires a certain 

 beautiful rose in bloom, and desires 

 one, you take his order, go to the 

 'phone, order the same, and thus make 

 a quick turnover with comparatively 

 little labor. 



My idea of a retail business in a 

 growing community is to use your glass 

 principally for show houses, keeping 

 them supplied from the large growers. 

 It is foolish to try to compete with 

 them in the growing line. An im- 

 portant factor is the sale of house 

 plants. There is scarcely a home in 

 which there is not a growing plant. 

 Then, too, a great many people en- 

 close their porches with glass in win- 

 ter time, making a temporary con- 

 servatory, to be filled with foliage and 

 flowering plants, which of necessity 

 must be replaced from time to time, 

 making a profitable source of income. 



AN APHINE TEST 



ON 



Sweet Peas ^Double Violets 



Violets and 

 Sweet Peas 

 a Specialty 



JOHN H. SLOCOMBE 



FLORIST 

 555 Townsend Avenue 



New Haven, Conn., Dec. 13, 1909. 



George E. Talmadge, Inc., 

 Madison, N. J. 



Gentlemen: — We grow Double Violets and Sweet Peas and so cannot use 

 Cyanide after Peas are up in November. We have not yet found an insecticide 

 that would kill green and black dy and not give the Violets spot — or as Cyanide 

 kills Peas, and tobacco spots, we would like to know what tests you have 

 made on Double Violets and Sweet Peas. If your goods fill the bill we can use 

 a lot of It. Yours truly, J. H. SLOCOMBE. 



OUR REPLY 



(Madison, N. J., Dec. 20.) "Replying to your favor of the 13th Inst., we 

 are today sending you a sample of Aphiue that you may ti-y it on your plants 

 to see whether it will do the work for you. This will be more satisfactoiT to 

 you than any promises we may make as to what Aphiue will do. We will 

 appreciate it If you will advise us of the results of your test." 



THE RESULTS 



(New Haven, Conn., Dec. 29, 1909.) "Your sample of Aphiue received and 

 tested a few days ago. It looks to us like a good thing, so we are enclosing 

 check for $2.50 for one gallon of same. "Yours truly. "J. H. SLOCOMBE." 

 (Western Union) New Haven, Conn,, .Tan. 4, 1910. Ship immediately C. O. D. 

 ff two gallons Aphine. J. H. Slocombe." 



ANOTHER PUBLIC TEST OF APHINE 



Has been arranged, to be held at the Boston Flower Market, Boston, Mass., 

 on Saturday, January 22d, 1910. 



^Further particulars in next week's issue of this paper. ) 



If you are not familiar with the new insecticide discovery, APHINE, send 

 for descriptive circular. 



If your supply house does not yet handle it, write us for names of our 

 nearest selling agents. 



$2.50 per gallon. 



Used at an average strength of 1 part APHINE to 15 to 40 part* water. 



APHINE MANUFACTURING CO. 



Madison, N. J. 



The sale of Christmas and Easter 

 plants is so universal that its im- 

 portance need hardly be mentioned. 



After spring comes the spring bed- 

 ding which, probably, taking the whole 

 season through, embraces the biggest 

 volume of the work. Of late years 

 this department has grown to such 

 an extent that I depend entirely on 

 the large growers of bedding plants, 

 placing my orders early so as to in- 

 sure a good quality of stock. It seems 

 to me there is a gi'eat deal more 

 money to be made in buying gerani- 

 ums at $18 per 1000 out of 2\^ inch 

 pots in February, and selling them for 

 $80 per 1000 from 4 inch pots in May 

 and June, than by growing them my- 

 self; besides I can then confine my- 

 self to a few specialties which often- 

 times I cannot buy. 



Under the head of bedding plants, 

 comes the filling of porch-boxes. I 

 have been trying to get away from the 

 usual filled box of geraniums, coleus, 

 petunias, verbenas and cheap vines; 

 using instead, such decorative plants 

 as crotons, pandanus, dracaenas, ferns, 

 etc. The cost of filling such a box 

 as I have described is considerable 

 more: instead of $2.50 to $3.00, run- 

 ning from $8.00 to $10.00, but wher- 

 ever I have used them, they have more 

 than pleased, and repaid the pur- 



chaser. The reason being that they 

 give an immediate effect, combined 

 with lasting qualities if given proper 

 attention. Also at the approach of 

 frost the boxes can be taken into the 

 conservatory. 



The sale of cut flowers is the next 

 branch of importance. My experience 

 has been that one cannot get or ex- 

 pect to get the same prices as the 

 city florist receives, for the reason that 

 in a growing community the florist 

 caters almost exclusively to a family 

 trade, who wants the flowers but not 

 the frills, considering a fancy, ribbon- 

 tied box unnecessary. I have found 

 that people of wealth like to buy 

 flowers frequently at moderate rates, 

 say from one to two dollars worth, 

 but will not spend large amounts ex- 

 cept on special occasions, when they 

 will go the limit. 



Even so, I have found at Christmas 

 time very few among my customers 

 who are willing to pay $3 per dozen for 

 red carnations, or $25 per dozen for 

 Beauties. To meet this demand tor 

 moderate prices, I have had to grow 

 flowers which will satisfy the buyers, 

 and at the same time give me a profit. 

 These flowers which I grow for this 

 purpose cannot always be bought at 

 the wholesalers. The following vari- 

 eties are some of them; starting in the 



