694 



ttOKTiCULTURE, 



May 7, 1910 



do not require a fancy box for every 

 purchase. His location is in a cheaper 

 district and his fixtures are of a plain 

 nature. Still on every dozen carna- 

 tions which he sells we find that rent, 

 heat and light, etc., each have a share! 

 Making up his annual expense account 

 we might possibly put it thus: 



Rent, $1,200; delivery boy, $520; 

 car fare, $78; mail, $.52; telegram and 

 'phone, $150; heat and light, $300; 

 boxes, $100; wrapping mat., $200; 

 wages one girl, $312; supplies, $200; 

 terns and green, $300; cut flowers 

 etc., $5,000; total, $8,412. 



Assuming the business to be done 

 on a 100 per cent, basis, he must ex- 

 pend $5,000 for his merchandise. 

 Averaging his expenses by the year 

 they amount to $3,412.00 or 68 per 

 cent., leaving him a balance of $1,588.- 

 00 or 32 per cent, as his wages. 



The next man doing a business 

 amounting to $50,000 per year belongs 

 to a higher grade but I fear a less 

 profitable one. His store must be in 

 a more desirable location, his patrons 

 demand more in the way of fixtures, 

 their purchases must be done up in 

 better form, a stock of decoration 

 plants must be kept up and many ac- 

 counts must be carried. To sum up 

 his expenses we can put it thus: 



Rent, $3,000.00; delivery rig and 

 keep up, $900.00; 2 delivery boys, 

 $156.00; carfare $120.00; extra de- 

 livery for holidays, $100.00; mail, 

 $120.00; advertising, $700.00; Tele- 

 gram and 'phone, $250.00; heat and 

 light, $500.00; boxes, $750.00; wrap- 

 ping material, $500.00; wages 3 girls. 

 $6.00 p. w., $936.00; wages, extra for 

 holidays, $50.00; 6 per cent, on $5,000 

 outstanding account, $300.00; florist 

 supplies, $1,000.00; ferns and green. 

 $1,000.00; 6 per cent, on $1,500 decora- 

 tion plants, $90.00; renewal of same, 

 $750.00; 6 per cent, on $2,500 of store 

 fixtures, $150.00; 10 per cent, deprecia- 

 tion thereon, $250.00; annual cleaning 

 etc., $250.00; cut flowers and plants. 

 $2,500.00; total, $36,872.00. With an 

 annual business of $50,000 we have 

 left $13,128, of which $5,000 is out- 

 standing, leaving a clear balance of 

 $8,128. 



These items computed very care- 

 fully show a cost of doing business of 

 about 33 per cent., while the net gain, 

 considering the amount of money out- 

 standing, gives a balance of onlv 16 

 per cent, clear profits, assuming 'that 

 every flower and plant bought has 

 been resold at double the purchase 

 price. 



The next man doing a business of 

 $100,000 , or more annually, presents 

 again a different picture in his ex- 

 pense account and his bill would be 

 still more complicated, to wit: 



Rent, $4,000; two delivery rigs 

 $1,800; upkeep, $500: two delivel-y 

 boys, $156: carfares. $200; bovs ex- 

 tra for holidays. $400; mail. $3.50- ad- 

 vertising, $1,200: telegram and 'phonn 

 $500: heat and light, $1,200; boxes,' 

 $7,000: wrapping material, $l OOO-' 

 wages, three clerks, four girls ' and 

 bookkeeper. $5,500; wages extra for 

 holidays, $500: 6 per cent, on $10,000 

 account standing. $600: florist sup- 

 plies. $3,000; ferns and green $5 000- 

 6 per cent, on $2,500 decoration plants' 

 $150; renewal of same, $1,200- 6 per 

 cent, on $30.000— store and fixtures 

 $1,800; 8 per cent, depreciation there- 

 on. $2,400; cut flowers and plants 

 $50,000; total. $79,356. 



This on the presumption of doubling 

 up on everything would presume a 

 $100,000 annual btisines and deducting 

 therefrom the expenses of $79,356 

 leaves a balance of $20,644— or about 

 20 per cent, less amount outst. $10,000 

 net $10,644— or about 10 per cent' 

 clear. 



As estimated at the beginning, it is 

 practically impossible to procure the 

 actual figures of a detailed expense 

 account, and while the man doing the 

 bon ton business derives considerable 

 from the hiring out of plants and 

 consequently will not pay out $50,000 

 for cut flowers and plants to enable 

 him to do a $100,000 a year business 

 it IS a fact that the item of $1,000 

 per year for boxes is too conservative 

 by at least $1,200. This item is very 

 striking as compared with the item 

 of wrapping material in numbers 2 

 and 3. While No. 2 pays $500 per 

 year for wrapping material. No 3 

 pays $1,000. No. 2 pays about $1,000 

 for boxes, No. 3 pays $7,000. which 

 shows clearly the extravagant demand 

 made by our bon ton customers. 



Another offset for a possible unac- 

 counted-for income from decorative 

 plants is in the low estimate of mail- 

 ing exnense and advertising. A well 

 regulated business sends out the bills 

 contracted daily and monthly. In a 

 business of that size this means at 

 least 800 bills a month or $178 a year 

 for postage. Add to this regular cor- 

 respondence, snecial delivery and so 

 on easily doubles that item'. In the 

 matter of advertising I have purposely 

 only taken cognizance of that part 

 which is unavoidable and refers to 

 those apparently unlimited calls of so- 

 cieties for program advertisements. 

 The legitimate advertisement such as 

 annual announcements in the fall of 

 the year in form of little booklets or 

 similar matters will easilv reach an 

 annual expenditure of $1,000, so that 

 the commission from income of plant 

 hire is easily covered. 



The item of $30,000 in store fixtures 

 may appear large, but is conservative 

 because a first-class store must be 

 built right in every detail. The cut 

 flowers must be displayed in cut glass 

 and other expensive material, most of 

 which is not bought and transformed 

 into cash, but is simply a fixture which 

 in a few years becomes fit for the 

 scrap pile only. 



I trust that these enumerations have 

 thrown light on points we have been 

 thinking about very much, and while 

 r realize the intricate nature of the 

 subject I hope I have it made clear 

 enough that a retailer has no possible 

 chance for existence and future pros- 

 perity unless he at least doubles his 

 price on everything he purchases. 



THE BRITISH-JAPANESE EXHIBI- 

 TION. 



There is great progress being made 

 at Shepherd Rush with the .Japanese 

 gardens, and the exhibition will be 

 opened to the public about the middle 

 of June. We therefore lose the pretty 

 effects of the May flora, one of the 

 chief attractions of a garden in Japan 

 Doubtless the powers that rule at the 

 exhibition will have something to show 

 :!S. making amends for this lacuna. 

 Some ponderous scenes in rock con- 

 struction are already completed. The 

 "Gardeners' Chronicle" gives an illus- 

 tration of this in its issue for April 

 16— much stone, but little water 



CHICAGO NOTES. 



Effects of the Freeze. 

 A. E. Hunt of Evanston thinks the 

 frost has not done so much injury as 

 was at first supposed. With the con- 

 tinued cold rain he is glad with others 

 that his young carnation stock is still 

 indoors. 



The peony fields at Batavia are 

 seemingly recovering from the frost 

 but the real outcome will not be 

 known till the flowers are actually 

 open. 



Singler Bros, of Morgan Park had 

 40,000 carnation plants in the field 

 the most of which had been out a 

 week and were unharmed. Those 

 planted just before the frost are in- 

 jured. This plant, devoted to the 

 growing of carnations, is one of the 

 oldest in the vicinity of Chicago. It 

 was established by Mr. Singler who 

 died several years ago, and is now 

 ably managed by his two sons. 



Geo. Walther, 435 W. 63rd street 

 had refused to plant bedding stock 

 for his customers who are now only 

 too glad of his positive refusal. 



Barnard's ten acres of peonies at 

 Tracy are showing signs of consider- 

 able injury, though the loss will be 

 less than at first anticipated. 



AH over the city and in the surbur- 

 ban towns the shade trees are drop- 

 ping their young leaves. The soft 

 maple trees, large specimens forty 

 years old are dropping the whole of 

 the young twigs. The first day that 

 the sun shone the air was filled with 

 the odor of decayed vegetation and 

 added to the leaf bestrewn sidewalks 

 tall and not spring appears to be at 

 hand. While many theories regarding 

 the trees may be heard the majority 

 of the people are at least trying to 

 hope for the best. No one has been 

 tound who can recollect ever seeing 

 such a condition before. Those whose 

 shade trees are of the late leafing 

 varieties are congratulating them- 

 selves on this fact. 



Another Large Retail Store Closed. 



-Most of the trade were taken by 

 surprise Monday when they learned 

 that Hauswirth The Florist had closed 

 up his business in the Auditorium. 

 This IS one of the oldest retail stores 

 in Chicago. For twenty or more years 

 the name of Hauswirth has been con- 

 nected with this famous hotel. Phil 

 J. Hauswirth first had a store on the 

 Wabash side and several years ago 

 moved into the Michigan avenue 

 ^oa"'*' ■^^*^''«' "Pon his death, Dec 4 

 1.10,, the business was continued by 

 his widow. Marie C. Hauswirth and 

 son Edward. In a little over a year 

 death claimed one of the brightest 

 women in the florists' ranks and since 

 that time "Ed." has conducted the 

 store. It was not altogether a suc- 

 cessful venture and Mr. Hauswirth 

 has closed his store and announces 

 his intention of going into the poultrv 

 business at Twin Lakes, Wis. Three 

 weeks in succession a closed retail 

 store in the down town district has 

 been the surprise of the early part 

 of the week. Various rumors are 

 afloat as to the successor to the Haus- 

 wirth store. 



Important Conference. 

 Arrangements for the semi-annual 

 meeting of the Illinois Outdoor Im- 

 provement Association at Springfield 

 III., May 26 and 27, are well under 

 way and a fine program has been 



