HORTICULTURE 



July 26, 1919 



THE BUSINESS END OF A FLORIST'S 



SHOP 



BY R. 

 Bookkeeping. 

 Given good bookkeeping it is possi- 

 ble for the florist, sitting in his office, 

 to place his hand on both the strong 

 and the weak spots in his business. 

 He may discover from his books how 

 it is he earns money and why he loses 

 so much of it. The reading of his 

 books becomes a fascinating and 

 profitable study, revealing the econo- 

 mies and extravagances, the waste 

 and the profits, the good or the bad 

 management. 



Good bookkeeping is like a corner 

 stone; it gives strength and stability, 

 and, united with good buying and man- 

 agement (other things being equal), 

 the business that has these must suc- 

 ceed 



Too Heavy Buying. 

 A very large proportion of buyers 

 habitually purchase more goods than 

 they can dispose of at regular rates 

 (as a consequence they are unable to 

 keep their stock fresh and inviting), 

 the final result being lower prices, dis- 

 satisfied customers, and loss of profit. 

 Especially should the buying of "bar- 

 gains" be carefully considered, in view 

 of the effect on the general trade of 

 the shop. The writer has made ex- 

 tensive tests in this connection in his 

 own business and the results prove 

 that after several cheap lots of flowers 

 have been offered at intervals, the reg- 

 ular trade has been very bad, but con- 

 stant inquiries were made as to forth- 

 coming "bargains," the customers 

 either refusing to buy the regular lines 

 or buying reduced quantities and with 

 expressed dissatisfaction. 



In buying for a shop where the 

 wreath trade predominates care should 

 be taken to watch the variation in the 

 prices of those flowers which may be 

 used. At the moment of writing, for 

 instance, White Carnations are half 

 the price of White Roses, and in most 

 cases one will serve as well as the 

 other. It should be the aim of the buy- 

 er to secure just those flowers which 

 will give the desired effect to his work, 

 and the largest profit to his business. 

 In brief, buying must be done with 

 the head and not always according to 

 the book, or one's personal inclination. 



Shop Management. 



The ideal manager for a florist's 

 shop is one who combines artistic abil- 

 ity with a genius for organization. I 

 know of one such who rarely wastes 

 anything at all. He knows and prac- 

 tices thoroughly the art of economy in 

 "making up." His designs are beauti- 



H. PAGE. 



ful, and many of them are made from 

 the flowers which have been broken 

 down in the course of the day by the 

 carelessness of customers or assis- 

 tants. One other manager I know, 

 and he too is an artist; nothing but 

 the choicest and most select flowers 

 will do for his designs; he has no use 

 for anything that is even slightly 

 bruised. The flowers left at the end 

 of his day's work are those which 

 should have been used. He makes a 

 fine profit on the flowers he sells, and 

 loses most of it on the goods he has 

 left over. There is no doubt as to his 

 artistry, but his ability to manage is 

 open to question. 



A good manager will not be over 

 anxious to have his shop very full of 

 flowers, neither will he keep it short 

 of them. In the one case the flowers 

 do not look their value, and in the 

 other the public may think they will 

 be too dear, and not go inside to find 

 out. 



Flowers should be supplied to the 

 workroom only in such quantities as 

 are required for the order that is be- 

 ing executed. An unlimited supply 

 generally means waste. Instructions 

 should be given to assistants to direct 

 the desires of the customers towards 

 goods that are in stock; the manage- 

 ment knows what the flowers have 

 cost and is in the position to do busi- 

 ness without gambling on the market 

 price of the morrow. 



Where there is a large business in 

 cut flowers every endeavor should be 

 made to cultivate the wreath and bas- 

 ket trade, as flowers that would be in- 

 evitably wasted otherwise, can then 

 be used. This will enable the man- 

 agement in the majority of shops to 

 make a far finer show of the more ex- 

 pensive flowers than would otherwise 

 be the case. 



I do not pretend to have exhausted 

 any of the subjects mentioned and I 

 would like to know the opinion of 

 other florists on these matters. — Brit- 

 ish Florists' Bulletin. 



LANCASTER COUNTY FLORISTS' 

 ASSOCIATION PICNIC. 

 On April 10th at a full meeting of the 

 Club it was voted almost unanimously 

 to go to the Wild Cat for the annual 

 picnic, but when the committee made 

 a trip to Wild Cat to complete the ar- 

 rangements, they found that in bad 

 weather it was almost impossible to 

 reach it on the York County side by 

 machines and that the ferry facilities 

 from the Lancaster County side were 



inadequate for comfortable transporta- 

 tion. For this reason the plans were 

 changed to Rossmere and we feel that 

 on account of the publicity given to 

 the original proposition that this ex- 

 planation is due the participants and 

 friends of the Club. 



The Reading florists were invited as 

 our guests and the following reached 

 Lancaster at 9 a. m. July 17th: Mr. 

 and Mrs. J. C. Bauder, Mr. and Mrs. 

 John Dounag, Mr. and Mrs. Alfred 

 Lunden, Mr. and Mrs. H. C. Huseman 

 and Miss Huseman, Mr. and Mrs. Fred 

 Baer, Mrs. Giles, and the following 

 gentlemen, Harry Heck, Ferdinand 

 Heck. Clayton Butz, Wm. Kern, A. W. 

 Masser, W. N. Able, F. D. Lauck, and- 

 some of the younger generation. In 

 addition to these we had with us 

 Messrs. Dennis Connor, Mr. Bates, .Mr. 

 D. J. Koehane and Mr. S. S. Pennock 

 of Philadelphia. Mr. T. J. Nolan of the 

 U. S. A. and Mr. Edw. Marshall, wife 

 and mother from Kennett Square. 



The day started at 9.15 from the 

 Reading terminal via automobile to 

 the Kate Long Park, to the B. F. Barr 

 Nurseries, to Mr. Geo. Wilson who 

 owns the former home of President 

 Buchanan with its historic associa- 

 tions and its historic furniture, to 

 Maple Grove swimming pool, through 

 the residential part of the city to the 

 Country Club and then to Rossmere. 



The first event at Rossmere was a 

 picnic lunch, followed by the usual 

 picnic amusements, with W. B. Girvan 

 of Leola, Pa., as high man in the men's 

 bowling contest and Mrs. A. M. Herr 

 as high lady in the ladies' bowling. 

 Mr. Chas. B. Herr and Miss Lizzie 

 Musselman of Strasburg carried off 

 the honors in the card game, and Mr. 

 Dennis Connor was, I believe, cham- 

 pion in the quoit pitching contest. 



At 4 p. m. the picnic was turned 

 into a banquet, with mine host Fehl as 

 caterer and B. F. Barr and H. K. 

 Rohrer as table decorators. The Ban- 

 quet Room is a picture of beauty in it- 

 self, with the addition of the decora- 

 tions and the ladies it became a feast 

 for aesthetic eyes and the banquet 

 itself the realization of a gourmand's 

 dream. 



After the dinner President Elmer 

 Weaver called on Mr. M. J. Brinton of 

 Christiana for an address of welcome 

 to our visitors which was given in his 

 usual happy manner, the response was 

 made by Mr. Harry Heck, president of 

 the Reading Florists Club and short 

 talks were given by Mr. Harry Hues- 

 man, and J. C. Bauder of Reading and 

 Messrs. H. A. Schroyer and B. F. Barr 

 of Lancaster. Mrs. Albert M. Herr, 

 president of the Ladies Auxiliary, gave 

 a happy little address for the ladies. 

 .Albert M. Herb. 



