FLOWERS 135 



Little capital is required to start; intelligent effort is 

 the road to success. Very few, indeed, who are now leaders 

 in floriculture, started with more than $500 capital, and 

 many with much less. One of the largest growers of roses 

 in the United States, whose plant covers more than ten 

 acres, did not have $500 when he started, and many others 

 not so well known are making handsome livings and have 

 accumulated thousands of dollars of property from a start 

 of less than $500. 



But practical knowledge is much more necessary than in 

 raising vegetables, as small mistakes will have more serious 

 results. Therefore, if you have some capital and wish to 

 go into flower raising, it will pay you, if circumstances per- 

 mit, to hire out to a florist, even at small wages, till you 

 have learned the business even though you have raised 

 flowers successfully in a home garden. 



Mr. Frank Hamilton, manager of C. W. Ward's of 

 Queens, tells of at least a dozen men, who have been in their 

 employ during his twenty-five years' experience, some of 

 whom got only twenty dollars a month at first, and after- 

 wards started in a small way for themselves, who are now 

 making a substantial living. 



Although the market depends largely on the wealthy 

 class in the large cities, many florists devote considerable 

 time and space to flowers which are bought by the poorer 

 class of city dwellers who have no space or time to raise 

 their own. 



There are always good markets somewhere for the crop, 

 and it is not an uncommon thing to ship flowers from New 

 York to Chicago, Buffalo, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, 

 and Washington, or vice versa. The chances of success 

 for a lover of flowers are better in this business than in any 



