28 THE PRINCIPLES OF FLORICULTURE 



as each town will eventually have its own greenhouse 

 establishments. 



" In the early seventies when my father, Abraham L. 

 Pennock, was in the retail end of the business in the firm 

 of Pennock Brothers, I have heard him say that during 

 the Centennial Year, 1876, he would go on to Boston and 

 buy all the roses he could find. He said a relative from 

 near Boston went into that city'at one time and wanted to 

 get some roses for a wedding. Pie was told that there 

 were no roses to be had, for Mr. Pennock had come from 

 Philadelphia and bought all there were in the city. It is 

 not a great many years to look back that far and yet 

 think of .the changes. No man now could buy all the roses 

 that come into Boston or any other city in the East. 



" The commission houses in the country are inaugurat- 

 ing a better system of bookkeeping. Formerly accounts 

 were kept in a very slip-shod way. A few firms still 

 neglect this important factor, and their returns to growers 

 are more or less a matter of ' guess.' The larger and more 

 up-to-date houses, however, have a systematic way of 

 keeping a record of everything that comes into and goes 

 out of the store, otherwise they could not make honest 

 returns to their growers. The best commission houses 

 do a straight business and return to the grower exactly 

 what they get for their stock. Nothing is guessed at. 

 As a general thing, the commission on cut-flowers is too low. 

 If it were not for the other things which wholesalers handle, 

 the balance sheet at the end of the year would never be on 

 the right side. The expense of handling cut-flowers seems 

 to increase every year. Commission men have to give 

 more service and do more for the retailer each year. This 

 probably is, in part, the fault of the commission man him- 

 self, but competition has driven him to this." 



