PREFACE 



The purpose of this book is to assist the retail grower in con- 

 ducting his business along uptodate, modern methods. It is not 

 intended to replace, or even improve on, the many valuable works 

 we already have treating on horticultural matters in general, or 

 such as deal with specialties in their respective lines. 



There are today thousands of florists, located mostly in the 

 smaller cities and towns and depending on a local trade, who no 

 longer confine their activities within the walls of their greenhouses, 

 but have already branched out into the so-called side lines or are 

 about to do so, and in the majority of cases they soon learn to ap- 

 preciate the great field and future there is in store for them in the 

 handling of shrubs, evergreens and other hardy stock, fertilizers, 

 seeds, and landscape problems of all kinds. 



To build up a retail establishment, starting with a rather 

 limited knowledge of how to grow greenhouse stock and not enough 

 money to pay for twenty-five hotbed sash, means many years of 

 hard work; as many more are needed to acquire and build up th& 

 above-mentioned side lines, particularly when one has little trust- 

 worthy advice to assist him in getting started on the right road. 



I went through all this, and while I have been in the business for 

 over forty years without interruption, I can honestly say that had 

 there been within my reach a "counselor and guide," such as this 

 book is designed to be, it would have been an easier matter for me 

 to navigate, and would have meant the saving of a lot of money 

 spent in finding out things, not to mention the saving of valuable 

 time taken up in experimenting. 



These facts and the many inquiries I have answered from 

 readers of The Florists Exchange during the past fourteen years, while 

 conducting the "Week's Work" Department (without, if I may say 

 so, missing a single issue), have prompted me to undertake writing 

 this book in the hope that it may benefit, not only beginners, but 

 also those who, though established, are looking for suggestions re- 

 garding the building and maintenance of an uptodate business, who 

 are looking for more trade, and who are anxious to grow, branch out 

 and prosper. 



Acknowledgement is made to friends who have supplied some 

 of the illustrations, and to Mr. E. L. D. Seymour for suggestions 

 and assistance in connection with the arrangement of the material 

 and the entire editorial preparation of the book. 



FRITZ BAHR. 

 Highland Park, 111. 

 August, 



