68 MARKET NURSERY WORK 



that they arrive exactly as they were packed. Before covering, 

 slightly bedew the blooms with a very fine spray, then see that a 

 lipped and non-slipping lid is securely fastened. 



This is the mere outline of packing. What the packer has to 

 keep before him is that the value of the package depends upon the 

 freshness, the evenness, the {lawlessness of every flower in it, for 

 so lynx-eyed are the buyers (they have made buying an art) that 

 they can immediately spot a defective or faulty bloom, and are 

 adepts at valuing the whole package by it. A high-class florist 

 needs none but high-class stuff, and if by any chance he gets hold 

 of a package from which he has to discard valueless blooms he is 

 very chary of purchasing further from the same mark. 



Some discrimination must be made in the selection of the 

 salesman. It is quite possible that the commission agent who so 

 satisfactorily disposes of our peaches and our grapes may just as 

 satisfactorily handle our roses, but that does not necessarily follow, 

 the probability being rather the reverse. It is a point to be watched 

 and followed up, for there are hot-house fruit specialists and there 

 are cut flower specialists, just as there are hardy fruit specialists 

 and greenhouse plant specialists. It does not take a keen business 

 man long to satisfy himself on this point, but unfortunately we 

 cannot all claim to be keen business men, though we try to be. 

 Sometimes it pays to split a consignment, though perhaps not often ; 

 for a salesman may find himself overloaded, in which case the ten- 

 dency is to clear at reduced prices ; but because a particular 

 salesman is overloaded it does not necessarily follow that the 

 market is glutted. When one has a salesman who is eminently 

 satisfactory, it is sound policy to consider him and to keep him 

 supplied up to his capacity for selling, but that is no reason why 

 he should be glutted if there is an alternative and satisfactory man 

 who will handle the surplus. 



It may be suggested that this splitting up of a consignment 

 might be left to the salesman, who finding himself glutted would 

 probably be able to pass a part over to a confrere ; but the natural 

 tendency would be for him to hang on as long as possible in the hope 

 of clearing. However much respect we may have for our salesman 

 (and that is considerable) we think this is a responsibility which 

 ought to rest on the grower and not on his agent. Beside, salesmen 



