CHAPTER XVII 



COST OF EQUIPMENT AND RETURNS 



COST OF BUILDING AND EQUIPMENT 



THE cost of commencing as a wholesale or retail Rose 

 grower depends somewhat on circumstances and style 

 of houses. Good, serviceable houses of the proper type will 

 probably cost, when planted and completely installed, in the 

 neighborhood of $7,500.00 for every 10,000 square feet of 

 ground enclosed. 



Allowing about one-third of this enclosure for walks, we 

 have ground left which would hold probably 6,000 plants, de- 

 pending somewhat on how the house was laid out and how 

 close together the plants were set. If these plants produce an 

 income of one dollar each per year, they are doing well. A 

 great many growers get less, but this amount and more has 

 been obtained. 



A Rose plant, doing well, will produce about fifty flowers 

 per year. Some growers get an average of three cents per 

 flower the year round. I have on record the cut of one establish- 

 ment where My Maryland produced, from young stock planted 

 in May, 1909, an average cut of sixty-five flowers per plant 

 for the twelve months ending July first, 1910. The cut in 

 December and January, combined, amounted to nearly four 

 thousand flowers. The Killarneys will average as well for 

 the year and may be more easily manipulated by the small 

 grower so that they will produce a larger percentage in the 

 Winter time. It seems unnecessary to mention varieties. There 

 are at least a dozen that do better with some growers than they 

 do with others. 



