10 



The Florists' Review 



JAHUAET 4, 1917. 



the sale of spring flowers now. It is 

 business which will not interfere with 

 the sales of roses or carnations, but 

 which, instead, will increase them by 

 adding variety to the stock. But it 

 should be borne in mind that there will 

 be a change in the sales of spring flowers 

 as the season progresses. In January, 

 good prices are to be had, for the supply 

 is comparatively small; but as bulbous 

 flowers become abundant, prices will fall 

 — then the money is to be made on quan- 

 tity sales. Today good prices are ob- 

 tainable for the asking and they will 



make for livelier selling later, when a 

 special sale can be put on — a tumbler 

 basket containing a dozen jonquils or 

 a bunch of sweet peas for half a dollar. 

 There will be more spring flowers 

 than ever this season, especially bulb- 

 ous stock and sweet peas. A large part 

 of the bench space used for mums has 

 gone into sweet peas and the pick is 

 just beginning, while the imports of 

 bulbs, far exceeding the records of any 

 other year, speak for great quantities of 

 bulbous flowers as spring approaches. 



SHARING THE PROFITS 



DIVIDING THE INCREASE. 



Better Than a Christmas Gift. 



Since the adoption of profit-sharing 

 plans by big business all over the coun- 

 try, the idea has been taken up in at 

 least one florist's ostablishment. By 

 profit sharing is not meant the issuing of 

 ■coupons to customers, but the division of 

 a percentage of the profits to the people 

 who make profits possible — to the em- 

 ployees who make up the organization. 



Alpha Elberficld, proprietor of the 

 Alpha Floral Co., Kansas City, Mo., is 

 the first florist who is known to have em- 

 ployed the idea in his business. Mr. 

 Elberficld declares that tlie reason for 

 its adoption was the fact that every 

 year at Christmas time the proprietor of 

 nearly every store makes the members 

 of his organization a gift. So Mr. Elber- 

 field set to work to devise some method 

 by which this could be done so that the 

 gift would represent something more 

 Tnan the mere passing of some article or 

 cash from the hand of the owner to those 

 of his salespeople. He was not endeav- 

 oring to avoid giving, but he was trying 

 to find some manner in which the gift 

 would be invested with a significance. 



Making a Start. 



A little more than a year ago Mr. 

 Elberfield called a meeting of his em- 

 ployees and outlined his plans to them. 

 The company would no longer pursue the 

 common practice of other establishments 

 and other businesses. The Christmas 

 present idea would be banished entirely. 

 Henceforth the company would figure 

 the percentage of increase of profits each 

 month and a percentage of this increase 

 would then be divided among the em- 

 ployees according to the station of their 

 employment. The system began with the 

 porter and ended with the manager. 

 The percentage of profits distributed to 

 each was from one and one-half per cent 

 to fifteen per cent of the increase each 

 •month. 



Mr. Elberfield endeavors to encourage 

 thrift among his employees and he 

 therefore, after the first month, opened 

 an account at a bank for them, in which 

 their percentage was deposited at the 

 ■end of each month. In speaking of this 

 banking business Mr. Elberfield recent- 

 ly said: "Ninety-five per cent of the 

 accounts that I have started for my em- 

 ployees have never had a withdrawal 

 made on them." 



Perfects the Organization. 

 "The sales help, the designers, errand 



boys, porters, stenographers and all be- 

 gan to take a great deal more interest 

 in the business," said Mr. Elberfield. 

 "It was to their advantage and to mine 

 that they should increase the profit 

 month after month. Now, here is an in- 

 teresting feature, for some might con- 

 ceive the idea that the Christmas gift 

 proposition had been defeated and a sav- 

 ing effected, but it does not work that 

 way. If I had pursued two years ago 

 the old custom of giving Christmas pres- 

 ents to my employees they would of 

 course have been in cash and they would 

 have represented an extremely small 

 percentage of a yearly profit. ' There- 

 fore, you- can easily see that where an 

 employee formerly received a five-dollar 

 goldpiece for a Christmas present he now 

 receives annually several times that 

 amount. But he should receive it; he 

 has a right to it, for he made it possible 

 for me to pay it by earning it for me. 



"This profit-sharing business has per- 

 fected my organization until now the 

 percentage of increase each month over 

 the same month of the previous year has 

 averaged something like fourteen per 

 cent during 1916. Although the year 

 perhaps would have brought an increase 

 in profit without the salespeople and or- 



ganization displaying an increased inter- 

 est, it is a question worthy of note 

 whether or not the increase would have 

 been as high as it was. 



"Naturally, the prosperous condition 

 of the country during the year would 

 have brought us an increase, as it did 

 to nearly every florist's establishment. 

 Newspaper advertising helped the busi- 

 ness much more than ever before, but I 

 have traced the greater part of the in- 

 crease to the stronger organization and 

 the greater interest that organization 

 has taken in the business. Beginning in 

 September, the greatest impulse for in- 

 creased profits was felt and it has con- 

 tinued to rise ever since. 



Some of the Handicaps. 



"Some conditions of the business 

 have erected obstacles against increas 

 ing profits, such as, for example, the coal 

 situation in this city and territory. 

 There has been a great deal of suffering 

 on the part of the greenhouse men in 

 this regard. Those who wished to renew 

 contracts for a year's supply of coal 

 found the price greatly increased and in 

 many eases operators and wholesalers 

 positively refused to undertake new con- 

 tract obligations to furnish the supply. 

 The only course left for the greenhouse 

 men was to resort to the open market, 

 where the same shortage of fuel was the 

 feature as well as increased prices. Thus 

 the price of production of flowers and 

 plants increased tremendously and, 

 therefore, the price had to be increased 

 to the retailer and the retailer in turn 

 was forced to increase the price to the 

 customer. Another important drain on 

 the profits of the retail florist has been 

 found in the rise in the cost of boxes and 

 wrapping paper, but almost all supplies 

 have advanced. 



' ' Even though such diflSculties did ex- 

 ist, my business increased twenty per 

 cent during the year, over that of the 

 previous year. It seems that the de- 

 mand is daily becoming not only larger, 

 but for a higher grade of merchandise, 

 and to meet this demand the retailer 

 must keep well stocked with the best in 

 the market, not only in flowers and 

 plants, but in novelties, baskets, ribbons 

 and chiffons." 



ROEBELENn SEEDS SCARCE. 



A Popular Variety. 



There are any number of famines 

 growing out of the great war, but the 

 latest to develop is a famine of Phoenix 

 Roebelenii. 



During the last half dozen years this 

 phoenix has gained an immense popu- 

 larity in the United States. It is known 

 as the pygmy phoenix. Specimens 20 

 to 30 years old have stems not over 

 two feet high. Watson, the Kew au- 

 thority, says of it: "B^ far the small- 

 est of all the many kinds of phoenix 

 known and it also is exceptional in the 

 form of its stem and in the elegance and 

 soft texture of its bright green leaves." 

 He adds that it deserves to rank with 

 Cocos Weddelliana, 



All these facts have been recognized 

 by the trade and there has developed a 



large demand for the plants, principally 

 for indoor use, but in Florida and some 

 of the other southern states Roebelenii 

 now is reported in many gardens, though 

 it grows well only when in rich, moist 

 soil and in- half shaded spots. 



Seeds Prom Afar. 



But the world's supply of seeds of 

 Phoenix Roebelenii has come from an 

 inaccessible district in the northern part 

 of Siam and the western part of north 

 French Indo-China. Before the war the 

 supply of seeds was extremely uncertain 

 and during the last two years it has al 

 most ceased. Added to the difficulties oi 

 gathering have been the dangers of thf 

 ocean and it is reported that the last 

 shipment from Bangkok was submarineci 

 in the Mediterranean, 



The variety obtained its name fron 

 its discoverer, Charles Roebelen, whose 

 business was collecting orchids. H<> 



