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16 



The Rorists^ Review 



Mat 29, 1919. 



NEWABK, N. J. 



Tlie Market. 



The large amount of rainy weather 

 during the last week has held back the 

 development of flowers, the prices of 

 which arc still high. Carnations sell for 

 $1.50 to $2 per dozen. Peonies have just 

 appeared in the market. They are small 

 and not well developed. With a few 

 days of bright and sunny weather both 

 the quality and the quantity will rapidly 

 improve. Wandering jew and other 

 hardy vines and plants are in consider- 

 able demand. 



Varions Notes. 



Nicholas Do Pappas, at one time em- 

 ployed by William H. Zeis, of the 

 Washington Florist Shop, at 577 Broad 

 street, was found guilty of embezzling 

 $1,500 from bis old employer. De Pap- 

 pas was manager of the store at a sal- 

 ary of $25 and it is alleged that within 

 a few months he had saved enough to 

 start a business of his own. 



Business at the flower store of Chris. 

 Penek is good except in funeral work. 



Mrs. Henry A. Strobell and family 

 will leave soon for their summer home 

 at Ocean Grove. R. B. M. 



BOSTON. 



The Market. 



Business last week was unusually 

 quiet, with considerable recessions in 

 prices. This is quite customary the 

 week before Memorial day. There is 

 an entirely different market this week 

 and prices fehow considerable advances 

 all along the line, carnations being par- 

 ticularly strong. Last week prices 

 varied from $3 to $5 per hundred. For 

 Memorial day these figures are being 

 doubled. Owing to considerably over- 

 cast weather, the supply of carnations 

 will be more limited than expected. 

 Boses are selling well and I believe I 

 have never seen them of better quality 

 at this season, thanks to the absence of 

 excessive heat. The demand, as usual, 

 is specially good for red and deep pink 

 varieties and the short-stemmed grades 

 are most in favor. Sweet peas slumped 

 to as low as $2.50 per thousand last 

 week, but have now recovered sharply 

 and are in strong demand. 



There are larger supplies than usual 

 of ten weeks* stocks of fine quality, 

 feverfew, Gypsophila elegans and calen- 

 dulas, for which there is a big call at 

 present. Spanish iris sells well, also 

 Darwin and cottage tulips, of which 

 there are fair supplies. Outdoor lily 

 of the valley is abundant and much 

 superior in quality to the forced article, 

 with handsome foliage. There is a large 

 supply of antirrhinums and fair quan- 

 tities of large and small-flowered gla- 

 dioli. Callas and lilies are growing 

 scarce. Peonies locally will not appear 

 until the end of the week, but a good 

 many Pennsylvania ones are coming in. 

 A good deal of lilac is in fine condition, 

 also hardy azaleas, deutziM, Qerman 

 iris, single pyrethrums and pansies. 

 Orchids are scarce, but there is little 

 Memorial day call for them. Home- 

 grown gardenias are few, but a good 

 many are coming in from Texas in fair 

 condition. 



Greenery of all kinds is selling well 

 and laarel and magnolia wreaths are 

 having a heavy sale. More artificial 

 flowers and wreaths are being disposed 



of than ever. before. The demand for 

 geraniums, pansies, forget-me-nots and 

 other popular bedding plants is heavy, 

 while among flowering plants hydran- 

 geas and roses are in greatest favor. 

 Everything at the time of writing indi- 

 cates a record business for Memorial 

 day. 



Club Meeting. 



There was a good attendance at the 

 meeting of the Gardeners* and Florists' 

 Club, May 20, to hear F. E. Palmer's 

 splendid lecture on "Accounting for 

 Florists." In the course of his re- 

 marks Mr. Palmer, whom I know well as 

 a successful business man, stated that 

 he had great faith in expert account- 

 ants being called in at intervals. He 

 stated he had found them a distinct 

 help in his business, that many splen- 

 did suggestions can be got from them 

 and their services are worth all they 

 cost. His firm did a somewhat com- 

 plicated business and he divided it into 

 three departments, viz.: Greenhouses 

 and nursery, store, and outdoor land- 

 scape department. Within another year 

 he proposes to make the increasing nurs- 

 ery business a separate item. Separate 

 accounts are kept of each department. 

 He makes a complete inventory of stock 

 twice a year. This entails much work, 

 but is extremely important. Only by 

 doing this can growers know how they 

 stand. He keeps a separate purchase 

 book to cover such expenses as tele- 

 phone and telegraph charges, auto ex- 

 penses, advertising, etc. The ofSce man- 

 ager indicates to the bookkeeper by a 

 brief notation and red pencil mark in 

 which column the charge should go. 



A sales book is kept in the same way. 

 Sales slips are used and each day 's sales 

 are clipped together and totaled by an 



adding machine. Each department mak- 

 ing a sale receives credit for same. His 

 drivers carry a shipping book, bound 

 like those used by express companies, 

 and in it is a signature from every 

 customer receiving any goods. From 

 the cash register nothing is ever paid 

 out. All the money received one day 

 is deposited in the bank the following 

 morning. A petty cash account is al- 

 ways carried in the store and carries 

 $10 or its equivalent in slips. Cheeks 

 are sent for all accounts of $5 and over 

 and all bills are paid by the tenth of 

 each month. A yearly summary shows 

 gross profit, from which are deducted all 

 salaries, rent, repairs, postage, etc. In- 

 come tax officials had informed him 

 that eight per cent was the average 

 profit made in successful florists' estab- 

 lishments. 



Overhead charges are steadily rising. 

 Men without business capacity are con- 

 stantly bewailing the necessity of ad- 

 vancing charges to customers. The day 

 of secrecy and isolation is past. Tax 

 collectors take away the privacy once 

 enjoyed. No one need be deterred from 

 starting on his own account, even if he 

 is no longer young. Mr. Palmer had 

 charts to illustrate his lecture, which 

 proved to be one of the finest and most 

 instructive the dub has yet listened to. 

 Ho was accorded an enthusiastic vote of 

 thanks. 



On the February banquet the com- 

 mittee reported a substantial balance. 

 One new member was elected, from 

 Lansing, Mich. It was voted to hold 

 a picnic in July at Cunningham park, 

 East Milton; to hold a field day at 

 Faulkner Farm, Brookline, May 28, and 

 also to hold a ladies' night in connec- 

 tion with the June club meeting. A 



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W. D. Snell, of Herkimer, N. Y., has 

 purchased the establishment of Hakes 

 & Son at nion, N. Y., and torn down the 

 greenhouses, which will be added to the 

 plant of Mr. Snell at Mohawk, N. Y. 

 The land is considered too valuable for 

 retention. The lease of the home place 

 expires soon and, as it also has advanced 

 in value beyond normal^ it has not been 

 decided where to establish headquarters. 

 "Now is the time to decide as to 

 whether one will go the limit or quit," 

 observed Mr. Snell. "The temptation 

 to go ahead is almost irresistible. ' ' 



• • • 



"Running at full capacity," reports 

 John Lawrance, of Ogdensburg, N. Y. 

 "Have been in this satisfactory condi- 

 tion right along. Mothers' day did not 

 disturb the even tenor of our flower de- 

 partment. We have a large stock pre- 

 pared for Memorial day and afterwards. 

 The planting season is late, but no 

 doubt will wind up good." Fred Law- 

 rance is now an officer in the regfular 

 army, stationed in the Philippines. He 

 writes that climatic conditions are ideal, 

 even more equable than in California. 

 While not located in the orchid zone, 

 the young officer hopes to see the 

 phalsenopsis in its natural home before 

 he returns to this country. 



Sambrook Bros., of Troy, N. Y., report 

 Mothers' day business "all we could 

 wish and a precursor of Memorial day, 

 when we hope to exceed our record 

 mark." 



• • • • 



"Consistency, thou art a jewel," ob- 

 served Henry Schrade, of Saratoga 

 Springs, N. Y. "The authorities have 

 placed an embargo on plants, etc., for 

 the purpose of keeping out certain bugs, 

 and now we are told that the use of 

 tobacco is to be prohibited. Which 

 species of bug, think you, will it be 

 easiest to keep downf Also, how shall 

 we hold the help that insists upon smok- 

 ing in the houses while at work, gas- 

 sing any insect within reach of the 

 fumes issuing from the old pipef " Mr. 

 and Mrs. Schrade returned from their 

 sojourn at St. Petersburg, Fla., in time 

 for the Easter business, said to equal 

 the best on record. Stock for Memorial 

 day looks good. His son, William, is in 

 charge of the store and mentioned that 

 the prospects for summer business are 

 extremely promising, owing to the pos- 

 sible lengthening of the season for rac- 

 ing. Henry Schrade, Jr., is in the serv- 

 ice and was last heard from in Holland, 

 where the bulb business is reported as 

 being unsettled. „ ^, > , 



