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16 



The Florists^ Review 



July 1, 1920 



The automobile manufacturers have 

 centered their efforts on standardiza- 

 tion and production to the mutual bene- 

 fit of all. This business policy can be 

 maintained in the manufacture of green- 

 house material. You can get specially 

 d.osigned autos for special work, trucks 

 and truck bodies, but you must pay for 

 this privilege. You will always be able 

 to get special greenhouses, special 

 types, designs, etc., for locations where 

 standard sections cannot be used. But 

 the standard house can be used almost 

 anywhere and for practically all pur- 

 poses. 



Building Problem Simplified. 



With a full ^understanding of just 

 what the standardized production house 

 isj what it means to the trade as a 

 whole, from the grower to the retailer, 

 the problem of building will be greatly 

 simplified. The layout of a new range, 

 or additions to the old one, will not 

 have so many perplexities as in the past. 



Standard widths and lengths of sec- 



tions will differ with manufacturers, 

 equipment will vary according to the 

 policy of" the various concerns, but the 

 basic principle of standardization will 

 be in all construction. Some of the 

 manufacturers will not come to this 

 policy at once, some of the growers will 

 not take kindly to this standard idea 

 at first, but both manufacturer and 

 grower will come to the full realization 

 of what this standard production means 

 when the rush of business is upon them, 

 when time moans everythiag and every- 

 thing depends on when the house can 

 be planted. 



SUMMER C0X7BSE FOE WOMEN. 



The School of Horticulture for 

 Women, Ambler, Pa., announces its 

 summer course, beginning August 2 and 

 continuing until August 28. The course 

 includes subjects in floriculture, vege- 

 table gardening, fruit, canning and pre- 

 serving. The tuition for the course is 

 $25. 



a€N lErm^y^ DEADEn^ 



HEARING FROM THE HANDS. 



BifSjig the Bonus System. 



I read with interest in The Review 

 of June 10 the article entitled "Trade 

 Tries Profit Sharing" and about "Hold- 

 ing the Hands." I am one of the 

 hands. I think the bonus system is 

 wrong. I think also that Mf. Ras- 

 mussen's idea is wrong. This is why: 

 In an establishment of the size of Mr. 

 Easmussen's, where there is a consider- 

 able number of employees, the older em- 

 ployees would make life miserable for 

 the new men until the latter would give 

 up in disgust and quit, nine times out 

 of ten, withDut giving any reason. Now, 

 the florists' business is something a lit- 

 tle bit different from any other busi- 

 ness, because the men employed in it 

 must ])e intelligent and steady; you will 

 find that most of the men are steady. 



Why Men Quit. 



Here are some of the things because 

 of which men quit. Too many bosses, 

 is one reason. There should be only 

 one, and he or she should be absolute. 

 There can be only one boss in a green- 

 house, only one that has any business 

 to give orders. If you have a foreman, 

 he is the man to settle all questions. 



For another thing, the owner should 

 see that the equipment is good and that 

 the watering outfit, such as boots and 

 aprons, is kept in good condition. 

 If you do not furnish them, now is a 

 good tim^ to start. Almost any other 

 business, where men make two or three 

 times the amount of money which we 

 make in the greenhouses, furnishes its 

 men with waterproof materials when 

 there is any wet work to be done. Take 

 an interest in your men if you want 

 them to take an interest in their work. 

 If 'you board them, give them decent 

 board and decent quarters to live in, 



Ifaybe Different; Maybe Right. 



- Remember, when you start a new 



man, that he has learned his trade prob- 

 ably by a method different from the 

 way you learned yours. Maybe his is a 

 better way than yours; maybe yours is 

 a better way than his. If he is a flo- 

 rist, give him some responsibility. Tell 

 him what his work is and then leave 

 him alone. If he turns out the goods, 

 treat him right. When he goes stale or 

 shows any sign of going stale, antici- 

 pate him. Then, when you do want a 

 man for overtime or anything else, you 

 will have a man you can depend upon. 

 If he cannot do the work, you know 

 what to do — let him go. 



Pay him decent wages, and if you 

 have had a good year, give him a sub- 

 stantial Christmas gift, two weeks' or 

 a month's salary, and let him know that 

 you are his friend. If he has any trou- 

 bles or anything bothering him or if he 

 needs any advice, let him know that you 

 are willing to help. Get together once 

 in a while and encourage him to offer 

 suggestions and, if they are good, give 

 him credit for them. But, for heaven's 

 sake, cut out the talk about bonus and 

 percentage, or you will spoil the men. 

 Cut out the jqshing. 



Putting in Pep. 



If you have a certain bunch that 

 hangs together and carries tales, get a 

 long, strong rope and hang them all to- 

 gether. Keep them away from the new 

 men. Fire them if you have to. Play 

 no favorites; you cannot do it and ex- 

 pect new men to stay with you. Most 

 of the men in this business are pieces 

 of highly developed mechanism and r.re 

 pretty thin-skinned. If you have any- 

 thing to say to a man, say it to him de- 

 cently and not before a gang of fellows 

 who are waiting to watch him get 

 bawled out. 



Cut out all the Sunday work that you 

 can and load a bunch of the workers 

 in an automobile and take them away 

 from the greenhouses for a Sunday 

 afternoon. Then watch their pep in the 

 days following. 



There are a thousand different ways 

 to interest the men in their work and 

 keep them interested. This is true as 

 much in a small range, where only one 

 or two are employed, as in the larger 

 establishments. A. Hodge. 



WHERE'S THE GOLDEN RXJUS? 



I wish to call attention to a growing 

 evil, which few who read this have 

 escaped if they buy or grow stock for 

 planting. It is the poor and sickly 

 plants so often shipped by men whose 

 names sound well in this business. This 

 stuff is frequently hopeless and packed 

 poorly, with a stiff charge for packing 

 when it starts. Many growers are 

 harassed the whole season attempting 

 the impossible task of nursing it back, 

 wasting their limited time and space. 

 Its initial cost, considerable though it 

 is, forms but a small part of this loss. 

 Growers who ship these unfair goods 

 know this and it does not speak well 

 for their sense of right or sympathy 

 for their fellow craftsmen; those quali- 

 ties are sometimes as weak as the 

 plants shipped. The evej*-ready steam 

 pipe, Burleson and the express company 

 are not always convincing excuses 

 when the goods themselves suggest they 

 were too weak to travel. 



It seems a bad practice, too, for 

 some plant brokers confidently to ad- 

 vertise, push and promise delivery on 

 items which, frequently after months 

 of delay, they cannot deliver. Nor 

 shbuld they have plants sent out which 

 they never saw, thus making them- 

 selves parties to the practices here re- 

 ferred to. 



An order to some brokers now is like 

 a prayer; the thing may be granted 

 now or sometime in the future. And, 

 as with a prayer, too, the person asking 

 for the thing and not getting it afcvall 

 is often fortunate that he did not get 

 it. Perhaps most of us are too bii»y 

 to bother much about little things like 

 trying to give the other person what 

 we would wish him to give us, for if 

 we do not get his money we shall get 

 that of someone else and it's the money 

 that counts, not the thing given in ex- 

 change for it. F. Fallon. ' 



HYACINTHS DAMPING OFF. 



What causes hyacinths, especially the 

 white varieties, to fail to push up th^ 

 flowering spikes f When the spikes are 

 up about two inches they can be lifted 

 out; they are entirely detached from 

 the crown. E. W. — Pa. 



There are two probable causes of your 

 hyacinths failing to flower satisfactor- 

 ily. First, many bulbs become heated 

 in transit and as a result the embryo 

 flower buds are killed in the bulbs. 

 The plants will produce foliage, but 

 not flowers, although sometimes weak 

 spikes will appear and melt away. Tu- 

 lips and certain varieties of narcissus 

 are often heated and spoiled in this 

 same way. Second, an excess of mois- 

 ture, either outdoors or indoors, will fre- 

 quently cause hyacinth spikes to damp 

 off and white ones are more delicate 

 and susceptible than those of other col- 

 ors. Indoors every care should be taken 

 not to wet the spikes when watering; 

 outdoors avoid a stiff, retentive soil 

 and, if at all possible, make it more 

 porous by adding coarse sand, fine coal 

 ashes and some well decayed manure. 



C. W. 



