20 



The Florists^ Review 



FiBBUARY 17, 1921 



Not a Side Wall of a Ford Factory, But One Side of a Maywood Rose Factory. 



poration's business cannot do so, how- 

 ever, for more important than the an- 

 nual income of the stockholders is the 

 amount of the principal they have in- 

 vested. He cannot imperil the capital 

 for the sake of a good income, nor can 

 he disregard income for the sake of 

 conserving the capital. The stockhold- 

 ers who have hired him, though he him- 

 self is one of their number, have done 

 so in the expectation that he will safe- 

 guard their money invested and return 

 to them an adequate amount of earnings 

 from it. This he cannot do, under 

 present conditions, unless he keeps 

 abreast of the times in his own indus- 

 try and in others. In the greenhouse 

 industry the construction of what we 

 may call our flower factories is of para- 

 mount importance." 



His Own Exajnple. 



Mr. Weiss demonstrates his own prac- 

 tice of such precepts, and evidence of 

 it is to be had at Maywood, where are 



be unwieldy. In this way the output 

 is made the maximum for one's equip- 

 ment and working force. Directing this 

 desire to enlarge the size of working 

 unit were the two principles outlined 

 previously, that illustrated by the ex- 

 ample of the modern factory and the 

 necessity of a corporation's investment 

 being as nearly as can be a permanent 



one. 



located two of his principal interests, 

 the Premier Rose Gardens and the 

 Weiss & Meyer Co. Since the organiza- 

 tion of the Weiss & Meyer Co., in 1913, 

 Mr. Weiss, its secretary and manager, 

 has closely studied greenhouse costs. 

 He considers bookkeeping one of the 

 most important parts of a grower's 

 business. He has the facts and figures 

 in regard to his own enterprises at his 

 finger-tips and from their trend he is 

 able to plan and prepare with a cer- 

 tainty that few growers have. He is 

 able to compare in his own mind the de- 

 ductions from his books with the reports 

 from other growers and, what is some- 

 times more enlightening, with reports 

 from other industries. 



Keeping closely in touch with indus- 

 trial movements in general, Mr. Weiss 

 noted the general attempt to make pro- 

 duction more profitable by decreasing 

 overhead costs. One way of doing this 

 is by increasing the size of one 's fac- 

 tory, though not to a size so big as to 



Big Houses. 



The result was a placing of a con- 

 tract with the Lord & Burnham Co. for 

 five houses, each just twice as large as 

 those erected before. Two of these went 

 up last summer, and one, now filled with 

 Premier rose plants, is illustrated on the 

 opposite page, a modern rose factory in 

 operation. So successful was the opera- 

 tion of these two that Mr. Weiss de- 

 termined not to wait until warm 

 weather for the erection of the other 

 houses. One, at the Weiss & Meyer 

 Co. range, went up in January; it is 

 said that the working force of the con- 

 struction company put up the steel 

 framework in just one day and a half, 

 a feat considered by building men to 

 be a record performance. At the head 

 of this article appears a view of the in- 

 terior of this house anion this page one 

 from side wall to ridge, showing the over- 

 head construction. No sooner was that 

 house up than work was started on two 

 more, at the Premier Rose Gardens, the 

 steel framework of which is shown in 

 the illustration at the bottom of this 



page. 



Proper Size. 



The size of all these houses is 70 x 400 

 feet, or twice the size of the four iron- 

 frame ridge-and-furrow houses erected 

 at Premier Rose Gardens in 1919, each 

 of which was 36 x 400 feet. This size 

 was decided by Mr. Weiss in consulta- 

 tion with the builders to be the ap- 

 proximate size to conform to the ideas 

 set forth by him. There are, of course, 

 many points to be kept in mind in de- 

 veloping specifications to meet such 

 views. While one is seeking light and 

 airy conditions for plants, one must 

 avoid unwieldy and structurally unsafe 

 dimensions. Just as a factory ceiling 

 may be too high for practical purposes 

 as well as too low for hygienic needs, 

 so a greenhouse may be structurally too 

 large as well as culturally too small. 

 The mean — whether it is the "golden 

 moan" will depend upon the profits — 

 seems to have been decided upon by the 



Steel Framework of Two New Houses, 70x400 feet, at Premier Rose Gardens, As Sturdy as Masonry. 



