20 



The Florists^ Review 



Fbhruaky 17, 1921 



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



jMiratioii's l)iisiiic--s I'Mnimt <i(i so. liow- 

 ever, for iiioii' iiiijMirtiiiit than tlio an- 

 nual iiu'oim; ol the stoi-khdhlcrs is the 

 amount of the i)riiK-i})al they have in- 

 vested. He cannot imperil the ca])ital 

 for the sake of a good income, nor can 

 he disrcj^Mrd income for the sake of 

 conserving the ca|iital. The stm-kliold- 

 ers who liavc liircd him, though he IiItm- 

 seif is one of tlieir number, ha\e ijone 

 so in the t>x])ectation that lie will safe- 

 guard their money invested and return 

 to them an ade(ju.'ite amount of earnings 

 from it. This he cannot do, under 

 present conditions, unless he keejts 

 abreast of the times in his own indus- 

 try anil in others. In the gn'cnhouse 

 iiKlustry the construction of what we 

 may call our tlower factories is of para- 

 mount Ini |iortancc. ' ' 



His Own Example. 



Mr. Weiss demonsi I ates his own jirac 

 tice of su(di jirecejits, and evidence of 

 it is to he had at Maywood, where are 



located two of his ]irinci]ial interests, 

 the I'remier }{ose (iardens and the 

 Weiss (!»: Meyer i'o. iSince the organiza- 

 tion of the Weiss & Meyer Co., in 11)13, 

 Mr. Weiss, its secretary and manager, 

 has closely studied greenhouse costs. 

 He considers l)ookkeej)ing one of tlie 

 most important ]>arts of a grower's 

 liusiness. He has the facts and figures 

 in regard to his own enterpiise.s at his 

 tinger-tijis aiul from their tr<>nd he is 

 aide to ]ilan and prepare with a cer- 

 tainty that few growers have. He is 

 aide to compare in his own mind the de- 

 ductions from his hooks with the reports 

 from other growers and, what is some- 

 times more enlightening, with reports 

 from other iuilustries. 



Keeping closely in touch with indus- 

 trial movements in general, Mr. Weiss 

 noted the general atteniitt to make pro- 

 duction more profitable by decreasing 

 overhea<l costs. One waj' of doing this 

 is by ini-rejising the size of one's f;ic- 

 tory, though not to a size so big as to 



he unwieldy. In this way the output 

 is made the maximum for one's equip- 

 ment and working force. Directing tliis 

 desire to enlarge the size of working 

 unit were the two jirinciples outlined 

 previously, that illustrated by the ex- 

 ample of the modem factory and the 

 necessity of a corjioration 's investment 

 being as nearly as can lie a permanent 

 one. 



Big Houses. 



The result was a ])lacing of a con- 

 tract with tlie Lord & Hurnham Co. for 

 live houses, each' just twice as large as 

 those erected before. Two of these went 

 u|i last summer, and one, now filled with 

 rremier rose i)lants, is illustrated on the 

 opjiosite page, a modern idse factory in 

 operation. Ho successful was the ojiera- 

 tion of tliese two that 'Sir. 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 coni]iany ]iut u|i the steel 

 framework in just one day and a half, 

 a feat considered by buihling men to 

 be a record ]ierfornKince. At the he.ad 

 of tliis article appears a view of the in- 

 terior of this house and on this ])age one 

 from side wall to ridge, showing the over- 

 head construction. No sooner was that 

 house up than work was ^^tartcd on two 

 more, at the Premier Hose (iardens, the 

 steel framework of which is shown in 

 the illustration at tfie bottom of this 

 page. 



Proper Size. 



The size of all these houses is 7u x 400 

 feet, or twice the size of the four iron- 

 frame ridge-and-furrow houses erected 

 at Premier Rose Gardens in 1019, each 

 of which was 3G 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 ;ire, of course, 

 many points to lie ke])t in mind in de- 

 \elopii)g specifications to meet such 

 views. While one is seeking light and 

 airy conditions for jdants, one must 

 ,i\()id unwieldy and structurally unsafe 

 dimensions. Just as a factory ceiling 

 may he too high for jiractical purposes 

 as well as too low for hygienic needs, 

 so a greenliouse may be structurally too 

 large as w'ell as culturally too small. 

 The mean — whether it is the "golden 

 mean'' will depeinl upon the jirofits — 

 seems to have been decided upon by the 



'*Xw^*^ ..- » I 



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



