22 



The Florists' Review 



May 31, 1917. 



BALTIMORE. 



Robert Graham's Career. 



This week I am going to write about 

 a visit made to sec our friend Eobort 

 L. Graham at Waverly. If I keep on 

 people will l)egin to think that Tate 

 is some old man, but I was 7 years old 

 when I first met Bob, and that was 

 forty-one years ago. At that time he 

 was 18, having served an apprentice- 

 ship of four years with Bolgiano in the 

 seed business, and was then starting to 

 serve an apprenticeship as a florist with 

 Robert Paterson. After serving four 

 years here, he took a position on a pri- 

 vate place near Hagerstown and stayed 

 there two years. 



But Bob had a vision of an establish- 

 ment of his own, and, with the little 

 he had saved, he started in 1880 for 

 himself with a lean-to house 15x60 and 

 a small packing shed at one end on 

 part of the site of his present range. 

 I shall never forget tliat shed, for the 

 first money I ever earned was for white- 

 washing it. Thus was the business of 

 Robert L. Graham launched, with a 

 young man ambitious to succeed at the 

 helm. We sat and talked it over after 

 all of these years and he looked back 

 over the road he had traveled, at the 

 fair weather and the storms. 



"With all," he said, "the fair 

 weather has predominated and, while 

 the fight has been strenuous at times, 

 I never doubted tliat I would succeed. 

 Tonight I feel that the feature most 

 responsible for any success that I may 

 have attained is the fact that one year 

 after I started in business I married 

 the daughter of the man with whom I 

 served my time. 



How Stock Was Marketed. 



"In those days the only way we had 

 to dispose of the stock we grew was 

 in the markets. Many a time in the 

 spring of the year I would he in the 

 old Marsh market and liave a load of 

 stuff sold to the liucksters (they were 

 "dealers who bought in the market and 

 sold from house to house) by half past 

 5 in the morning; then honu' and 

 back by 7 witli a load for my regu- 

 lar patrons. The better ])art of the 

 afternoon would be spent in fixing cus- 

 tomers' yards, then to work on my own 

 place until it was time to go to ])ed. " 



I asked if sucli things were done 

 now, to whicli he replied that lie did 

 not think the voung man of todav was 

 willing to pay the price. 



"Well, about this time," he contin- 

 ued, "I had an opportunity to buy an 

 old house from a man who had given 

 up the fight, and with this material I 

 erected another liouse 18x60. When I 

 took stock of my resource^?, I also took 

 heart, for was I not progressing? I 

 had a wife, two fairly good houses 

 and a horse and wagon. 



"We went along this way, adding a 

 house from time to time. Then the 

 children began to come. September 

 19, 1892, we opened what proved to 1)e 

 our best venture up to this time. That 

 was the store at 622 Aisquith street. 

 This was where Mrs. Graham had an 

 opportunity to impress her personality 

 on the Inisiness, for, like lier sister, 

 Mrs. Johnston, she is a born sales- 

 woman. With the store, we had an- 

 otlier outlet for our stock. Gradually 

 I gave up the markets and devoted 

 my entire time to the greenliouses. 

 While our store venture was humble 



Robert L. Grahanit of Baltimore. 



at the start, it was a success. It was 

 here that the children were trained. 

 In 1908, when this section of the city 

 had become changed, the old residents 

 having moved and foreigners taken 

 their places, we opened our North ave- 

 nue store and put Robert, Jr., and Mar- 

 garet in charge. Mrs. Graham, how- 

 ever, would not leave the place where 

 she had built a successful florists' 

 business from a small beginning. 



New Store a Success. 



"Time has demonstrated the wisdom 

 of this location on North avenue. While 

 the trade is different from that in the 

 Aisquith street store, the children were 

 young and soon adapted themselves to 

 the change. The new store also re- 

 quired a change in the growing end. 

 The demand in our downtown store 

 Avas for cut flowers for funeral work 

 and the like, but wc found that for 

 North a\ enue we were obliged to have 

 blooming j)lants of the better kind and 

 nothing but the best qualitv in cut 

 stock." 



It has been the writer's pleasure to 

 see, on several occasions of late 

 samples of Miss Margaret's work. She 

 also has the qualifications of a sales- 

 woman, patient, accommodating and 

 anxious to please. Robert, Jr., is a 

 husky young fellow. He keeps the 

 window an example of the decorator's 

 art, has a head just teeming with new 

 and original ideas and has the nerve 

 to try them out. Together they are 

 making a success with the store. Mrs. 

 Graham practically has retired, going 

 down only on fine days. That is the 

 history of what is today one of the 

 successful florists' businesses in the 

 city. 



As I sat in his happy and comfort- 



able home, I said: "Bob, was it worth 

 the early struggle?" 



His reply was: "Everything is worth 

 just what it costs; it was the struggle 

 and work that makes it all so dear to 

 me today." 



In his busy life he has had time to 

 help his fellow man, as he is the type 

 to whom people go for advice. While 

 maintaining his personal opinion, he re- 

 spects the fact that individuals have a 

 right to their own. He has a broad 

 vision, but is exceedingly practical in 

 everything he does. Mr. Graham has 

 been twice president of the Florists' 

 Club, one of the organizers of the Flo- 

 rists' Exchange and one of its directors 

 for many years. He has, on several 

 occasions, refused to be a candidate fur 

 political office. Mr. Graham is an ar- 

 dent Mason, having attained the Scot- 

 tish Rite degree. He was one of tlie 

 judges at the International Flowrr 

 Show in New York this spring, arl 

 last, but not least in his estimation, 

 is an elder in the Presbyterian churc'.. 

 One of the first rules he made in bu^^:- 

 ness and has lived up to was that le 

 would sell no flowers on Sunday. ■'" 

 late Saturday night or early Mond.'i ' 

 would not do, he could not fill the ordc . 



Tate. 



Allentown, Pa. — John H. Sykes ■= 

 one of the conservatives who, when 1 -' 

 cannot foresee the distant view, b - 

 lieves in going steadily. He h - 

 proved the wisdom of such action. 



Hamtramck, Mich. — Detroit is tJ ■' 

 country's automobile metropolis, aii 1 

 Hamtramck is not so far from Detroi . 

 so P. G. Sulewski calculates that h ^ 

 new store ought to attract some tran- - 

 ent business, in addition to a good loc 1 

 patronage. 



