keeps it (jroii'ing, and how he hnoivs at ihc end of < v /■// dnij that its growth 

 is heaUJty. 



X tlie vocabulary of AiUli- 

 sou J. McNutt, of Kiiox- 

 ville, Teun., the little four- 

 letter word "j;r()w" plays 

 a leading role. Jf tlie suli- 

 ject of this skctcli could 

 liave had a choice in tlie 

 matter, lie prolialdy would 

 have adopted it as his mid- 

 dle name. He has succes- 

 sively and successfully grown vege- 

 tables, flowers and a business until iinw 

 he is ])r(ijirietor of one of tin' largest 

 and finest llovver shops in the Sdutii. ilis 

 standing in the trade may be judged 

 from the fact that lie is president of tlie 

 Knoxville Florists' 8ociet\ . 

 Mr. McXutt's father was a 

 market gardener, so he came 

 naturally by his interest in 

 tilings tliat nature 1) r i n g s 

 forth from the soil. His one 

 ambition, ever since he gave 

 up lio])e of being a lireinan 

 or an acroliat, lias been to de 

 velop in tlie held of endeavor 

 dignified by the activities of 

 Luther IJurbank. Except for 

 a llier taken in the candy 

 business, he has been gro\s'- 

 ing in the growing business 

 ever since he was old enough 

 to work. 



Credit to Mrs. McNutt. 



To Mrs. Addison J. McNutt 

 belongs the credit of inducing 

 her husband to specialize in 

 lloriculture. iShc insisted up- 

 on having a violet bed besiile 

 tlie house and, of course, it 

 was up to Addison to weed 

 the garden and otherwise 

 keej) it in order during his 

 leisure moments. 



It was not long before he 

 was growing the liest violets 

 in the neighborhood; his nat 

 ural ability to grow tilings 

 just had to assert itself. Mrs. 

 A. J. would give bunches of tlie llowers 

 to her friends and soon people were call- 

 ing at the house to buy them. This 

 gave McNutt his hunch. Wiiy not grow 

 llowers to sell? The prices were good 

 and the market lively. 



Ho enlarged the flower bed and spent 

 more of his time with it. His violets 

 were becoming known all over town. 

 Orders were being placed in advance for 

 weekly delivery. Mr. McNutt now fully 

 realized the jiossibilities of his flower 

 bed. He jumped into the business with 

 both feet, and decided to see if he could 



By F. H. HOSSICK . 



not make tlie liusiness grow, as well as 

 the violets. 



Business Grew Rapidly. 



His first real uiarketing experiiMice 

 witii ilis flowers w-as from a wagon out 

 side tlie City Market building. Tlie 

 next nio\e was to I'ont a st;ill or liootli 

 inside the markid and, in addition to 

 gro\Aiiig \'iolets, lie built greenhouses so 

 ;is to iirnduce otlii'i' kinds ol' llowers and 

 now has ;i range ot' seven li(Uises, shown 

 in tiie illustrntioii on the next Jiuge. He 

 ga\(' up growing \egetaliles altogether. 



The Crouch Co. Has a Most Invtttug Salesroom 



Mr. -McNutt was ipiite content for a 

 while in keeping liis stall at the City 

 market and growing plants and blooms 

 for other dealers in Knoxville. ]Mean- 

 wliile his business was tiiriving and 

 customers of tiie large retail tlorists 

 were coming to him direct for flowers 

 on special occasions. 



In February, 191(5, he bought out the 

 largest retail florist in Knoxville — the 

 C. W. Crouch Co. The oM firm name is 

 retained for business reasons, and C. W. 

 Crouch Co.. A. J. iMcNntt, proprietor, is 

 on the store front ami letterheads. He 



--till maintains his stall at the Citv mar- 

 k.'t. 



.\. .1. McNutt was so thorouglily pos- 

 sessed l)y the desire to make tilings 

 grow, that lie started rigiit in on tiie new 

 liusiness. 'I'iie store was remodeled, 

 ]iainted and decorated. New fixtures 

 an<l furniture were installed and, as 

 will lie seen liv tlie accompanying illus- 

 tration, the store was made most attrac- 

 tive, lie decided riglit off tiiat he 

 could not afford to i)e tied up witii petty 

 details ot' the ot1ie(\ Tliere was only 

 cert.'iin in Inrinat ion tliat he needed from 

 tiie books, but he wanted it in (dear, con- 

 densed figures. 



With tills arrangement lie would know 

 at a glance tiie exact health 

 of Ilis imsiness every day 

 '■t' tiie year. Tlien he would 

 )ia\e time to tlirow^ iiis ener- 

 gies into iuiilding up the 

 luisiness, furtiuM'iiig sales 

 promotion, and looking after 

 the greeniiouse production. 



Machine Makes Records. 



Ilis brotiier, G. K. McXutt, 



in has the duties of assistant 



" I manager, and keeps all tiie 

 ai-counts of the store and 

 ureeiiliouses, in addition to 

 managing the former. Tiio 

 pr<iprietor knows eacii day 

 what ilis casli sales amount 

 to, what ilis (diarge sales 

 amount to, wiiat iiis expenses 

 ire for the day and iiow they 

 a r e distriimted. .V 1 1 the 

 lodger posting is done on a 

 inacliine in the early ]\art of 

 tiie morning, when business is 

 'juiet. 



The C. W. Crouch Co. 

 caters to the l)est and most 

 conservative class in Knox- 

 ville. About ninety ]ier cent 

 of its $00,ni)o a year business 

 is in ciiarge accounts. All 

 tiiese records are iiandled 

 a machine. 



leii a sale is made tiie dork makes 

 out a sales ticket in duplicate. .Vt tiie 

 end of the day, the originals are totaled 

 on an adding machine, showing tho 

 charge and cash sales for the day. The 

 duplicate of the sales ticket is filed 

 away in a metal box, made the same 

 size as the ticket, alphabetically by 

 name. 



At the end of the month these dupli- 

 cates are stapled to the back of tlie 

 statement sent to each customer, which 

 gi\ es the customer a satisfactorv clieek 



witii 



