12 



The Florists' Review 



July 3, 1913. 



chandising, operating expense and net 

 profit must be calculated upon the sell- 

 ing price. 



Figuring on the Wrong Basis. 



Now, while the calculation upon cost 

 basis may be arithmetically correct, 

 commercially it is not, for the proper 

 answer to the problem stated is $1.47. 

 The difference provided through the cal- 

 culation of operating expense and net 

 profit upon the selling price instead of 

 the cost, created a defense against con- 

 tingencies, a protection against disap- 

 pointment, and perhaps against ultimate 

 failure- 

 Assuming that the seedsman into 

 whose hands this paper may fall has 

 had his interest aroused in this funda- 

 mental principle of successful mer- 

 chandising, the question will naturally 

 be asked, "How is the gross profit, 

 which comprises the operating expense 

 and the net profit, to be calculated into 

 the selling price?" 



There is a simple decimal plan which 

 we are led to offer in this connection, 

 which has also been advanced in pam- 

 phlets and books treating definitely of 

 merchants' interests. 



It must here be borne in mind that 

 confusion and mistakes would likely 

 occur if the expenses were figured upon 

 sales and the profits upon cost. There 

 should be uniform calculation. 



Some Practical Arithmetic. 



The plan is this: Add the operating 

 expense and the net profit in percentage 

 figures, deduct the total from 100 per 

 cent, and divide the cost of the article 

 by the difference obtained. 



To illustrate: In the problem above 

 stated, the total operating expense was 

 22 per cent, and the desired net profit 

 10 per cent, making a total of 32 per 

 cent. Deducting 32 per cent from 100 

 per cent, we have 68 per cent, and di- 

 viding the invoice cost of the article, 

 $1, by 68 per cent, we have $1.47. This 

 plan is capable of uniform application 

 and is merely converting an old decimal 

 rule to an important service in the ac- 

 countancy system of a successful mer- 

 chandise business. 



Now a word regarding the percentage 

 of expense and of profit which should 

 be used as a basis in figuring. In the 

 case of a running business, the previous 

 year's sales or an average of two or 

 more years' sales, and the previous 

 year's operating expense or the average 

 of two or more years' operating ex- 

 pense, may be taken as a basis for cal- 

 culating the probable operating expense 

 of the year to be provided for. 



Our final word is: Properly calcu- 

 late your profits. 



Sitting at the Same Table. 



It is to be hoped that, in the near 

 future, every dealer who is a member 

 of the American Seed Trade Associa- 

 tion will be willing to give the other 

 members of this association all the in- 

 formation possible regarding the items 

 of cost and overhead expense connected 

 with his business. 



Perhaps it may be possible to incul- 

 cate a friendly feeling on this subject, 

 and to interest members to give freely 

 of their experience to one another. One 

 way would be for the American Seed 

 . Trade Association to recommend that its 

 members in each state form a group, 

 and hold frequent meetings, say two, 

 three or four each year. The men at- 

 tending these meetings would get bet- 



ter acquainted and in a short time 

 would think more of one another, and 

 feel that the other fellow was honest 

 and upright and was using proper ef- 

 fort to enlarge his business in the right 

 direction. 



Personal acquaintance, and getting 

 your feet under the same table, has a 

 great deal to do in making up an opin- 

 ion of the worth of a man. Close asso- 

 ciation also aids in giving a better idea 

 of what the other fellow is thinking 

 about. The possibilities of the seed 

 business are too large, and of too great 

 importance to the nation, to permit 

 anyone's being selfish — and getting 

 away with it. 



Moral and Material. 



If we do our part in the economics 

 of this country, we are going to be 

 exceedingly busy for a term of years. 

 So much remains to be done, and so 

 many things may be done in a better 

 manner than they are being done now, 

 that there is opportunity for any man 

 who is willing to work, and to apply 

 his best thought to any one division of 

 the business, to develop it, make it 

 profitable and thus be of benefit to the 

 community in which he lives. 



Business is really much larger than 

 the mere selling of goods, and while per- 

 haps business could not exist unless we 

 sold goods at a profit, still the business 

 which looks at both the moral and the 

 material side is usually more successful 

 than the one which looks only at the 



material side of selling goods for dol- 

 lars, and getting all the dollars possible. 

 "As ye sow, so also shall ye reap," 

 and ' * Do unto others as you would have 

 others do unto you," were not words 

 idly spoken, and they have as much sig- 

 nificance today as they did at the time 

 they were first uttered. 



Competition and Co-operation. 



Every man is a creditor and every 

 man is a debtor; every man is a buyer 

 and every man is a seller. Of course, in 

 all well organized businesses the duties 

 of different men are so arranged as to 

 permit each one to concentrate his mind 

 on some one division or part of the busi- 

 ness, thus securing the maximum of 

 realization at the minimum of expendi- 

 ture. 



The more fully cooperation is adopted 

 by the different lines of trade, the more 

 distinctly is competition eliminated, and 

 in most instances prices are no higher 

 for the same article than those which 

 exist in communities where competition 

 is strictly enforced and where one mer- 

 chant does everything in his power to 

 destroy his rival in business. Think for 

 a moment of the enormous cost of fail- 

 ures in business each year when reduced 

 to dollars and cents. The total is ap- 

 palling. It is almost a crime to our 

 civilization of the twentieth century. 



It is certainly time to stop this prac- 

 tice. If the merchants of the United 

 States would see to it that conditions 



[Oontlnned on page 34.] 



IH 



OEOWING FEENS pf FliORIDA. 



The growing of such varieties of ferns 

 as Boston, Amerpohlii and Whitmani in 

 Florida is an enterprise of comparatively 

 recent origin. Newell & Ustler, of 

 Apopka, Fla., started a business of this 

 sort about eighteen months ago, by 

 planting some runners, of the 2V^-inch 

 size, from the north. Now the firm has 

 a half acre under slats and has also 

 installed an effective watering system, 

 which is an equipment of vital im- 

 portance during the Florida dry season. 

 The slats used in the construction of 

 the house are twenty feet long and three 

 inches wide and are laid with a 3-inch 

 space between them. A photograph of 

 part of the interior of the house is re- 

 produced on page 13. The large fronds 

 in the foreground of the picture are 

 from four and one-half to five and one- 

 half feet in length. 



Since the young ferns, under favor- 

 able conditions, grow to the 4-inch size 

 in about four months and three crops 

 can be produced in a year, the returns 

 from a half -acre tract are greater than 

 the uninitiated might suppose. The 

 principal part of Newell & Ustler 's busi- 

 ness has been the growing and shipping 

 of runners. The runners are planted 

 eight inches apart, in rows 150 feet long, 

 and are allowed to grow until the young 

 plants are all made and are ready to be 

 marketed or transplanted. The runners 



^. : 



are shipped in wet moss, with as little 

 soil as possible attached. The 4-inch 

 plants are allowed to hold as much soil 

 as possible, but, since the soil is sandy, 

 it soon dries out. Nevertheless, the 

 plants travel a long distance and are 

 said to arrive in good condition. In the 

 spring season they are shipped chiefly 

 to the south and west; in the winter 

 the shipments go largely to California. 



"One great difficulty in the growing 

 of ferns in Florida," say Newell & 

 Ustler, ' ' is the dry season, when the lack 

 of shade or of water would result in 

 certain failure. The Boston ferns seem 

 to thrive better here than almost any 

 other variety, and, after the ground has 

 been cured of sourness, they grow con- 

 tinuously. During winter, precautions 

 must be taken against frosts. As we 

 say here in Florida, we are engaged in a 

 constant gamble with nature, whether 

 we are growing ferns, vegetables, citrus 

 fruits or something else. We have esti- 

 mated that next fall, from plants bedded 

 now, we shall have a million runners 

 to market. With the right sort of man- 

 agement, an abundance of ferns can be 

 produced in Florida, of a size and qual- 

 ity that would be hard to beat." 



The slat house and garden are under 

 the personal supervision of Mr. Ustler, 

 who spent some years under glass 

 in the north and has had much general 



Mr. Newell 



