12 



The Florists^ Review 



July 8, 1915. 



carry on this lino of direct advert ising, 

 but siK li is not the ciiso. It" you are 

 not fortunati' cnout^li to liavc tlio use 

 (li a tyjM'wiitiT or any of tlio inaeliiiics 

 now oil tlie market for tiiis purjiose, all 

 you need is ijeii, ink, j'aper, envelopes 

 and stamps. Tliere is a druyyist in our 

 city — and, by the way, one of tiie lead- 

 inj4 ones— wlio follows this method of 

 ad\-ertisin<^ by the followiii},'- means: Be- 

 tween the days for wlileh he intends to 

 use Ills letters, durinj; all his s])are time, 

 and we all have niueh of it, he writes 

 his letters with pen. Jiear in mind lie 

 has a typewriter and multij,'raj)li too, 

 but juefers a personally penned letter 

 sijiued by him, and he ailvises me it 

 brin<j;s bij,' returns. 



Another im])ortaiit item to bear in 

 miini is to s<dect some slogan suj,rji;estive 

 of your business oc s])eeial line, if vou 

 have one, and use it always. You will 

 lind it will not be lonjj; until it is a by- 

 word ^\•^\^ all your customers as well 

 as new eXistomers. "We use one in our 

 local advertisinj:; we contracted with 

 the leadhif,' paper here for a number of 

 Jocal advertisements to run the whole 

 year through, in \arious parts of the 

 pa])er. All we used in these locals was 

 our slogan, "When you think of flow- 

 ers think of us,'' and unless you have 

 tried it you have no idea how much 

 attention such a slogan attracts. It 

 will ]iay anyone to try it. In coiudud- 

 in<: this ]iart of my ' subject, 1 would 

 say acivertise. and adv<'rtise liberallv, 

 but do it judiciously and carefullv. 



Bookkeeping. 



So niu( h can l)e said alxuit bookkee](- 

 iiij;-. aiiil so many of us lluiists need to 

 be liammered and pounded so hard on 

 this point, I scarcel\ know where to 

 begin. Most of us tliink our line does 

 not rcipiirc any bookkeeping, in which 

 we are }>adiy mistaken. Almost any of 

 us can tell at any time alxmt how much 

 he owes oi- how mu(di is ijue, hut iiow 

 m:(u\ of us can go to our bocdvs and 

 tell which line of stock jiaid us licst for 

 the last year. I do not mean ^ucss .at 

 it, but gi\r .actual ligurcs. While our 

 flower dep.artment is not kejit sepai.ati' 

 on our books, it is ke|it in sudi .a w,a\' 

 that at .any time we can see just where 

 this dep.artment ^t.amls. |-'or the ;;eii- 

 ei.al bookkeejiing of the c()rn|i,an\, we 

 hcep an account for e\ er \ 1 li i ul; : for 

 instance, ;ill irn |u o\ euient ^ .are i-li;n;jed 

 to ,a sejiarati' account; likewise inter 

 est. implements, |i\,. ^tock. growing. 

 pur.-lia>~e, ,and -o on. i;\cr\- indixidual 

 thing li.a-; .an :ii-count of its own on our 

 books; then v.'ieu a s.ale of tlii'-e \ari 

 oils things is m.ade it i^ credite,| to 

 that ai-i-ount. so tli.at any time ue wish 



\^'' "•■•III see jiivt how tii;it de|,;irtment 



stands .and how much w,- h.-ne in it, 

 ami w li;,t ue ,aic ^ett in- from it. 



' 'f con I ^e. n.o^t llori -t- do not i i 



sii l;ii-e a svstem as ours, luit I would 



^ll-gc^t -olnethin;^ like tlli'. fol e\ en 



the sm.allevt of n^: (ieiier.al ^.alc^ ac- 

 cinint. cut lli.wfrs, ,ad \ ert isin;:. |iur- 

 ch.ases. flower s»(U(' .acronnt. giceuhouse 

 acrounl. im|pro\ enieiit |.lant |.u rdia^.'s, 

 deli\er\- account, live sto(d\ or .autonio- 

 Idle account. su|i|dies. etc. \Vliate\-er 

 item is ,a factor in the conduct of the 

 business ought to be on your books, 

 th;it you may refer to it at .-my time an i 

 be able to tell how (Iee|i vou are in it, 

 and put on the (dieck \;ii\e if getting 

 ail o\ iilo.acl. It W(Ulld be li.aid ill]- me 

 to state just wh.at one sluuild keep; e.ai li 

 one should be aide to tell which a re 

 the iiMiic' import;int item-, I'lit almve 



all, start right now, even if on only 

 a part of the items, and you will like it 

 so well at the end (d' the year that I 

 am sure you will have a perfect book- 

 keeping syst(au thereafter, and without 

 muc h extra expense or trouble. Each 

 ye;ir ycui will lie able to see where you 

 can impro\(' on it and nuike it easier 

 aiicl clearer to keeji. 



Forms and Systems. 



There .are many forms on which to 

 kei'ji these records, but to most of us 

 these need consiclerable exjdanation to 

 keej) pro]terly, and the busy^ florist haa 

 not the time to take a course in such 

 things. 1 ])elieve it is best to work out 

 a sinijde system of one's own, and by 

 his own experience gradually improve 

 o^ it, until he has a jdaiii, neat, compact 



and charge cash account $5. Thus by 

 cdiarging the pro])er or selected accounts 

 with tlie items belonging thereon, and 

 crediting tliese accounts with all items 

 belonging thereon, one is able to deter 

 mine if it is jirofitablc to run an upto'wn 

 flower store or to hire delivery men, or 

 to know out of which flowers profits 

 are made, etc. 



In conclusion on these subjects, I 

 would say the moral of all this talk is, 

 "Don't hide your light under a bush- 

 el; let it shine by careful, judicious 

 advertising and reflect upon the pages 

 of a perfect bookkeeping system." 



Jack Hasson in 1910. 



system, that will be a pricle to him as 

 wcdl as a jileasiire to .all wIkuu he nmy 

 lia\(' anv occasion to show or tell of it. 

 The most s.atisfactory system of liook- 

 keeping is the cUuible entry system, 

 which, as its n.ame implies, iec|uiri'S two 

 entries t'or e.aidi 1 1 ;i nsact ion. This may 

 souiol like' too miicdi \\()rk to c|o, Imt 

 liy it one can .always tidl it' all items 

 have liec n postecl in the proper amfiiints. 

 Tlicac .are only two t uiicla iiiiait ;i I iiiles 

 to bc> t'ollowcl to c-,arr\' out this system; 

 tlie\' .are; •'.Ml items, c-as|i, llowers, 

 mei cdi;i ndise or wli.atsoe\er wc may 

 't.ake in" go on the cicilit sicle of the 

 jiroper account. aiicI all items |iaid out 

 or scait lent ^o on the ilebit sicle ot' the 

 propel' .acc-ciunt . ' ' The (dher rule is 

 li.asecl on the same |irinciple ami is. 

 •• \\>f every clebit there must be a cor 

 res|i<pnc|in'_! c-reilit. aihl ciuiN'erscdy. for 

 every crcclit tlieic must be a cori^espcuol 

 ing deliit."" I'or iust.aiice, wc senci to 

 our llowau- store a c|o/en Americ-.au 

 lieauty I'oses. We cleliit our flower 

 store account "ue c|o/en .\. W. roses .+.'!; 

 we creclit our greeidionse sales aca-ount 

 l»y one dozen .\. H. roses to flowei' store 

 .+;i. Oui' flower store sells these to Mrs. 

 .Icdiii l)oe for .*."i; so we c-i'eclit flower 

 store s.ales acc-ouut by .*."> .aiol (diai'ge 

 Mrs. .Fohu |ioe"s .account one clozen A. 

 B. roses .'f."). I.at(u^ Mrs. .Tohn Doe seiicls 

 us a cdieck ; so we creclit her accauint if." 



WHAT A STATE RANGE CAN DO. 



[A smmiinr.v cif ii )).i|ii'r ic.'icl licfcivc tin- Icxas 

 Stiitc Ffcirisls' .\ssociiiticjii iil I'ort Wmtli .Iiif.v ti, 

 l!n.-|. li.v i:. ,T. K.vlc. ilcMii 111' ttio ScliocI cif Ai,Mi- 

 ciillurf lit tlio A. \ .M, ("cillf>.'c! (if TcxMs. j 



A short time ago, in order to gain 

 a better idea of the status of the flo- 

 rists' industry, I sent out a (p^estion- 

 ii.aire to the florists of the state. Tlie 

 t'cdiowing are some of the important 

 jioints clevtdopecl from this in(|uiry; 



First. Fully eiglity-fl\-<» jxu' cent ni' 

 our (ait ros(>s, sixty i)er cauit of our 

 carnations and oxer fort.v jier cent of 

 our (dirysanthtMnums are importe'l frmn 

 out of the state. 



S(Ma)iid. The iirinci[ial reasons as- 

 signed for not growing more of these 

 flowers within our state are: (a) Tn- 

 faxorable tdimati*- conditions. (b) 

 Shortness of season. (c i I.a(d\ t)f 

 e(|uipment. 



Thiicl. The most serious insect jiests 

 are the red s])icler and the thrips, while 

 the most damaging disease is the rust. 



Fourth. Th(> carnation is easily the 

 best sidling flower. 



I'ifth. The large m.a.jority of the 

 florists f(Md that tlie college (mmiIcI iiest 

 scMwe the fbuists" industry id" the state 

 by introdiKdiig \arieties best siiitecl to 

 our jieculiar climatic conclitions. 



The Importation of Stock. 



Taking these (|uestioiis up in cletail. 

 let us consicler t'or a moment the iiiipor- 

 t.ation of cut flowers into the state. It 

 li;is Ikmui statecl on ridiable authoiit.x' 

 that o\er .* 1 .(iiio.iKii) wcutli of .-ut 

 flowers .are lir(Uight into Texas eac h 

 year. I do md cloubt this statenuait .at 

 all, because repoits from ,a iiiitiilier of' 

 the leacling florists show that c-oiisid- 

 erably o\er sixty five per cent of' tlic 

 most popul.ar s(drnig flower- ;ire pur 

 cdiasecl f'roni without the -tale. 



it is (|uite proli.aiile that -cuiie llciwcis 

 \\ill .alw.ays lie lucmglit into thc^ state 

 I'or the ic't;iil tr;ic|e. Imt the per cent 

 -hoillcj j.e f.ar ladow whal il i- now. 

 The t'ac-t th.at the |ier-on who puicdi,a-es 

 flow (US in tlli- state li.a- to pay often 

 four or five c-ommi-sioii- work- an in 

 iiistii-e not onlv' to the piiicha-er. luit 

 to the florist who cloi'- the -elling. 

 The s.ale of cut llowers will never Id 

 \vh.at it slioiihl lie iiiicler pie-ent con 

 ilitioiis. It scaan- to me. tlicuefore. that 

 one of the first proldian- that a laiigc^ 

 ot' glass at the (■o|le;;e will cai;ililc u- 

 to t.ake U|i i- the (|iiestion of how to 

 |uidit.a!ilv ]iidcluce within our -tate moie 

 of the cut floWias U-eil by oili |ieciple. 



Climate and "Varieties. 



'i'li(> ma.jorit.v of the florist- feed th.at 

 the piiiic ip.al leason why there .are not 

 more flowers grown iii the state is on 

 account of' unfavorable c limatic c-oucli- 

 tioiis. Tliev .aie iiicdialdv right. And 

 right here we ( (uiie f.acc to fact' with 

 an excia'cliiigly .|il1ic-ult projiosition. 



