20 



The Florists' Review 



OOMBBB 7. 1915. 



BOOKKEEPEBS, ATTENTION! 



The system of bookkeeping that we 

 have used, up to the present, has proved 

 itself entirely unsatisfactory. It is 

 clumsy and slow, and mistakes are easj' 

 to make. We would be greatly helped 

 if you could give us, in an article in 

 The Eeview, a simple and efficient sys- 

 tem of bookkeeping in outline. 



We do business as a company, oper- 

 ating extensive market gardens, and 

 having also flowers and vegetables un- 

 der glass, and a store in the city, which 

 handles all the usual flower stock. 



The store account and the farm ac- 

 count are kept separate, but the same 

 method of keeping books is used in 

 both. All accounts must be balanced 

 and a division of the profits made 

 among the members each week. Not a 

 great deal of money is handled in a 

 week, so the balancing is usually done 

 each Saturday evening. But we are us- 

 ually tired and make blunders at that 

 time. 



The salesman, or wagon-man, who 

 takes the produce to market each day, 



turns in a slip showing the amount 

 taken in for each kind of produce, 

 amount spent for household supplies for 

 the family of each member of the firm, 

 and an itemized list of all cash spent for 

 supplies for the farm. 



Besides this, several others of the 

 firm frequently take in money from 

 sales and spend, for the firm, small 

 amounts out of their own pockets. 



Checks are frequently drawn for sup- 

 plies and expenses or various kinds, 

 such as lumber, glass, plants, etc. Oc- 

 casionally such articles are bought on 

 credit, also on ten, thirty and sixty 

 days' time. 



We like to list the sales of various 

 articles under separate headings. For 

 instance, one page is devoted to toma- 

 toes, another to lettuce, another to 

 flowers from the greenhouses, etc. We 

 like to keep separate the accounts of 

 ordinary running expenses, such as re- 

 pairs, feed for the stable, paper for 

 wrapping, etc., and the accounts of 

 such things as we term supplies, such 

 as pots, boxes, glass, seeds, plants, etc. 



We are all so busy we usually quit 



work late and, having no definite knowl- 

 edge of bookkeeping, we cannot under- 

 take any complicated method of book- 

 keeping. But we must have some way 

 of telling how we stand each week. 



We believe that other florists are just 

 as anxious as we are to master this too 

 often neglected part of the business; 

 hence my request for a general article 

 on the subject. Y. P. C. — Mo. 



We regret our inability to supply off- 

 hand such a system of accounting as 

 is required. The fact is, we have been 

 looking for a long time for someone 

 who could give us a comprehensive ar- 

 ticle that would cover this subject. The 

 difficulty has been that the systems 

 which really give an accurate account- 

 ing are so complicated that they call 

 for employing an experienced book- 

 keeper. 



What the average florist wants is a 

 system of accounting that will necessi- 

 tate extremely little work. Perhaps 

 some reader of The Eeview will have 

 some ideas on the subject to offer. 



BUST ON CHBYSANTHEMUMS. 



My Patty, Charles Razer and Chrys- 

 olora chrysanthemums have been at- 

 tacked by rust. What must I use to rid 

 the plants of this trouble? 



N. N.— Mich. 



The best preparation for killing rust 

 is sulphide of potassium, dissolved in 

 the proportion of one ounce to two gal- 

 lons of water. If the sulphide is prop- 

 erly dissolved, and the under side of the 

 leaves thoroughly sprayed with it, the 

 rust spores will be exterminated and 

 the rust will be prevented from spread- 

 ing. Chas. H. Totty. 



FEBTILIZEB FOB MUMS. 



Kindly advise me in what propor- 

 tions phosphoric acid should be used on 

 chrysanthemums at their present stage 

 of development. I note that in his 

 treatise on the chrysanthemum Arthur 

 Herrington recommends its use. My 

 plants are healthy looking, but the 

 stems are not as heavy as they should 

 be, and I should like to develop them. 



F. C. C— La. 



Ground bone or bone meal is the 

 best and safest source for phosphoric 

 acid, but its application at the present 

 stage of growth would be of little 

 benefit to your plants, as the phos- 

 phoric acid would only become avail- 

 able as plant food upon the decay and 

 dissolution of the bone, too late to ma- 

 terially aid the present crop. 



Quicker action would follow the use 

 of acid phosphate or superphosphate, 

 which you should be able to procure 

 from a local dealer in fertilizers. Ap- 



ply at the rate of one pound to fifty 

 square feet of ground, and water in. 

 Probably at their present stage of de- 

 velopment the best feeding you could 

 give the chrysanthemums would be 

 liquid manure from a solution of cow 

 or sheep manure, or a good surface 

 dressing of pulverized sheep manure 

 watered in. A. H. 



BADLY INFESTED WITH THBIPS. 



I enclose a few chrysanthemum 

 leaves. Will you be so kind as to tell 

 me w^hat the disease is and what to 

 do to get rid of it? It is extremely 

 destructive and discouraging. 



M. E. G. M.— Pa. 



The leaves submitted had no organic 

 disease, so far as I could see, but were 

 badly infested with thrips, which were 

 responsible for their condition. Indi- 

 vidually the thrips are so small that 

 they can hardly be seen except with a 

 magnifying glass, but their industry 

 must rival that of the fabled one-armed 

 man with the hives, for they ruin many 

 fine houses of chrysanthemums every 

 year, working in conjunction with the 

 spiders, red, black and yellow, which 

 are also found on the under side of the 

 leaves. As the chrysanthemums grow 

 and the spraying of each separate plant 

 becomes more difficult, these insects es- 

 tablish homes under the foliage and 

 multiply with incredible rapidity. Be- 

 fore the grower is aware of it, his 

 plants are in danger of being eaten 

 up by these pests. 



The best remedy I know of is cold 

 water, applied on the under side of the 

 leaves by means of one of the sprayer 

 nozzles intended for the purpose. 



These nozzles direct a strong spray up- 

 ward, washing the leaves without get- 

 ting the soil too wet. It is a good idea 

 to use this sprayer once a week, 

 whether any insects are visible or not, 

 and thoroughly wash the plants. If 

 this treatment is persisted in now, be- 

 fore the buds are swelling, and if the 

 plants can be absolutely clean when 

 cool weather comes and spraying is not 

 possible, it will save much lurid lan- 

 guage and vain regrets. ' 



Chas. H. Totty. 



SHADE DELAYED BUDS. 



We have a bed of 640 October Frost, 

 which were planted May 31 about 

 seven inches apart each way. Some of 

 them had two shoots to the plant; the 

 others were pinched out as soon as 

 they were well set in the beds, or in 

 about two weeks. The house was shaded 

 about June 25 with air-slaked lime. 



A good coat of manure was spaded 

 into the bed before planting. Since 

 then we have applied a light dose of 

 bone meal June 19, a light mulch of 

 well rotted manure to keep the top soil 

 from baking, and August 10 a heavy 

 mulch of manure, about one inch thick. 



With the exception of a few crown 

 buds taken about August 17, no buds 

 appeared until after September 1, and 

 they are all terminals. The plants are 

 six and seven feet high. We should 

 like to know whv the buds are so late. 



W. F. H.— Md. 



It is by no means unusual for Octo- 

 ber Frost to make a long growth with- 

 out throwing buds. This predilection 

 has been increased by shading the 

 house, encouraging the soft growth you 



