AlGUST 29, 190T. 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



\7 



Display in the Paddns Shed at H. A. Dreer's, Riverton, During Convention Week. 



securely, bit by bit, until your enter- 

 prise rises to its full height and glory. 

 You must know your business, know it 

 thoroughly, know its strong points, know 

 its weak ones, know where to take ad- 

 vantage of ojjportunities, know where to 

 stop leaks. And this is where you will 

 iind the leaks in your business, when you 

 know your cost price, when you know if 

 certain lines are costing more to produce 

 them than you are selling at. 



How to Obtain the Data. 



Cost finding is a unit of an accounting 

 system, and it is to the bookkeeper, or 

 accountant, that we must look for final 

 and accurate information. But first it 

 is necessary to supply him with the data 

 from whicli to tabulate and conclude a 

 system. From the foreman, or manager, 

 he must receive an accurately kept ac- 

 ■count of the time each workman occu- 

 pies with each house, or portion of house, 

 the amount of space occupied, the length 

 of time the house, or portion of house, 

 is occupied with each size or variety of 

 plant. To the grower's time, and the 

 length of time the house is occupied with 

 a crop, must be added an accurately es- 

 timated cost of heating, based on the 

 number of feet of .radiating surface in 

 the house, the size and value of pot, the 

 value of seed, cuttings or plants. This 

 is best done by a card system, keeping a 

 separate daily record of each man 's opei - 

 titions, each sub-foreman, or grower, fill- 

 ing in his card, accounting for the time, 

 number of plants handled, new stock 

 added, stock taken out, etc. From this 

 card entries can be made to a properly 

 ruled sheet or card. These sheets also 

 act as a perpetual inventory, and on large 

 places are indispensable to the sales 

 manager. In turn these are tabulated, 

 and to the stock and operating expense 

 are added the fixed expenses, such as in- 

 terest, taxes, insurance and other gen- 



eral non-productive expense, which are 

 easfly arrived at. By dividing the total 

 by the number of feet of bench room 

 we arrive at the average fixed expense 

 per foot. 



A Debit and O-edit Account. 



In houses where several varieties of 

 plants are grown and are continually 

 being either added to or taken from, the 

 cost can be arrived at by keeping a debit 

 and credit account of stock and averag- 

 ing weekly or monthly expenses. To find 

 the cost of growing roses, carnations, 

 violets, etc., is easier than that of pot 

 plants, inasmuch as it is usually on a 

 large scale and more time is occupied 

 with eacli operation, such as the i)repa- 

 ration of soil, emptying, refilling and 

 planting the houses, after which it is 

 principally routine work, with but little 

 variation. However, it is necessary to 

 take all the expenses for a wliole year, 

 to find the actual cost. The total num- 

 ber of blooms divided by the total ex- 

 pense will give the cost per bloom, but 

 as in most places both cuttings and 

 plants are sold, then it will become neces- 

 sary to keep a record of the time and 

 space occupied by these, and by de- 

 ducting this from the total expense and 

 dividing the balance you can arrive at 

 the cost per bloom. 



To do all of this may seem like a 

 great deal of work, but it is only one 

 portion of the general operation of your 

 business, and is just as necessary in this 

 as in any other line. He who would know 

 what part of his business is paying must 

 work for the information. 



CACTUS DAHLIAS FOR CUTTING. 



I wish to get some information con- 

 cerning the cutting of cactus dahlias so 

 that they will last after cutting. I can- 

 not keep them fresh ; they go to sleep 

 the day after cutting. F. T. S. 



Cactus dahlias, as a rule, are not good 

 keepers as cut fiowers. They should 

 not be grown too closely and, where they 

 grow too densely, should have the foliage 

 underneath cut away, but, above all, 

 select good young buds and remove all 

 side shoots from the stem. This will 

 give a flower of much better color and 

 substance, consequently of larger size, 

 and it will keep much better. Varieties 

 of the Krieniiiiidc and Jealousy type, 

 with disbudded stems, will keep as long 

 as the best show varieties. 



If the flowers are cut in tlio early 

 morning and ]>laced in water at once, 

 they should keei) at least three days. 



Too rich a soil — too much water or 

 too much nitrogen — will also tend to 

 make the flowers soft, but as the plants 

 harden if tlie blooms are grown on dis- 

 budded stems, they will keep much better. 



L. K. P. 



Edmond, Okla. — A nursery will be 

 started here by G. A. Tallant/j. L. Tal- 

 lant and T. A. Milstead, who have 

 bought for the purpose the tract of land 

 known as the Hindes farm. 



WAS THIS ELMER D.? 



A local paper at Adrian, Mich., prints 

 the following as ori|»lnal: 



An Adrian florist was making the 

 rounds of his properties when he was ap- 

 proached by a young man, who applied 

 to him for work. "I am sorry," said 

 the florist, ' ' but have all the help I need. 

 I have nothing for you to do." "Sir," 

 said the young man, with a polite bow, 

 "if you only knew how very little work 

 it would take to occupy me." 



Auburn, N. Y.— E. H. Dobbs, of 

 Dobbs & Son, recently welcomed a 9i/4- 

 pound son at his home. 



