June 4, 1908. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



House at T. G. Yale's, Wellington, Ohio. 



the trade has benefited greatly by this 

 "mutual interest" feeling existing be- 

 tween the growef and commission man. 

 That feeling does not prevail as much 

 between the retailers and commission 

 man as it should. 



Margin Between Prices. 



There is one feature which in my es- 

 timation curtails the sale of flowers, and 

 that is, many of the retailers do not 

 keep their prices consistent with the pre- 

 vailing wholesale prices. Beauties bought 

 at $1.50 per dozen are sold at three and 

 four times the purchase price. For il- 

 lustration, I will cite an instance of a 

 grower who entered a retail store and 

 priced his own mignonette on sale there. 

 He was informed that $3 per dozen was 

 the price. He then wondered why he was 

 getting only $6 per hundred for it. 



To overcome a glut the retailers should 

 aim to make large sales and small profits, 

 instead of small sales and large profits. 

 The ultimate results would be the same 

 as far as profit is concerned, although a 

 larger quantity of flowers has reached 

 the consumer. 



There is too vast a difference in the 

 price of flowers from the grower to the 

 public. We should aim to reduce the 

 cost of handling the stock from the time 

 it leaves the greenhouses until it reaches 

 the public. 



It seems some of the retail stores lo- 

 cated on the main thoroughfares could 

 dispose of large quantities of flowers by 

 offering them at a reduced price. This 

 they could do by eliminating all such ex- 

 penses as deliveries of sales less than a 

 certain amount, and by doing a cash 

 business. This need not apply to all 

 their trade, only to special sales, which 

 may be called "bargain" for a certain 

 day or time. The advertisement of bar- 

 gains by the department stores is almost 

 infallible bait to the public. 



Meeting Department Store Qjmpetition, 



A department store in a small town 

 was selling carnations at 25 cents per 

 dozen on Fridays and Saturdays. A re- 

 tailer in the same town thought of meet- 

 ing this price, and bought several thou- 

 sand carnations to be put on sale the 

 same days the department store was of- 

 fering theirs. The retailer did this, not 

 expecting to make a profit on the sales, 

 but principally to meet the price of the 



department store. Making inquiry, he 

 was offered carnations at $10 per thou- 

 sand and he felt that he was being 

 favored, but, to put it more correctly, he 

 was doing the commission man a great 

 favor in buying the carnations. Selling 

 them at 25 cents per dozen, he disposed 

 of as many as 5,000 on a Saturday. It 

 is needless to say that beyond his ex- 

 pectation it turned out to be a very prof- 

 itable business for him. 



There are ways and means of selling 

 large quantities of flowers, and surely 

 our retailers are energetic and enterpris- 

 ing enough to find them without having 

 someone in another line of business to 

 show them how. 



Ninety per cent of the public are lov- 

 ers of flowers, and sixty per cent of them 

 do not buy them because their means 

 will not allow it. Why not, during a 

 glut when flowers are cheap and plenti- 

 ful, cater 'to the great masses and give 

 them all an opportunity to enjoy the 

 beauties of nature? That would cultivate 

 a public taste for flowers. Many -pros- 

 pective buyers hesitate to enter your 

 store, because they have only a small sum 

 to spend. It is indeed a fact that by 

 some retailers the 25-cent customer is 

 considered a nuisance. That is a very 

 sad mistake. 



Special Sales. 



Many retailers hesitate to reduce the 

 prices of flowers for fear that they could 

 not get a better price when the glut is 

 over. They claim that their customers 

 cannot understand why the prices of 

 flowers should vary. I am sure we all 

 know why the price of strawberries 

 varies, and we know it simply because 

 the public has been educated along those 

 lines. Not many of us can afford them 

 in January, but there is a time in the 

 year when we can buy them, no matter 

 how humble our circumstances may be. 

 The same can be said about flowers ; dur- 

 ing a glut sell them at a price so that 

 they may find their way into every home. 

 But don't let the street faker do it for 

 you. 



Another feature which is good for the 

 business is to run special sales. There 

 is hardly a time in the year when some 

 stock is not more plentiful than others, 

 which can be bought cheap. Advertise. 

 How many florists do it? Some of the 

 small local papers would be a good ad- 



vertising medium in certain sections. A 

 "special sale" will bring the crowd, the 

 people will get into the habit of fre- 

 quenting your store, you are advertising 

 your business. 



Must Cater to the Masses. 



In my estimation, the flower business 

 today has reached such large proportions 

 that the advancement of the trade can 

 only be accomplished by catering to the 

 great masses, and not so nmch to the 

 few. 



Cooperation properly applied is indeed 

 a fine thing; in fact, it is only then prac- 

 tical when both or all parties concerned 

 derive a benefit from their combined ef- 

 forts. The definitien of the word co- 

 operation, according to Webster, is "to 

 operate jointly to the same end." The 

 end in this case is mutual benefit, and 

 without that there is no cooperation. 

 Through cooperation is brought about a 

 combined effort, which is much greater 

 than the individual effort. Everyone 

 concerned derives from such a combina- 

 tion not a share of its strength and ben- 

 efit, but all its force and good. If, in 

 striving to advance our own position, we 

 aim to advance that of the trade as well, 

 we have true cooperation. 



Unselfishness and Faith. 



A man who toils solely for his own 

 personal gain, who must make every 

 transaction pay, regardless of the means 

 to arrive at that point, is a menace to 

 the trade in general. If each one of us 

 would do a little something to better ex- 

 isting conditions, and do it with the 

 feeling that the advancement of our pro- 

 fession is depending on our own indi- 

 vidual effort, prompted by an unselfish 

 interest, we w-ould soon arrive at a bet- 

 ter understanding, which would reap its 

 own reward. 



There is only one way that a man can 

 help his trade, and that is by having 

 faith in it, and confidence in those en- 

 gaged in the same line of business. It 

 is a terrible thing when we get so that 

 we find fault with everything and every- 

 body. We all know of some men who do 

 this. There is not an honest man any- 

 where. That is all wrong. Ours is a 

 good profession to the man who is trying 

 to better it. If we all had our shoulders 

 to the wheel, lifting with all our might, 

 there would be no time to see who else 

 is lifting. It is all depending on indi- 

 vidual effort to produce one great force. 

 I would advocate cooperation, not only 

 during the time of an overproduction, 

 but for every day in the year. 



ASSESSMENTS ON STOCK. 



Will you kindly let yne know through 

 the Review if there is any taxation on 

 plants in or out of the greenhouse? 1 

 noticed some time ago in the Review 

 that plants were not taxable and that 

 assessment could not be enforced on 

 same. Have you any decisions from any 

 courts in regard to this matter? We 

 have a smart farmer who happened to be 

 appointed assessor by his farmer friend, 

 and who of course knows it all, and who 

 thinks that I must pay taxes on my stock 

 of plants and business, and I call on your 

 kindness to help me out with your val- 

 uable advice! L. A. G. 



If L. A. G. lives in Ohio, he does not 

 have to pay taxes on the crop of plants 

 growing in his greenhouses. If that fool 

 assessor is bound to put it on the tax 

 list, go after his bondsmen, and also go 

 to the auditor of your county at the 



