The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



June 10, 1009. 



cut dfiiiainl 1)11 the part of customers 

 \vhose cut liowor busiucss was likely to 

 Ik- lost if they were coiiipellod to go else- 

 where with tlicir outdoor work. Also, 

 the retail llowrr business hegius to fall 

 iilf about the time the outdoor work be- 

 l^ins. Last February E. ]\IacMulkiu, one 

 of the progressive lioston retailers, told 

 the class in Ibuiculturo at the Amherst 

 cidlegc: 



Work for the Dull Season. 



■ ' The outdoor w ork of the florist is 

 gradually assuming large proportions and 



would otherwise have to remain idle. It 

 is necessary to say here that experienced 

 labor is dillieult to obtain, and when you 

 get a man who knows his business it is 

 more jirofitable to keep him than to let 

 him go for a couple of months or so when 

 you really liavc nothing for him to do. 



•'I found upon investigation that there 

 were a great many men, say men" who 

 had a small, profitable business, men who 

 filled good positions in large establish- 

 ments, superintendents of manufactories, 

 etc., who were jiurchasing small places 

 within a short distance of their work. 



Rctinospora Squarrosa Veitchii at Woodside Nurseries. 



is desiTviny ni liis liest I'llurts. It 

 is a well-knouu fact that ^^llat is called 

 the store business of the fhuist is good 

 only from about the first part of October 

 until the first part of May; the rest mI' 

 the year the fiorist who docs luithiug but 

 a store business has hard \v(u-k to make 

 biith end> inft, j>i'iie'rallv usiim uh his 

 |iiofits to pay iie<-i'ssary exiienscs during 

 the summer. .Mary years ago 1 saw the 

 necessity of making the dull months 

 profitable instead of a sourec df expense 

 and, much to my surprise, found condi 

 tions were such th;it 1 wuujd find no difli 

 culty ill presiding work fur men who 



places of one to ten acres, which they 

 were gradually inijiroving at an e.\|ieiise 

 iif .$100 or so a year, each with the ex- 

 jiectation of making in the end a little 

 paradise of his especial property, and 

 1 have today on my books a number of 

 such jieople who not only keep my men 

 busy in the <lull months and have given 

 me a fair profit on the goods and work 

 done, but have become buyers of llowers 

 in the winter months, when 1 l:a\c prac- 

 tii-iilly nothing to do outsiile. 



Fascination in Landscape Work. 



''Putting aside the financial i|iie>iioii 



involved, there is a certain fascination 

 the work that appeals to any one intc 

 ested in it. Kxciyone likes to be su 

 cessful and, .•iMiough the vyorries a 

 many, the desin , result achieved is 

 source of gratifi. a; i m that overbalam 

 anything else. '1 Im' satisfactory exec 

 tion of the comparat?VeIy small orde 

 always leads to larger ones, and win 

 we all may not have the financial respoi 

 sibility to attempt larger and more iii 

 portant work, we have the feeling thi 

 sometime we will have it, and know th;. 

 when we do reach that condition we ha. 

 the ability to carry the work to succes: 

 ful completion. I cannot impress to 

 thoroughly on your minds the neeessit 

 of being prepared to attach this depar^ 

 ment to your business. The percentag 

 of profit is good and the percentage o 

 loss practically nothing. It, of coursi 

 necessitates the carrying of a nurser 

 stock for a year or so, but even tha 

 grows into profit for you and, if yui 

 have a greenhouse, can be taken care o' 

 without additional expense other than tip 

 interest on the investment. That shouh: 

 not be an outlay, as I know of nothiiiL 

 that will improve in value as much in .'i 

 year as a shrub, tree or plant that yoi; 

 put ill the ground. " 



Some years ago Alex. Mc^Connell, Ne\\ 

 York, fell in his Fifth avenue store th^ 

 call of the outdoors and started a nur 

 sery at New Kochelle — ^Wooelside Nur 

 series he culls it. Mere he has luiilt up an 

 adjunct to his retail business. His plac< 

 is along a main traveled street at New 

 Kochelle and is an advertisement in it 

 self, with its neatly trimmed hedge, it- 

 close-clijiped lawns, its liower beds and it- 

 rank upon rank of specimen trees an<^ 

 shrubs. No elfort is made to grow stock 

 for price competition — the competitioii 

 is alone on (juality of stock and charac- 

 ter of service. Specimen evergreens are 

 a feature. Greenhouses at the nursery 

 are used to jirovide the store with thosr 

 items not regularly to In' had in the Ne^\ 

 1 ork wholesale market. 



THE PLATEAU. 



The pliite;ui of roses and orchids i- 

 an arrangeinent l>y (Jharles Henry Vo\ 

 of the Sign of tiie Rose, IMiiladelphi.i 

 sometimes used on sad occasions wher< 

 variety is demanded. The form is suit 

 able, yet by no means commonplace. Tin 

 material may be either in colors or ii 

 white, with the rich purple of the cat 

 tieyas by way of contrast. Narcissi 

 lily of the A alley and gardenias hav. 

 been used in sniailer nnmbers for van 

 etv's sake. Plill- 



Specimen Evergreens at Wood^tde Nurseries of Alex. McConnell. 



