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Fkbeuaby 24, 1910. 



TheWeekly Florists' Review. 



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THE RETAIL '^^^^^l 



FLORIST 



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TRIALS OF A COUNTRY FLORIST. 



T was just reading the item "Trials 



a Country Florist" in the Kkview of 

 r.bruary 16, in which A. E. N. tells of 

 sailing only sixty carnations at a nickel 

 a; iece as a result of considerable effort, 

 ni d of the numerous calls for two-dollar 

 (! -signs. I wonder if there are any of 

 II country florists who have not been up 

 n ,ainst the same kind of experiences 

 iiiiny a time. 



T have been a country town florist for 

 tiu' last thirteen years and I want 

 !;■ tell you, A. E. N., that you are prob- 

 ably a long way farther up the ladder 

 than you think. The fact that you sold 

 but sixty carnations at a reduced price 

 after advertising them does not signify 

 either a success or failure. It simply 

 shows that you did not strike the trade 

 from the right angle. The next time 

 you want to start something out of the 

 ordinary, try it in a different way. For 

 instance, next Carnation day, don 't offer 

 "an unlimited supply of carnations" at 

 a reduced price. You have found out 

 that dpes not seem to appeal to them. 

 Advertise through your local papers (I 

 am a film believer in this method of ad- 

 vertising) that owing to the enormous 

 demand for carnations on that day, 

 it would be well for those desiring them 

 to place their orders at their earliest 

 convenience. 



I have gone through about all the ups 

 and downs that a florist in a small way 

 could, and have worked 2,200 feet of 

 miserably constructed glass up to 28,000 

 feet built as it should be, and increased 

 a capital of $500 to better than $30,000, 

 and did it on the ashes of two men's 

 failures, so I think that anything I sug- 

 gest may be considered as practical and 

 not theoretical advice. 



One thing you want to remember is 

 this: Don't take things to heart, but 

 look at the sunny side. Sell them two- 

 dollar wreaths if they demand them, 

 and do it as though you liked to. Sug- 

 gest politely that they could get some- 

 thing very much nicer for just a little 

 more money and tell them why. They 

 may take the two-dollar one, but they 

 will think it over and perhaps next time 

 they will pay $3. When they do get up, 

 it's your place to keep them there. We 

 make lots of two-dollar wreaths during 

 the spring, summer and fall months, and 

 find it profitable and we put good stock 

 in them, too. We make crosses and an- 

 'hors at that price, too. We did refuse 

 to make a gates ajar for $3 once, as we 

 j,'et $10 for the smallest, but we got the 

 $3 and pleased the customer. We sell 

 plenty of larger designs, of course, but 

 we find that it is impossible to get the 

 prices here that can be charged in a 

 'arge city. 



We sell carnations at 75 cents and $1 



1 dozen at holiday seasons when they 

 ire selling for double that in the city 

 • orty miles away. 



Perhaps that looks foolish to the city 

 "orist, but lots of fellows are acting 



foolish for less compensation than we get. 

 Not that I am a believer in cheap 

 flowers, or low prices. Not a bit of it! 

 I get all I can, but I do not try to get 

 any more. 



We sell mums for $3 a dozen that we 

 could not buy for that price, wholesale, 

 and we make money on them because we 

 sell all we can produce and everybody is 

 satisfied. We sell a bunch of twenty- 

 five good, fresh violets for a quar- 

 ter. That's too cheap, you say. 

 Sure, it is. They are worth more. 

 We know it. We ought to get 

 half a dollar. Well, let's see: Out of a 



hundred bunches picked we sell a hun- 

 dred, and that's $25. At a half we would 

 not sell a third of them. Not theory, 

 just fact from experience. The customer 

 who can afford to spend a quarter may 

 not feel like depositing a half in your 

 till, and who is the loser? 



Go ahead and sell them two-dollar 

 wreaths, A. E. N., if you can't get any 

 more, and remember that you can buy 

 more coal with the $2 that you get than 

 with the $5 that you don 't get. 



C. H. G. 



Laconia, N. H. — LieEoy Thomas says 

 that this town has been having a boom 

 in the flower business and that trade is 

 double what it was a year ago. 



CEMETERY DELlVERffiS. 



In a recent Keview^ 1 noticed a man 

 asking about cemetery deliveries, etc. 

 We usually have a good deal of planting 

 to do on lots, or deliveries to make, so 

 I obtained access to the cemetery records 

 and traced a copy of the general plan 

 of all the plots, and also one of each 

 section, with private lots numbered. 1 

 have these pasted in a large book. I 

 also copied the name^ of the lot-owners, 

 with section and lot numbers, and we 

 now have no difficulty in finding a de- 

 sired lot. Edv^ard Bell. 



VHAT WOULD YOU DO? 



What would you do if a man entered 

 your place with a box of flowers, bought 

 somewhere else, and asked you to make 

 up said flowers into a funeral piece? I 

 had an experience of tiiis kind a short 

 time ago, and my refusal caused a storm 

 of indignation in some quarters. 



J. A. E. 



One florist thinks that in such a case 

 it possibly might be the best plan to 

 tell the party that he should apply to the 

 one who sold the flowers to get them 

 made up, but that if this cannot be done 

 the flowers will be made up at the same 

 charge as would be made for the design 

 if the maker-up supplied the stock. Ho- 

 tels and restaurants regularly are re- 

 quired to cook and serve food supplied by 

 guests, such as fish, game or eggs, and 

 they always charge for serving the price 

 of similar articles on the bill of fare. 



THE CREDIT SYSTEM. 



Monthly Collections. 



We notice in the Keview of February 

 10, page 7, what D. B. says regarding 

 "The Credit System." This is a deli- 

 cate subject, especially for the retail flo- 

 rist. The more business he does, the 

 more bad bills he will get on his books, 

 do what he may to avoid them. At the 

 same time, it is well to be independent 

 in dealing with those who are slow to 

 pay or who never pay. However, what 

 will do in one locality will not always 

 do in another. 



We adopted a system, when we began 

 business ten years ago, of making a per- 

 sonal collection of all unpaid bills on 

 the first day of each month. While we 

 did not always get every dollar due us, 

 we usually got the largest part of it. 

 In this way, too, we became personally 

 acquainted with our customers. They 

 also learned to look for us and have the 

 money ready. Our experience also taught 

 us the important lesson that some of our 

 customers, especially those who paid 

 most promptly, bought more flowers 

 under this system than if they had been 

 obliged to come to the greenhouses and 

 pay the cash. 



Of course, we realize that it is not al-' 

 ways easy for a florist to leave his grow- 

 ing crops and go out for a whole day,: 

 but if he can possibly make arrange-.- 

 ments to do so, he will be more than re 

 paid in ten years' time, not only in' 

 dollars and cents, but in health and dis- • 

 position. C. P. Hayward. 



From the Wholetale Viewpoint. 



"In the Review of February 10 a 

 subscriber ventured the opinion that the 

 trade's credit system is 'rotten/ and 

 asked to hear from others on the sub- 



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