Febbuaby 16, 1911. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



13 



future. When we cast up to find if we 

 have made anything, we must give some 

 value on the assets side of the ledger to 

 the plants growing in the houses. What 

 we want most particularly to know is 

 what the practice is among first-class flo- 

 rists along the lines of these values; Will 

 you illustrate for us how an inventory 

 of a greenhouse property could be taken 

 and figured out? H. F. C. 



S. J. Goddard, Framingham, Mass. 



The best answer I can give to the 

 question is: Don't take stock January 1; 

 do it July 1. Then you can place a bet- 

 ter value on growing stock. I believe 

 it is customary for florists to take stock 

 July 1 every year. This seems more the 

 end of and beginning of the seasons in 

 our line of business. 



Joseph Heacock Co., Wyncote, Pa. 



In reply to the inquiry of H. F. C. I 

 would say that he would be justified, in 

 taking an inventory of his assets, to put 

 a valuation on his 5,000 Enchantress 

 carnation plants. That valuation must be 

 estimated by what they are likely to bring 

 him in before the close of the season, less 

 the cost of caring for them to the -time 

 when, of course, they would be worth 

 nothing. In taking account of stock it is 

 always best to estimate it low. One is 

 only deceiving himself by estimating it 

 too high. 



It has been our practice in taking ac- 

 count of stock, which we do in January 

 and July, to count our palms, ferns and 

 orchids growing in pots at from twenty- 

 five to thirty-five per cent less than what 

 we would have to pay for them if we 

 went to buy of a competitor. Our roses, 

 carnations, etc., planted in benches, we 

 have not counted at all, for they are not 

 in a salable condition and what is made 

 on them is received for the growing of 

 them. You are sure to get it later and 

 it is not worth while to deceive yourself. 

 I do not know what the practice of 

 others is. 



Baur & Smith, Indianapolis. 



January 1 is a wrong time of the year 

 to take an inventory, for several rea- 

 sons, and I think you will find no lead- 

 ing grower doing so at that time. (The 

 national law taxing the net incomes of 

 corporations makes it obligatory for 

 growers who do business in corporate 

 form to take inventory January 1. — Ed.) 

 The proper time to take an inventory is 

 when the stock is at low ebb, or at the 

 end of the season. With most growers 

 this would be sometime during July or 

 August. 



When the season's crops have been 

 harvested, you can figure out what they 

 brought you, and it is not a difficult 

 matter to estimate the value of young 

 stock in pots or recently planted in the 

 benches or the field. You know what 

 plants such as yours are offered for, and 

 they need only be in good growing con- 

 dition to be worth the market price. But 

 when it comes to estimating the value of 

 a lot of plants in the middle of the 

 season, there are a great many chances 

 of mistake on account of variation in the 

 condition of the plants. Simply because 

 you had 5,000 plants of Enchantress 

 last year, and you have the same num- 

 ber this year, is no reason why your 

 stock is worth the same this year as last. 

 One year you may have cut a part of the 

 season's crop by January, with only a 

 moderate number of buds showing, while 

 another season January 1 you may be 

 just beginning to cut on a heavy crop. 

 It stands to reason that in the latter 



Pink Delight. White Perfection. 



American Carnations Grown in England by "W, E. Wallace. 



case your plants would need to be ap- 

 praised higher than in the former. 



However, if you do want to get a good 

 idea of what your plants are worth on 

 January 1 you will have to estimate the 

 number of blooms you can reasonably ex- 

 pect to cut from that time to the end of 

 the season. Then figure up how much 

 expense you will be put to in caring for 

 the plants during that time. If you can 

 do that to a certainty, then you can get 

 an idea of what your plants are worth. 



You will find it general among all 

 manufacturing establishments, business 

 houses, and florists, that an inventory is 

 taken during the dull season, which 

 among the growers of carnations is 

 July or August. 



C. T. Quenther, Hamburg, N. Y. 



Our business not being large enough to 

 employ any clerical help, we never figured 

 out what the cost of production of cer- 

 tain kinds of flowers would be. We have 

 figured out, however, the returns of cer- 

 tain flowers per plant and per square 

 foot, at certain times, but not regularly. 



To find out how the business is pro- 

 gressing, we take, instead, July 1 of each 

 year, an inventory. This is made easier 

 by having a special book, in which all 

 assets and liabilities have a special ac- 

 count. We are allowing depreciation as 

 foUows: On buildings, five per cent; on 

 greenhouses, ten per cent; tools and ma- 

 chinery, twenty per cent, adding all im- 

 provements to original cost but charging 

 painting and repairs to repair account. 

 Cost of land is left as original, unless im- 

 proved. 



By allowing six per cent compound in- 

 terest on our original investment and 

 taking an inventory of our plants, which 

 can be figured at a low price at that time 

 of the year, adding bills receivable and 

 bills payable, we can tell if we are pro- 

 gressing or not. 



By taking your expense account with 

 inventory and apportioning the different 

 items to the different flowers or plants 

 you could very nearly tell the cost of 

 production of every flower in a satis- 

 factory manner, and no doubt we will 

 use this system sometime in the future. 



FORGET-ME-NOTS IN SOUTH. 



Are forget-me-nots a success in the 

 south, and if so, what varieties are best? 



E. N. 



Forget-me-nots can be successfully 

 grown in the south. The best varieties 

 to handle for greenhouse work are 

 usually strains from different varieties 

 suited for this grade of work and are 

 more certain of results than if raised 

 from seed. You can find such adver- 

 tised from time to time in The Eeview. 



Bibes. 



TO GET RID OF MANURE FLIES. 



I should like to know how to get rid 

 of manure flies. Our houses are over- 

 run with them. We have used the 

 cyanide at the rate of one-half ounce to 

 1,000 cubic feet and have also fumi- 

 gated strongly with tobacco stems, but 

 we still have the flies. We are grow- 

 ing carnations, bedding stock and ferns. 



G. F. C. 



The quickest way to get rid of these 

 flies is to use pyrethrum powder. Ap- 

 ply it two or three times a week, using 

 the powder blower. Kibes. 



AMERICAN ROSE SOCIETY. 



The time is drawing near for the big 

 flower show in Boston. The entries pro- 

 vided for in the first division must be 

 staged Saturday, March 25. The second 

 division is to be staged Friday, March 

 31. 



The Toronto Horticultural Society 

 has sent word that it offers the Ameri- 

 can Eose Society its silver and bronze 

 medals as first and second prizes for 

 best specimen of hardy climbing rose 

 exhibited at the spring exhibition, itf 

 judging fragrance to count thirty-three 

 points. 



Eber Holmes, of Montrose, Mass., is 

 manager in charge, and any inquiry for 

 information regarding the show, ad- 

 dressed to him or to the secretary at 

 Fishkill-on-Hudson, N. Y., will meet 

 with prompt attention. 



Benjamin Hammond, Secretary. 



