Makch 30, 1911. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



45 



that such a reputation among men of 

 this sort is worth striving for. 



On the other hand, when a man comes 

 to the office with a story of sickness or 

 genuine misfortune, we are glad to 

 arrange for such extension of time as 

 his necessities require — only asking that 

 he make his promises of future pay- 

 ment as specific as possible. Misfor- 

 tune sometimes turns into fortune and 

 you will sometimes retain the good will 

 of a man by considerate treatment and 

 later find him a prompt and valuable 

 eustomer. 



The policy, as herein outlined, is the 

 same practically that we have followed 

 for a number of years; but the detail 

 is a ipatter of growth, and has been 

 carefully thought out from time to 

 time to meet, the demands of our par- 

 ticular business and line of customers. 

 We are always seeking to improve our 

 methods, and read all available litera- 

 ture on the subject. 



Wisdom of Prompt Collections. 



We have found that few accounts are 

 lost if they are followed up promptly, 

 but that a slow account can quickly 

 become worthless if the debtor is al- 

 lowed to think that you are easy and 

 negligent in such matters. Years ago 

 I was repeatedly cautioned by well- 

 meaning friends that any attempt to 

 follow up accounts and make prompt 

 collections would result in driving away 

 from us our most desirable trade. It 

 is true that some customers have taken 

 exception to our sending their bills by 

 our collector and some few of them 

 have temporarily withdrawn their pa- 

 tronage. .The most of these have 

 eventually returned to us with the 

 knowledge that we make prompt collec- 

 tions and they are generally models of 

 promptness. Some few have never re- 

 turned, but are now adding to the 

 burden of overdue accounts carried by 

 our competitors. 



We have just adopted the plan of 

 sending a letter with the first statement 

 of account sent a new customer, ex- 

 pressing pleasure at finding his name 

 among our charge accounts, promising 

 him good service, hoping to please him, 

 etc. — in short, extending him the glad 

 hand and making him feel that he has 

 his own identity in the office. 



The collection and bookkeeping de- 

 partment is a necessary expense and if 

 ■ft can help to draw trade or hold it 

 when once secured it will thereby help 

 to pay its own way. The value of any 

 system must be judged by the results 

 obtained. I will simply state that by 

 following the plan outlined above we 

 have, for the last five years, collected 

 an average of $996 out of every $1,00C 

 charged. 



The retailers of the country can be 

 vastly benefited by an exchange of 

 thoughts and experiences in such gather- 

 ings as this. The powers have long 

 met in conventions and made rapid 

 progress in their end of the florists' 

 business by reason of such exchanges. 

 To hold that your business knowledge 

 is too valuable to exchange with your 

 competitor is only a little less antiquat- 

 ed than viewing each competitor as an 

 enemy; and to consider one's self too 

 well posted to be able to learn any- 

 thing in a gathering of this sort stamps 

 one as narrow and provincial. Let us 

 give freely and hold ourselves ready to 

 receive and retain the good points ad- 

 vanced. If each one can advance one 

 good point, all will be vastly benefited, 

 for each will have parted with one 



Wallace R. Piersom 



(Author of "The Science of Rone Growing."') 



valuable idea and will receive a great 

 many in return. 



SCIENCE OF OBOWINQ ROSES. 



[A paper by Wallace R. Pierson, of Cromwell, 

 Conn., read before the American Rose Society, 

 m coiiventlon at Boston. Mass., March 25 to 

 AprU 1, leil.] 



Upon receipt of the invitation from 

 your society to speak upon this sub- 

 ject, I had an interview with Webster's 

 dictionary to find out just exactly what 

 science means; and upon learning that 

 science, as applied to the subject at 

 hand, means the assemblage of the 

 general principles of rose growing, 1 

 accepted the invitation, for the word 

 had lost much of its dread, and I felt 

 much as the Yale student did, accord- 

 ing to the story so often told. This 

 student was to take an examination in 

 Bible history, and he came to the con- 

 clusion that he ought to learn the 

 names of the kings of Israel and thus 

 be prepared for the coming examina- 

 tion. Imagine his surprise when he 

 was asked to criticise the acts of 

 Moses! After thinking the matter 

 over he wrote as follows, and his an- 

 swer was enough to pass him in his 

 examination: "Far be it for one as 

 humble as I to criticise the acts of a 

 great man like Moses, but if you want 

 to know the names of the kings of 

 Israel, here they are. ' ' And he wrote 

 out the list that he had so carefully 

 learned. So I am availing myself of 

 the chance to present to you a collec- 

 tion of the general principles of rose 

 growing, and trust that in doing so I 

 may carry out the instructions of our 



president, who has asked me to bring 

 before you certain subjects which are 

 in dispute and to give my opinion re- 

 garding these points, in the hope that 

 an interesting and profitable discus- 

 sion may arise therefrom. 



The method of growing roses today 

 is built upon the knowledge that has 

 been gained in the past by experience, 

 .nnd many times the lessons have been 

 costly, but it is by mistakes that we 

 learn, and by observing the self-evi- 

 dent disclosures that nature makes we 

 can profit. 



The Question of Soil. 



In considering first the question of 

 .soil, I want to quote to you a little of 

 what is now ancient history — informa- 

 tion that has been handed down to me, 

 because these points were observed be 

 fore my day as a rose grower. About 

 twenty-five years ago we were using 

 almost entirely soil from uplands that 

 had a clay body, but contained some 

 lighter elements. This, composted with 

 manure, was our rose soil. One year 

 part of our place was planted with soil 

 taken from the lowlands, where at times 

 there was standing water. This low- 

 land soil produced better roses than we 

 were getting from the same varieties, 

 under the same treatment, when the 

 upland soil was used. The variation 

 was so marked, and so strikingly in 

 favor of this lowland soil, that we be- 

 lieve it is far better suited to roses 

 than the upland soil. It is true that 

 our wild native roses exist on uplands 

 but the rank, strong-growing wild roses 

 are always to be found in swamps, or 



