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March 13, 1913. 



The Florists^ Review 



45 



-F— ^— ~ 



ing to keep the plants growing through 

 dry weather. 



When cutting the blooms, trim off 

 surplus foliage and dip the base of the 

 stem in boiling water for a half minute, 

 then put in cold water for an hour oi 

 more. Treated in this way, you will 

 not have trouble with flowers wilting 

 when shipped. 



The writer is not a prophet nor the 

 son of a prophet, but he ventures the 

 assertion that the next ten years will 

 mark a large increase in the use of the 

 dahlia as a cut flower, and also the 

 growing of a number of varieties under 

 glass for winter use. 



THE SMALL GBOWEB. 



[An essay by H. Klelnstarink, of Louis- 

 ville, awarded third prize In a contest con- 

 ducted by the Kentucky Society of Florists.] 



As a member of your society and 

 your craft, and doing business on a 

 small scale — in plainer words, being a 

 one-horse florist and grower — I am 

 naturally confronted with the problem 

 of making the most of it, without inter- 

 fering or clashing with others in the 

 same boat. 



If we look back, say twenty years, 

 we shall find that there is as much 

 difference as night and day between 

 the way business was done then and 

 the way it is done today. Not only 

 do we have to compete with enormous 

 establishments, or factories of cut 

 flowers and plants, which, at the de- 

 mand for more and choicer stock, 

 sprang up and are still springing up 

 like mushrooms after a spring storm, 

 but we have to take account of, and 

 coax, the new and sometimes no bet- 

 ter styles and fashions which make 

 yesterday's stock a total loss on our 

 bands today. 



Difficult Competition. 



It would be impossible for the small 

 grower to compete successfully with 

 the large one, on account of the lat- 

 ter 's greater capital and smaller cost 

 of producing and marketing his prod- 

 ucts. And that is not all, but here is 

 the main drawback in a small place: 

 While his big brother is contracting 

 to deliver so many thousands of flow- 

 ers a day, and will stand by his con- 

 tracts even if he has to go into the 

 open market some few times in the 

 year and buy there himself, the small 

 fellow is only cutting a few every day, 

 and of course be cannot contract for 

 even that small number; or, if he does, 

 he will soon find that he has over- 

 reached himself, being unable, through 

 several causes, to live up to his con- 

 tract. If, in times of plenty, he totes 

 his cut around to the several stores, 

 the proprietors of these will either tell 

 him they do not want the flowers, or 

 will offer such a ridiculously low price 

 for them that he feels discouraged in- 

 'leed, and begins to cry "Murder!" 

 and "Help!" saying the business is 

 going to the bow-wows, and such 

 things. 



Time to Face About. 



Now is the time, in the writer's opin- 

 ion, to change front entirely, as soon 

 as We find out that we are on the 

 wrong track, and try it from a differ- 

 ent standpoint. Most of the small 

 growers have their greenhouses in the 

 city's outskirts, and have, if they only 

 knew it, a market right at their door 

 without much trouble, which can be 

 added to every year to the satisfaction 

 of everybody. 



Good Business Cheaply Obtained 



J.J. BENEKE 



Florist and Decorator 



CUOICK CUT FLOWBR8. PLANTS AND FLORAL DKHIGN8 



Koa ALL OOOASIOirS 

 IStlU OI.IVK STMBCT 



ST. LOUIS. MO. January 11, 1913. " 



Florists' Publishing Co., 

 Chicago, 111. 

 Gentlemen: 



During the past year I paid you $18.20 for a 

 half inch advertisement in the Retail Florists Department 

 of The Review, I received through this small advertisement, 

 from January 1, 1913, to December 31, 1913, orders to the 

 amount of $566.00. They cane by mail and telegraph from 

 New York to San Francisco and from New Orleans to Minneapolis. 

 Since I allowed the senders 20^, the record is as follows: 



Total value of orders $566.00 



Less 30f allowed senders 113.20 



Net value of orders. : . 453.80 



Here is an addition of $452.80 in business which 

 could not otherwise have been obtained and at an expense of 

 only $18.20. 



Since my advertisement appeared only in The Review 

 it goes to show what the retail florists through the country 

 lose if they do not use this medium of advertising. It also 

 goes to show that The Review is not only there with a big "P" 

 but that it has three more big "R's" - Readers - Reliability • 

 ResultsI 



Yours respectfully. 



Not only is there an increasing de- 

 mand for cut flowers in every shape 

 or form, but the plant business is end- 

 less, and nearly all through the year 

 there are some kinds of plants that we 

 can handle with both ease and profit. 

 Several years ago, when I was visiting 

 a brother florist, a lady customer came 

 in and wanted a floral design made, 

 but my neighbor told her he sold only 

 at wholesale. Here is where he was, 

 in my opinion, altogether wrong. In 

 this manner he lost a trade which by 

 this time would have made him inde- 

 pendent of the stores and of his big 

 brother with 100,000 or mote feet of 

 glass. 



Some small growers tell me, * ' Oh, it 

 is too much trouble to bother with 

 these little orders, and then it is so 

 much work to have so many different 

 kinds of flowers and plants to grow. ' ' 

 Of course it is trouble and worry, but 

 it pays, and any trouble that pays 

 ought to be good enough for everybody. 



A Gk)od Betail Trade. 



Where a small grower now has only 

 carnations or something else on his 

 benches, and cannot make them pay 

 after a certain time, let him have some- 

 thing that will pay him better, perhaps 

 not the first year, but surely in a short 

 while, ^et the people once know you 

 have something good for gale in your 

 greenhouses, and they will flock to 

 your place and buy it. 



There is nothing that can compare, 

 for the small grower, with a good re- 



tail trade. Once he has that, and at- 

 tends to his business right, he can 

 sleep without worrying about tomor- 

 row. A great many people who live in 

 the outskirts of our cities, being mostly 

 of moderate means, are glad when they 

 can call up a florist in their neighbor- 

 hood and order cut flowers or designs 

 or anything in the floral line, and 

 know they will not have to pay quite 

 such high prices as in the regular 

 flower store, since by buying from the 

 small grower they miss paying the 

 profits of the middleman. In this way 

 we would not hear so much about sur- 

 plus flowers, but would let the whole- 

 saler and store man fight this out be- 

 tween themselves. 



Of course a great many more points 

 could be brought out, but it will prob- 

 ably be better to bring these out in the 

 general discussion, in which I hope all 

 the members will join with great good 

 will and with no hard feelings, and so 

 increase the knowledge that is so nec- 

 essary in our craft. 



Elkhart, Ind.— W, H. Troyer has sold 

 his greenhouses and store to Samuel 

 Jones and C. H. Harrold, of Knights- 

 town, Ind. Mrs. Lulu Kramer, store 

 manager for Mr. Troyer, will be re- 

 tained by the new owners. The store 

 will be remodeled. Mr. Troyer will re- 

 tire from active business life and will 

 soon leave for a tour of the southern 

 and western states, in company with 

 Mrs. Troyer. 



