"It 



May 22. 1913. 



The Florists' Review 



23 



can reduce his coal consumption he isn 't 

 slow to adopt the apparatus that will 

 do the trick. That's why the coal 

 salesman who can give his customer in- 

 telligent and disinterested advice in 

 such matters makes so many firm 

 friends among florists. 



The average coal man hasn 't paid 

 niiich attention to the greenhouse trade. 

 It's big business, but it's difficult to 

 obtain by the methods used to get the 

 factory trade. A few florists have city 

 offices, where the buying and selling 

 are done, but by far the greater num- 

 ber of the big greenhouses are far from 

 the main traveled road, out in the coun 

 try, miles from where a coal salesman 

 has any other customer. Out of sight 

 is out of mind. Consequently the aver- 

 a<,'e greenhouse buyer isn't drummed 

 to death, the way the factory manager 

 usually is, even though the greenhouse 

 uses several times as much coal. Con- 

 sequently the florist has the mail order 

 habit. He buys practically all his sup- 

 plies at a distance, by mail, so why not 

 his coal? 



Interesting the Trade. 



As a matter of fact, those coal oper- 

 ators and jobbers who have tried get- 

 ting the greenhouse orders by mail 

 have found it paid, directly and indi- 

 rectly. Coal men are not advertising 

 experts; coal is coal in so far as theii 

 advertisements usually go, but most of 

 them can put some selling talk into 

 their letters when they learn of a new 

 buyer who is in the market for, say, 

 fifty cars, as his season 's supply. And 

 the inquiries from the florists who 

 wanted only two or three cars, for 

 immediate shipment, have been valua 

 ble. Even the inquiries from the one- 

 car-at-a-time man are useful. Such a 

 letter came in one day to a selling 

 agent who had been trying to interest 

 a retailer in the same town with the 

 florist. The selling agent wrote for 

 details and found the florist had little 

 shed room and no cartage facilities 

 but burned about three cars a season 

 He then wrote to the best retail coal 

 dealer in the town, whom he had never 

 before been able to interest. He quoted 

 the retailer a price and told him to go 

 after the florist's order. The retailei 

 got it, and when he ordered the car 

 for the florist he ordered two cars more 

 to go into stock. The retailer used ten 

 cars of that coal that season. 



Probably there is no grade of fuel 

 taken from the earth that isn't burned 

 >n greenhouses, but the West Virginia 

 smokeless coals have come to be more 

 largely used in greenhouses, perhaps, 

 than any others. It may be that these 

 coals have been fortunate in having 

 the assistance of a number of manu- 

 facturers of grates, who have recom- 

 mended the coal to go with the appa- 

 ratus, but it seems that, if this is 

 the case, the shoe would fit as well on 

 the other foot and that all those in- 

 terested in the sale of anthracite or 

 western bituminous coals have to do to 

 establish a big, permanent and steadily 

 widening outlet for their product is to 

 i^how the greenhouse man what appa- 

 'atus he needs to burn that special 

 f^^'a^of coal at a saving over present 



Hegidar Delivery a Factor. 



The big greenhouse contracts usually 

 are made early. Every grower wants 

 to fill his storage space to its capacity 

 during summer, and the larger his re- 

 quirements usually the more fore- 





Boiler Plant of the Pittsburgh Cut Flower Co., Gibsonia, Pa. 



[This plant U equipped with eOO-horeepower boilers and Murphy stoken*. It burns 8000 tons of PittaburKh 



steam coal per year at a cost of $16,000.] 



handed he is in this important particu- 

 lar. The man who uses only a few 

 cars may take chances on the open 

 market at a late date, but the big fel- 

 lows cannot afford to. One of the im- 



portant items of service that counts 

 strongly for or against a coal man, 

 but over which he has little control, 

 apparently, is the matter of regular 

 [Onnt1nti)>d on paffe 46.1 



One of the Boiler Rooms of Po^hlmann Bros. Co., Moron Gr.ve. I!'. 



ITbls concern has greenhouses the heatlnff of which requires the burninK of over$!>0,OfO worth 



of coal each year. J 



