STARTING INTO BUSINESS 27 



There are the lawns to get in order, fertUizer and grass seed to sell, 

 and maybe, a few shrubs. Plant out more seed and purchase a few 

 good Phlox, Iris and Peonies, if you didn't do so the Fall before. 

 Don't spend a cent on yourself unnecessarily, but put every nickel 

 into more sashes and stock. Rent more land, too; maybe a better 

 piece. 



How about approaching someone you work for in regard to mak- 

 ing a loan to enable you to put up a little greenhouse ? Why not ? 

 If you can't do it, keep on hammering harder than ever, and put in 

 another Winter the same way as the first. By the second Spring 

 you are in better shape than ever. Work eight hours a day for other 

 people and ten for yourself. You will have annuals and perennials 

 for sale and flowers to cut all Summer. If you have too many peren- 

 nials foryour retail trade, advertise and sell wholesale. By the third 

 Fall, I bet you will have a little greenhouse and a square show room 

 with a display cooler, and will be equipped to furnish anything in 

 floral designs. 



That not only sounds well, but, if you are of the right stuff, you 

 can do it. If you are not foolish enough to try to undersell the 

 fellow who is already established, you will succeed and grow with 

 the town you live in. Any man with open eyes, who has for years 

 worked in and about a greenhouse, will have no trouble in doing 

 outdoor work on a private place. He also wiU have no difficulty 

 in finding out what he doesn't know about hardy stock. There 

 isn't a home ground today, no matter how well laid out or kept, where 

 there isn't room for changes to be made. Besides all that, new homes 

 are being built and the wideawake man will land the work on some of 

 them, at least. 



Those who started twenty-five or thirty years ago didn't have 

 anywhere near the opportunities that are offered today. The town 

 without a florist or landscape gardener gets along nicely without 

 either of them, but the more florists and landscape gardeners are 

 seen in a section, the more flowers are used, and the more work there 

 is for both — and the home grounds show it. Where there isn't a 

 demand for flowers, create one; where people are in the habit of 

 buying cheap flowers, educate them to want better ones. No one 

 florist can please aU the people of a town, and no matter how many 

 are there doing business, there is always room for the new fellow. 

 It is up to him whether or not he is going to stay. 



If you stick in the Rose or Carnation section of a large concern, 

 there is but little chance of ever starting into business for yourself. 

 This is not to say that maybe, with a good salary you are not as 

 well off there; but not all of us are contented with that. Even a 

 man without capital can start in business for himself; his labor is 

 his capital and he simply has to work, and keep working, and then 



