34 COST AND PROFITS 



as in the case of the grower already mentioned, whose total 

 crop of marketed blooms amounted to 288,000. 



Where the grower is at the same time a retail florist, 

 he can, of course, add still more to the direct profit from his 

 houses. Instead of $6 for 600 sprays, he might use these 

 in making a wreath for which he may charge $25. On the 

 other hand, he may be caught with 500 old flowers in the 

 cooler which could have been bought for less than $3 per 

 100, and make the best use of them in a $5 pillow. 



These figures, on both sides of the account, are to be 

 regarded as approximate only, for we all know that in 

 the flower growing business a really scientific costs system 

 is difficult to formulate. The vagaries of the weather 

 upset calculations, and the crop yields vary from year to 

 year. Disease may run riot, or incalculable harm may be 

 done to a crop by the want of ventilation, or by giving 

 ventilation untimely. Prices of labor, coal and water 

 vary, all of which may and do alter the annual returns and 

 profits. Nevertheless, keep accounts — the more accurate 

 the better. In your own case they will be of distinct 

 benefit. Without them no man can conduct his business safe- 

 ly. Have time sheets and charge sheets, and observe which 

 varieties crop best and which colors or forms are in demand. 



"Cost of crop production records, to be of the great- 

 est value," says a high authority, "should cover a con- 

 secutive term of years. Only by this means can an average 

 cost of production be determined. Very few crops are 

 either highly profitable or ruinously unprofitable every 

 year. Most crops have their good and their bad years, 

 from the standpoint of profits, and only by records extend- 

 ing over a term of years can the relative profits or losses 

 of the fat and lean years be compared and the normal, 

 or average, cost of production and profit determined." 



