August, 1909 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



17 



The first shipment was made April 2d, 

 and the last June 23d. During this time 

 the cut-flower work did not take more than 

 one-fifth of my time. 



The local conditions vary. One man wanted 

 tulips with the longest possible stems; another 

 preferred them short 



another laughed at my pains in sending 

 them along. 



The fact that my greatest success has been 

 with narcissus and tulips is by no means 

 an indication that they are the best flowers 

 for a beginner; my long experience in their 

 culture, a knowledge of varieties, and 

 peculiarly adapted soil and climate, were 

 the greatest factors. 



One should select some line in which he 

 has some advantage of climate or experience. 

 This conclusion should not be arrived at 

 too quickly. Read up thoroughly, use your 

 eyes and spend some money in traveling 

 about and seeing what the other fellow is 

 doing, and then go at it better or more 

 cheaply than he can. Valuable experience 

 can be purchased more cheaply with car 

 fares than in more or less blind trials. 



When a line is chosen make yourself 

 master of it. Study packing and marketing; 

 remember that this is an age of advertising. 



Do not get all your eggs in one basket, 

 either by having but one line or by so hand- 

 ling your crop that all comes into market 

 at one time. 



Do not begin large, but educate yourself 

 as you go, and always have a few experi- 

 ments going to pioneer the way to changes 

 and expansion. 



BALANCE SHEET FOR IQ02 



Gross sales . . . $251.06 



Less bad accounts 

 Net sales 



BALANCE SHEET FOR IOO3 



Gross sales .... $513.57 

 Less various adjustments (Note 1) 38.08 



$475-49 



EXPENSE ACCOUNT 



Special labor hired (Note 2) . $16.20 



Expressage and freight paid . 7.28 



Boxes and crates (Note 3) . 69 . 73 



To San Francisco and return . 9.25 

 Telephones, car fares, etc., 



(Note 4) . . . . 10.86 



Paid San Francisco agent . 30.00 



Net profit over all 



12.14 



$238.92 



EXPENSE ACCOUNT 



Baskets bought .' . . 16.40 16.40 



Net profit .... $232.52 



— ■ $143-32 



$332.17 



(Note 1.) This item includes injured goods, 

 miscounts, and all other claims in adjustment of 

 accounts. 



(Note 2.) It is not possible to segregate the labor 

 of persons who only helped an hour or so at a 

 time at intervals during the season, but were 

 otherwise occupied most of the time. Three- 

 fourths of the flowers were shipped between April 

 1st and April 24th. During that period it took 

 practically all of my own time. 



(Note 3.) Probably two-thirds of the boxes 

 and crates were on hand for the season of 1904. 

 The cost was considerably more than would be 

 the case again, as I perfected and altered the 

 shipping case as I went along thus taking more 

 time and materials. The cost of bulbs is not 

 charged to the cut flowers, because the increase 

 paid a fair profit outside of the flowers. 



(Note 4.) My San Francisco agent's time was 

 nearly all within three weeks. 



BRINGING UP TO DATE 



In 1904 I did not do very much in cut 

 flowers, but in 1905 I was ready to do great 

 things. 



I had fine stocks of bulbs planted, the 

 winter had been favorable, and I had sent 

 a bright young man to the city to secure 

 orders and deliver and collect. He secured 

 the orders all right and at fair prices, and 

 all looked bright when a series of exceedingly 

 hot days for April came. The flowers 

 which in normal weather would have been 

 marketed during over a month came in a 

 week. And they were beautiful, and with 

 splendid stems, but too soft. When returns 

 came back from tens of thousands I found 

 that nearly all had failed to arrive in mer- 

 chantable order. My agent could not fill 

 his orders, and I found myself with some 

 rather large bills to pay and very few sales. 

 The wild flowers suffered from the same 

 undue heat, and when I closed 1905 it was 

 with a very poor balance sheet. 



The fateful 18th of April of 1906 found 

 me with splendid stocks of both tulips and 

 daffodils, and I was making nice daily 

 shipments when the sad disaster to San 

 Francisco stopped all trade for weeks, and 

 only one bill was paid — $32 gross for the 

 year's trade. 



Then came a year of trials for all of us; 

 but when Easter again approached, while 

 half of the city still lay in ruins, the florists 

 who had gone back to their old business 

 found to their astonishment that they had 

 a trade far better than any one had expected. 

 Growers had little heart to prepare for the 

 trade, and all stocks were too small for the 

 demand. I had made no preparations, 



but sold what I had to very good advantage, 

 and was encouraged to prepare on a larger 

 scale than ever before for the season of 1908. 



My experiences with capricious seasons, 

 earthquakes, and hot weather had not been 

 the only trying ones, for I had found that 

 between the dishonest florists who will not 

 pay, the honest, but poor ones who cannot 

 pay, the honest but too sharp ones who 

 always find flaws to pick in order to reduce 

 their bills, and equally bright dealers who 

 are anxious for your flowers when flowers 

 are scarce, and quit you suddenly if they 

 happen to be plentiful, the grower who 

 cannot market in person is often at a serious 

 disadvantage. 



In my case the cost of keeping an agent 

 was too large for my small crop, and both 

 time and fare precluded many personal 

 trips. But while I had seen something of 

 the seamy side of the trade I had found 

 some of the fine men also, and now deter- 

 mined to tie to the best of these, and if 

 possible, sell all of my crop in one place. 



The rarity of some of my flowers, and the 

 high quality of others made this arrange- 

 ment mutually advantageous, and I have no 

 cause to regret the bargain that I concluded. 



I now ship all of my flowers to one man, 

 most of the prices are agreed for the season, 

 and we study the best sorts and varieties 

 for the trade. 



While I do not receive quite as much for 

 some things as might be had by peddling 

 them, I have no bad debts and very few 

 flowers are reported as unsalable. 



Irises are useful decorative flowers because of their 

 individual beauty 



