132 THE BOOK OF MARKET GARDENING 



exists, the risk will be considerable. Besides this, a shop 

 in a good district cannot be kept sufficiently stocked by 

 any one grower, and it would be necessary to buy in 

 the market at nearly all seasons of the year. However, 

 if a florist's business is combined with fruit and green- 

 grocery, a man who has a family of grown-up sons and 

 daughters can, by the exercise of due thought, render 

 the retail part of his business both useful and profitable. 



A careful estimate should be made of all the expenses 

 before starting upon it, and judicious economy must be 

 exercised. It is preferable, as a rule, in such cases 

 to avoid highly rented places, also those where a 

 business has been created for which a large sum is re- 

 quired. The form of trade that has been carried on 

 may be totally different from that it is intended to 

 develop, and the capital sunk would thus be partly lost. 

 Endeavour to make a cash trade with cheap articles in a 

 populous district ; or build up a high-class business in a 

 more wealthy neighbourhood with the best quality 

 produce obtainable. It is wise to choose one or other 

 of these courses and follow it out consistently ; they 

 require very different methods of treatment, but the 

 first gives the least amount of risk where the shop can 

 be managed in a smart, up-to-date, energetic manner. 

 One essential in successful shop management is that the 

 advantages of tastefully aud effectively displaying the 

 goods must be mastered. There is an artistic element 

 of a most practical character in placing the goods before 

 the public in the best possible manner, which should not 

 be ignored even in the poorest districts. Just as in 

 grading and packing, the extra labour demanded is in- 

 significant in comparison with the gains. 



One form of dealing with retailers is supplying the 

 itinerant vendors known as costermongers and hawkers, 

 a useful and generally an industrious class of men, with 

 whom some growers transact a large business. They 



