MISCELLANEOUS 431 



from two clones of vrAA species, Gladiolus tristis L. concolor I and G. recurvus 

 L. bronze as great grandparents on the other." 



Dormancy in Easter lily bulbs. Thornton and Imle ^^' ^^ point out that 

 for many years commercial growers of Easter lilies have been faced with 

 the problem of dwarfed plants, or even no growth whatever, from bulbs 

 which at the time of planting appeared to be perfect specimens free from 

 mosaic. Immaturity at time of harvest or unfavorable storage condi- 

 tions before forcing may induce this bulb dormancy. Bulbs harvested 

 before the flowers open remained alive and later produced roots but no 

 tops. Those harvested just after the flowers had withered produced about 

 50 per cent stand in the forcing house, while the other half remained dor- 

 mant but sound. Bulbs harvested when fully mature (when the plants were 

 almost dead) gave full stands when forced after storage. Storing the 

 bulbs in conditions that led to the exhaustion of oxygen or to the accumu- 

 lation of high concentrations of carbon dioxide also induced dormancy. 

 These injurious conditions were especially detrimental on immature bulbs. 

 A short drying period after harvest and low-temperature storage up to forc- 

 ing time were necessary to avoid dormancy, the latter especially in the 

 case of immature bulbs. 



Pfeiffer ^^ studied the effect of varying the cold storage period and time 

 of planting the two lilies {Lilium longiflorum Thumb, var. eximium Nichols 

 [L. eximium Courtois] produced in Bermuda, and var. giganteum, Hort. 

 produced in Japan) formerly used in United States for forced Easter lilies 

 upon the date and rate of development of flower primordia. In the first 

 kind the purely vegetative stage seen in August persisted until the middle 

 of October in cold storage at 10° to 13° C (50° to 55° F). If continued in 

 cold storage until November 26 there was a broadening of the apex and slow 

 elongation of the axis indicating the pre-differentiation stage of the floral 

 axis. In bulbs of the second kind, first obtained in early December, there 

 was already a broadening of the apex and in cold storage at 3° C (37° F) 

 there was slow elongation of the axis. Potting the bulbs even without 

 change of temperature hastened the development of flower primordia. 

 The order of development of the floral organs was acropetal. 



Lily diseases and pests. Because of lack of knowledge of lily diseases 

 and pests, a fellowship was established in the fall of 1927 by The Horti- 

 cultural Society of New York, New York Botanical Garden, Cornell 

 University, and Boyce Thompson Institute. This fellowship was continued 

 for fourteen years, or up to 1941. The laboratory work was done mainly 

 at the last two institutions mentioned above, and during the last five years 

 the feUowship was supported entirely by these institutions. The fellowship 

 was held in succession by the following plant pathologists, C. E. F. Guter- 

 man, 1927 to 1930, Keith O'Leary, 1931 to 1937, and E. P. Imle, 1937 to 

 1941. The work was done in close cooperation with commercial and pri- 

 vate growers and with lily breeders in eastern United States. 



In 1930 Guterman ^i summarized his work and that of other investigators 



