802 



The Weekly Florists' Review^ 



APRIL 14, 189S. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH VIOLETS: 

 CONCERNING STOCK. 



An experiment was l)egun upon vio- 

 lets in the autumn of ISfltJ. The plants 

 were bought through a private indi- 

 vidual in the open market to avoid any 

 favoritism that might possibly have 

 otherwise been shown the experiment 

 station. Nine lots of plants from wide- 

 ly sepnrated localities were purchased 



No. 6— Illinois, $4.00 per 100 field- 

 grown. 



No. 7— New York. !$0.00 per 100 field- 

 grown. 



No. S— New Yo.k, $3.00 pel 100 fleld- 

 grown. 



No. M— Michigan, $2 50 per 100 potted 

 plants, 

 'these nine lots of violets were all 



true to name except No. 4, which 



proved to be Lady Campbell. 



Deutzia Gracilis, trimmed with white lace ribbon. 



of firms who were advertising violet 

 plants in the leading florists' journals. 

 All nine lots of a hundred plants each 

 were bought for the Marie Louise va- 

 riety. 



The following table gives the num- 

 ber assigned to each lot as it was re- 

 ceived, the state from which they were 

 shipped by express, the price per hun- 

 dred paid and whether the plants were 

 potted or field grown: 

 No. 1— Connecticut, $4.00 per 100 pat- 

 ted plants. 

 No. 2— New Jersey, $2.50 per 100 potted 



plants. 

 No. 3 — Pennsylvania. $o.00 per 100 pot- 

 ted plants. 

 No. 4— Kentucky, $2 50 per 100 field- 

 grown. 

 No. 5— Michigan, $5.00 per 100 field- 

 grown. 



The experiment called for fifty-two 

 boxes, two feet square and six inches 

 deep, arranged in thirteen series, and 

 tour boxes in each series. Each box 

 received one of each of the nine lots 

 of p ants, the position in all boxes 

 being the same, and was as follows: 



No. 1 No. 2 No. 3 



No. 4 No. 5 No. 6 



No. 7 No. 8 No. 9 



It will be seen from this that the 

 Connecticut grown plants all occupied 

 the upper right hand corner, while one 

 of the two Michigan lots was in the 

 middle and the other at the opposite 

 corner from No. 1. 



Each set of four boxes received a 

 different treatment, but the nine lots 

 of plants hart the same range of treat- 

 ment, and therefore the total output 

 of blooms is something of a guide in 



judging of the value of each stock. 

 The following table gives the condition 

 of plant at the time of setting out the 

 p ant and at the close of the experi- 

 ment for the average of the set o£ 

 boxes receiving manure. Fifty (50) 

 was assumed as th^ standard of the 

 scale for first-class plants, size and 

 apparent vigor being the chief means 

 of judging: 



From this table it will be seen that 

 there was a gain in the plants in all 

 except Nos. 2. 4 and 7, the increase in 

 vigor being only one point in No. 3. 

 The greatest gain was in No. 5, the 

 plants being so vigorous at the close 

 as to merit a grade of 62. When the 

 blooms are considered it is seen that 

 tliere were over a hundred in No. 5, 

 the next best being No. 9, with 75 

 blossoms. The smallest was in No. 2, 

 when the plants gradually "went 

 back," as it is termed. The first four 

 numbers were all poor and the second 

 four were all better than any in the 

 first four, both in grade at time of 

 setting and at the end of the experi- 

 ment. 



That it might be known that there 

 was no influence in the situation in 

 the boxes, a set of the nine lots was 

 grown in a cold frame where the same 

 grading and flower product was main- 

 tained throughout the twenty weeks 

 that the plants were under experimen- 

 tation. 



One swallow does not make a sum- 

 mer and one experiment ought not to 

 settle matters that are so obscure as 

 violet troubles, but it is indicated 

 that much depends upon the stock that 

 is used for the growing of violets. 



It would be hard to convince the 

 writer that any conditions, however 

 favorable, would have ever made a 

 profit out of the New Jersey plants. 

 These were pot grown, cost $2.50 per 

 hundred and under the conditions that 

 gave 105 blooms tor another stock, 

 produced two small short-stemmed 

 practically worthless flowers, while the 

 plants nearly died in the feeble at- 

 tempt. 



It will be seen from the table that 

 of the nine lots four are pot grown; 

 and it was found for the whole exper- 

 iment that there were two and a half 

 times as many blooms upon field- 

 grown as upon potted plants. While 

 this does not prove the superiority of 

 either method of growing the plants, 

 it suggests the importance of methods, 

 to say the least. 



The highest priced plants were No. 

 7, six dollars per hundred, and this lot 

 was exceeded in blooms, when the 



