March 12, 1910 



HORTICULTURE 



388 



THE VALUE OF THE EXPERIMENT 



STATION TO THE FLORIST 



AND THE DUTY OF THE 



FLORIST TO THE 



STATION. 



Address by Piofessov J. C. Blair. Head 

 of Depai'tment of Uoiticulture, Uuiversity 

 of lUiiKpis. Urhaua, Illinois. Preseuted be- 

 fore the Illinois Slate Florists' Association, 

 February 15, 191U. 



In order to fully appreciate the val- 

 ue of the experiment station to the 

 florist, it is necessary at the outset to 

 have some conception of the nature 

 and scope as well as the function of 

 this great public institution known as 

 the Experiment Station which has 

 sprung up throughout the length and 

 breadth of the land. These institu- 

 tions are really the outgrowth of the 

 discussions which tooiv place at the 

 meetings of our old time agricultural 

 societies. Various kinds of model 

 farms and lest stations were proposed 

 with here and there a real start made. 

 The first station was a private insti- 

 tution established by Mr. L. Valentine 

 at Houghton Farm, Orange County, 

 New York, in 1876. An effort was 

 made by the State of Connecticut in 

 1873, for the founding of an experi- 

 ment station, but the bill failed to 

 pass. It was this same year that the 

 Experiment Station at California was 

 established and 1879 when the Cornell 

 Experiment Station came into exist- 

 ence. But our experiment station sys- 

 tem m [iiis country waj nof. defjuicely 

 established unti' 1887 as a direct re- 

 sult of federal appropriations for that 

 purpose. Since the passage of this, 

 the first Hatch act, there has been 

 some modification in the laws govern- 

 ing these institutions and as the work 

 has grown and enlarged, additional 

 appropriations have been made. Yet 

 from the first the intent and spirit of 

 the law was the same; namely, "that 

 it shall be the object and duty of said 

 experiment stations to conJuct orig- 

 inal researches or verify experiments 

 on the physiology of plants and ani- 

 mals; the diseases to which they are 

 severally subject, with the remedies 

 of the same; the chemical composition 

 of useful plants at their different 

 stages of growth; the comparative ad- 

 vantages of rotative cropping as pur- 

 sued under the varying series of 

 crops; the capacity of new plants or 

 trees for acclimation; the analysis of 

 soils and water; the chemical composi- 

 tion of manures, natural or artificial, 

 with experiments designed to test 

 their comparative effects on crops of 

 different kinds, etc., etc." 



Surely here is a law, the nature and 

 scope of which is sufficient to take in 

 all the problems relating in any way 

 to the business of floriculture. But if 

 we glance back over the twenty-three 

 years that these stations have been 

 in operation, we see at once that the 

 old established lines of agriculture, or 

 those which have to do with ail out- 

 dooi's .so far as the farm is concerned, 

 have been the ones to receive especial 

 attention and the bulk of the money. 

 It is not until a very recent date that 

 the florists' business in this country 

 was thought to be of sufficient im- 



portance to receive the especial at- 

 tention of investigators in these pub- 

 lic institutions. In fact, as I have 

 gone down over the list of publications 

 which have appeared as a result of 

 these federal and state appropriations, 

 1 am surprised to find that out of lit- 

 erally thousands of bulletins and cir- 

 culars, there are but forty-seven which 

 are especially designed to be of help 

 to the ilor'^-o and garnfners, yet con- 

 sidering the fact that the florists 

 themselves have not until recently 

 been making any demands upon the 

 experiment stations for help, this list 

 really seems a commendable one. 

 Scanning the pages of these publica- 

 tions which have appeared, we find 

 many things of real and positive help 

 to the florists' business. Take for ex- 

 ample the work which has been done 

 by various pathologists on the dis- 

 eases of many greenhouse plants. How 

 can we ever fully estimate the bene- 

 fit derived from this source alone? If 

 we take these and the many other 

 things accomplished as an indication 

 of what may be done in the future and 

 then slop to reflect upon the rapid rise 

 of the different phases of the floricul- 



E. GuRNEv Hill 

 A Pioneer .\niorican llosariau. 



tural business during the past dozen 

 years, we will be in a better frame of 

 mind to correctly anticiiiaic wuat tao 

 future holds in store for us. Think 

 for a moment of the step in advance 

 which will be taken when we actually 

 arrive at that sta^e in our state his- 

 tory when Illinois will have invested 

 in this business $100,000,000 instead of 

 $20,000,000 as at present. Of what 

 value will this enormous iliu icultuial 

 industry in this state be if we do not 

 actually learn how to throttle the in- 

 sect pests, or if we do not know the 

 correct combination of those materials 

 and elements which go to make up the 

 proper plant food of each of those 

 ever varying and complicated types 

 which we grow for the delight and 

 comfort of the multitude. We have 

 at least one firm in Chicago which 

 cannot really secure a sufficient 

 amount of the organic fertilizer (man- 

 ure, if von please) which is now re- 

 quired for their establishment. Thia 



has become so serious a problem with 

 them that, I understand, they are con- 

 templating establishing upon their 

 premises a large dairy herd whose 

 chief business ii. will be to make fer- 

 tilizer with which to grow the dainty 

 blossoms that are to grace our tables. 

 Now, it is not too much to expect 

 that this experiment station, througn 

 UiC experiments already in hand, will 

 definitely ascevtiun v.hat combination 

 of cliemicals or comincrcial fertilizers 

 can be, in part at h'ast, substituted for 

 the now very precious stable manure. 

 It is my firm belief tnat tuere is no 

 industry in the state which will re- 

 ceive a fuller measure? of benefit from 

 the money spent in its behalf i.han 

 will floriculture. The fact that this 

 industry is ooufintd largely to tne 

 area encompassed by 20,000,000 sq. ft. 

 of glass, or approximately 400 acres, 

 makes it apparent that ve are dealing 

 with control conditions, in large meas- 

 ure at least, and the influence v hicn 

 we can exert upon our plants is great- 

 er by far than upon those crops gi-own 

 in the open. Now, the particular way 

 in which the experiment station will 

 be of most value to the industry, will 

 be in the development of new forms 

 or types better adapted to the require- 

 ments of our advancing civilization. 

 Yet of no less importance will be im- 

 proved cultural methods which must 

 come from long continued experiments 

 designed to shed light on the food re- 

 quirements of the different varieties 

 grown under glass. There must be a 

 constant effort to improve existing 

 tj pes. Not only that, but these must 

 be protected from the innumerable 

 enemies which beset them with ever 

 increasing vigor as the industry ex- 

 pands. Again, the trade resulting 

 from this industry must extend into 

 every section of the country and thia 

 means that facilities for keeping and 

 transporting flowers must receive 

 careful attention and investigation. 



As I allow my mind to project it- 

 self into the future, I see with a cer- 

 tainty, that is most encouraging, the 

 thousands of commercial establish- 

 ments that have grown up within our 

 state, furnishing their thousands of 

 employees with a comfortable living, 

 bringing upon the tables and into the 

 very life of all our citizens, that re- 

 finement, that grace, that sweetness of 

 character, which comes alone from in- 

 timate association with and love for 

 flowers. It will be not alone the com- 

 mercial florists that have profited, nor 

 those who have labored in one phase 

 cr another of the industry as helpers, 

 but also all the people who will have 

 learned to appreciate the value of a 

 flower. How will all this have been 

 made possible? I believe I can see 

 with sure vision that it is because the 

 investigator has worked long and 

 faithfully on one after another of the 

 many problems which you practical 

 growers have called to his attention. 

 i\ay, you hove not only called his at- 

 tention to these things but you have 

 insisted that our laboratories, our 

 glass houses, and our other equipment 

 shall have been used or applied to the 

 problems unceasingly until its solution 

 shall have been found. Not only that, 

 but you have seen to it that the state 

 has wisely appropriated the money 

 which has been given back to the peo- 

 ple, a hundred, yea, a thousand fold, 

 through added beauty, pleasure and 

 profit. When all this shall have been 



