3u4 



WORK AT THE EXPERIMENTAL 

 GREENHOUSES. 



Read i'\ ll. B. Dor before Illinois 



Florists' Association, February, 1911. 



Work at the Florists' Experimental 

 Greenhouses has been continued dur- 

 ing the year under the direction df 

 the Advisors. Committee and bids fair 

 ive some interesting results. As 

 a whole the work is progressing nice 

 l_v and an inspection of the houses 

 will, we think, show the plants in 

 i! xperimental plats in better con- 

 dition than ever before. The work 

 as being carried on is quite a large 

 undertaking and keeps those connect- 

 ed with it very busy looking after 

 the many details. Much of the suc- 

 cess of the season's work is due to 

 the watchfulness and careful atten- 

 tion to details given by Mr. Xehrling. 



The work of the year is divided 

 into three experiments, one on carna- 

 tions and two on roses. The comple- 

 tion of the new houses last winter 

 made it possible to take up these lines 

 of work on roses. 



The Carnation Experiment. 



The work in carnations is a continu- 

 ation or rather a duplication of the 

 work of the past year. At least an- 

 other year will be necessary before 

 final conclusions can be drawn. The 

 wort has given a mass of data which 

 will require several months of hard 

 work to put it into such shape as to 

 give the greatest value. As a result of 

 the past season's work, records were 

 taken on 47,729 carnations represent- 

 ing the cut of six months beginning 

 with November and ending on the 1st 

 of May. During the past three 

 months records have been taken on 

 17,092 flowers. 



The object of the experiment is to 

 del ermine whether just as good and 

 as many flowers can be grown by 

 using a very small amount of manure 

 supplemented by commercial fertil- 

 izers as when large quantities of ma- 

 nure are used. It is also desired to 

 determine in what proportion the 

 three elements, namely nitrogen, 

 phosphorus and potassium should be 

 applied. If, of course, better flowers 

 can be grown with the aid of com- 

 mercial fertilizers this only proves our 

 point. 



It must be kept in mind that all 

 natural manure cannot be dispensed 

 with without injury to the soil and 

 crops. Much of the nutritive sub- 

 stances in the soil are only made 

 available by the bacteria present in 

 the soil. The humus or decaying 

 vegetable matter, and it is for this 

 that natural manure is used in the 

 experiment, furnishes the food and 

 the medium in which these bacteria 

 grow. So to get the best results ma- 

 nure should not be discarded alto- 

 gether, but the quantity should be 

 much reduced. 



During the season of 1909 and run 

 four varieties of carnations, namely, 

 White Perfection, Beacon, Enchantress 

 and Winsor were selected as being 

 representative types upon which to 

 riment. 678 plants of each were 

 I and each variety represented a 

 complete experiment. 



From the first year's work it was 

 decided that the best commercial fer- 

 tilizers to use are dried blood for 

 nitrogen with ammonium sulphate as 

 a good second, acid phosphate for the 

 phosphorus and potassium sulphate 

 for pottassium. The units of applica- 

 tion selected are: 



HORTICULTURE September 9, 1911 



Dried blood at - lbs. per 100 sq it. these concentrated fertilizers will be 



bench, .". in. deep. followed by greater disaster than in 



Am. sulphate at l'j lbs. per inn sq. ft. use of naUu - a i manures. In taking up 



;.:„■', . , :, , :,;, i "j,;:;;„ :,.' .tVrt"^. such a i me of work the following ap - 



ft. plications may be taken as the basis 



Manure at ll"' lbs . or about :'.'_■ bu. per of tne wor ^ and ) )e considered safe for 



5fl " , the average soil. 



The standard then contained 



amounts of dried blood, acid phos- Dried blood 2 to 4 lbs., per 100 sq. ft. 



ph.-iie and potassium sulphate at the 'Sodium ™itrate7 2 to 4 lbs. per 100 sq. f t. 



rates above mentioned. The control bench, 5 in. deep 



or check sections contained an equal Ammonium sulphate, 1% to 3 lbs. per 100 



amount oi manure but no commercial sq-Jfc ' , 1 ™ r , 1 ;,',,-,' l .'",-.. ',','," '"lb. per 100 sq. ft. 



fertilizers. These fertilizers in the bench, & in. deep. 



Other sections were doubled and quad- Potassinm sulphate, % to 1 lb. per lot) 



mpled singly, in pairs and all to- ^^"^uW^beTppHed at rate of 



gether. This then gave combinations , llmllt ■. ,,, _, ,,„ lier inn sq. ft. 



0f Co a mpletTre a c r ords of the cut from Any help desired in planting such 



Nov 1st to May 1st were kept and a an experiment will be gladly given to 



study of these is of great interest. any Illinois florist desiring it. 



Cut by Months. 



Nov De- Jan. Feb. Mar. April. 



1276 3086 1736 1120 11"- 3183 



White Perfection *£"> SSS .,-,., : .„ i7 J(JS :;:;17 



Beacon [f Jgng j\)37 is?:: 2080 3172 



Enchantress ,^ n(IT lss :; 2219 2105 3426 



Winsor 



Cut for Months. Average 

 Total. OK. &'Sp. Split, per plant 

 11 510 »:.v; .".'.17 1,330 15.0 



White Perfection UOil 11872 554 1,621 1S.3 



Beacon U247 111 Hilt 235 852 14.6 



Enchantress lo'y:T> 10416 129 380 14.2 



mn Montn- of most/spirt wasY ' December,- White Perfection ; February, Beacon : January, 



Enchantress and Winsor. Experiments. 



By half splits are meant those ne r^c ^ 



whose calyx is partly split but not In tak i ng U p the work on roses it 



enough to allow the petals to fall was decided to establish two lines 



down In regular grading they would which cou]d i, e carried on at the same 



be classed among the firsts. time, namely, fertilizer work such as 



During the present season the fol- was be ing carried on with carnations 



lowing cut has been made: and a test of grafted versus own-root 



Nov. Dec. Jan. Total. Gain. stock. 



White Per- 3,829—2269 Fertilizer Work on Roses. 



lection ... J-tv' ,',.7 101A iiifi op;4 



Beacon ,715 ,491 1,240 4446 ^ ^^ ^ considered heavier 



Enchantress. 1,452 l,9W t feeders than carnations it was decided 



It would be noticed from this tame ^ ugp ^ & unU tw - ce the amount used 

 that Winsor has been omitted. Owing &g tfae unjt in U)e carnat i ns. Other- 

 to the fact that stem-rot developed w . ge |he proportions are the same, 

 very badly it was discarded and White pm )Ms wQrk were selectea the Bride 

 Enchantress was used in its place. ^^ Killaniev as representing two 

 With this change in the variety it t ypes of r0S es. Under the treatment 

 was decided to make a variation in g . ven them the Brides have responded 

 the experiment. Accordingly halt ot we]] and bld fair to give some sp i e n- 

 this variety is being grown with com- (Ud resuUs The Killarneys have not 

 in,, cial fertilizers and the other with deve i ope d quite so well. 

 natural manures and liquid manures where nitrogen has been applied in 

 made from it. The amount of dried large doges the I0 ]i age is now taking 

 blood acid phosphate and potassium Qn ^ & yellowis h co lor and shows over- 

 sulphate applied was twice that ot feedin ' g ( see sections 3. 12, 15 and 20). 

 the unit sections in the other experi- Tnose sections with smaller amounts 

 vnent have a much better color and growth. 



The following table shows the cut gee sect i ns 1. 6. 11 and 13 which are 



to date: some of the best in point of growth 



Nov. Dec. Jan. Total. and num ber of flowers. 



^tmZ^!^. "8 743 420 1631 Grafted and D wn Root. 



W 1U!U mre S a ' ' 4G1 791 439 1691 , n the study of t he grafted and own- 



This shows a slight increase in the root stock it has been found that 



natural manure but the present condi- the g,. a f te d plants made a more rapid 



ti'on of the plants show that there will erowt h in the beginning which in 



be more flowers in the former during near i v a ii cases has been maintained 



the next two months. to the present, although the differ- 



The experimental work in carna- ences are becoming much less marked, 



tions will no doubt, show conclusively A study Q f the number of roses cut, 



that equally good carnations can be not considering the grade, shows: 



grown with' the use of commercial fer- Grafted Own-root. Difference, 



tilizers used in conjunction with small ._,.,„. 423 



quantitv of natural manure as with J^Wv" » . • 28tt 2 503 36I 



nothing but the natural man " re ' whi]e everv attempt has been made 



The quantity to be used, however, vy. wie eve .y 1 m the 



will of necessity have to be varied to JjL^t^™ thev are at best tenta- 



suit the soil of each establishment. wort -'cu.ate he. ^ ^ ^ 



This quantity will have to be deter trra thoroughly studied that 



mined by experimentation. It must ^ve , b iven 



be borne in mind that commercial fer- complete resmts g 



tilizers are more concentrated than Again le 1 commercial fer- 



natural manures and so must be used of «wce« u^ uged 



with caution. An injudicious use of tilizers is 



