>^-~fi?>77 -r " ■ •- 



July 10, 1919. 



The Florists' Review 



11 



HOW SCIENCE 



AIDS FLORISTS 



College courses ia floriculture now are not only teaching 

 how to grow plants, but principles underlying their growth 





|HE application of scientific 

 principles to floriculture is 

 of comparatively recent 

 date. The flower-growing 

 business, however, is an old 

 one. In the early days of 

 •American flower produc- 

 tion, commercial growers of flowering 

 plants recognized the need of but few 

 scientific principles. The greater num- 

 ber of these florists received their train- 

 ing abroad, and the apprentice system 

 through which this was obtained taught 

 methods, rather than principles. These 

 men learned to grow plants and to 

 know under what conditions they at- 

 tained their best development, but they 

 knew little of th^ reasons for their suc- 

 cesses or failures. 



I>aring the last decade, conditions 

 have changed in a marked degree. The 

 demand for rare flowers of better qual- 

 ity has steadily in- 

 creased, and with 

 this demand there 

 has come a keener 

 competition. This 

 competition and the 

 demand for better 

 products have made 

 i t necessary for 

 present-day leaders 

 in the flower pro- 

 ducing industry to 

 call on science for 

 every assistance 

 possible, so that 

 there will be better 

 methods of produc- 

 tion and these at the 

 least possible ex- 

 pense. The margin 

 of profit in the 

 flower business is 

 not a broad one. 



Opinion Changes. 



In the earlier pe- 

 r i d 8 of work in 

 teaching floricul- 

 ture, the writer met 

 with but little en- , 

 couragement from 

 men engaged in the 

 business. Their 

 opinions of the 

 courses at the agri- 

 cultural colleges 

 were often ex- 

 pressed in terms 

 far from compli- 

 mentary. 



Within recent 

 years the horizon 

 lias broadened and 

 many men, who at 

 first ridiculed the 

 teaching of floricul- 

 ture in agricultural 

 colleges, have so 

 completely changed 



By E. A. White, 



Secretary of the American Ro8e Society and 

 Professor of Floriculture at Cornell University. 



their opinions that they are now not 

 only eager that their sons should take 

 work in these institutions, but they 

 are offering most cordial cooperation 

 in every way possible. 



The field truly has broadened during 

 the period in which floricultural instruc- 

 tion has been given in the United 

 States. 



Business Is Growing Rapidly. 



But we should review rather briefly 

 the relation which the various sciences 

 bear to methods of present-day flower 

 and plant production. Botany, in its 

 various branches, probably touches the 

 subject most closely, for in plant-grow- 

 ing, under the somewhat artificial con- 



Prof. E. A. VhHe. 



ditions in greenhouses, an application 

 of the principles which govern healthy 

 reproduction and growth in plants is 

 constantly necessary. However, before 

 we have plants, we must have soil, and 

 the application of chemistry to the soil 

 is doubtless as important as is botany. 

 The flower-growing business in the 

 United States is important. In New 

 York state it is especially so. The last 

 census states that the value of the an- 

 nual production of flowers and plants 

 in this state approximates $5,000,000. 

 This is approached by no other state. 

 The total annual production for the 

 United States was valued at $34,500,- 

 000. This was an increase of eighty- 

 five per cent during the last decade. 



In the early history of plants and our 

 study of plant nomenclature such names 

 as Theoprastus, Pliny, Linnseus and 

 others stand out prominently, and we 

 must not forget 

 that scientific flori- 

 culture as it is prac- 

 t i c e d today owes 

 much to these men. 

 During the earlier 

 periods of ornamen- 

 tal plant culture, 

 valuable work was 

 done through scien- 

 tific expeditio- s to 

 foreign countries, 

 piloted by experi- 

 enced plant collect- 

 ors. These men 

 brought back many 

 species especially 

 suited for growth 

 not only under 

 glass, but in the 

 open as well. 



Early Collections. 



Most of these ear- 

 lier scientific col- 

 lecting expeditions 

 were from England, 

 Germany and 

 France, but the spe- 

 cies of plants col- 

 lected were sooner 

 or later brought to 

 America, and our 

 conservatory col- 

 lectors were thus 

 enriched. The pains- 

 taking work of Ces- 

 alpino, Linnaeus, 

 Jussieu, Gartner and 

 others in the classi- 

 fication of plants 

 has been of inesti- 

 mable value to 

 present - day plant- 

 growers, for, 

 through a knowl- 

 edge of the habitat 

 and relationship of 

 plants, we have 



