Jandabt 29, 1920 



The Florists' Review 



27 



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ILLINOIS FLORISTS ELECT 



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Ammann, Ed- 

 Washburn, 



lEETING in the afternoon 

 following the closing of the 

 American C:u nation So- 

 ciety's sessions, January 22, 

 in the Eed room of Hotel 

 La Salle, the Illinois State 

 Florists' Association trans- 

 acted its annual business, chiefly the 

 election of officers and the hearing of 

 reports from the society's foster-child, 

 the experiment station at Urbana. The 

 officers chosen for the coming year were 

 as follows: 



President — William J. Hembreiker, 

 Springfield. 



Vice-president — Joseph Kohout, Lib- 

 ertyville. 



Secretary — J. Fred 

 wardsville. 



Treasurer — Frank L, 

 Bloomington. 



Mr. Ammann 's wish to be relieved of 

 the job of secretary was overruled by 

 the members of the society. His state- 

 ment that the work was slight and any 

 man could do it with little effort was 

 taken by the society as good reason why 

 he should reconsider his desire to yield 

 the position to someone else. 



The work at the University of Hli- 

 nois was reported upon by Dr. P. A. 

 Lehenbauer, who is 

 in charge of the ex- 

 perimental work 

 there. In addition, 

 Prof. H. B. Dorner 

 told of the instruc- 

 tional work in the 

 division of floricul- 

 ture, the students 

 of which come from 

 many other states 

 outside Illinois. Mr. 

 Ammann gave a 

 slight account of 

 how the Illinois 

 State Flerists ' As- 

 sociation worked to 

 get the experiment 

 station established 

 nearly fifteen years 

 ago. 



Experimental Work. 



The report of Dr. 

 Lehenbauer, which 

 created considerable 

 interesting discus- 

 8 i n on growers ' 

 problems, was as 

 follows: 



' ' The experimen- 

 tal work in floricul- 

 ture at Urbana is 

 being continued 

 along the lines of 

 the previous two 

 years. 



' U.. The experi- 

 ment on the rela- 

 tion of selection to 

 flower production, 

 when the vegetative 

 method of propaga- 

 tion is employed, is 

 still in progress. 

 This being only the 

 second year of se- 

 lection, the experi- 



ment has not gone far enough to state 

 any conclusions. Several important 

 facts have been brought to light — to be 

 sure only tentatively, for the evidence 

 is by no means complete. 



" (a) By knowing the number of flow- 

 ers which a plant has produced by the 

 last of January, and then counting the 

 buds on the plant at this time, we have 

 a fairly accurate figure of production 

 of that plant for the year. 



"(b) The condition of the crimping 

 of the petals seems to be inherent in 

 the plant and is not dependent upon 

 growing conditions. 



" (c) The splitting of the calyx seems 

 to be due to the nitrogen relation of the 

 plant. Sudden, rapid growth seems to 

 be instrumental in producing split 

 calyxes. 



Phosphate Increases Production. 



"2. It has been found previously that 

 by the liberal use of acid phosphate 

 flower production can be increased, 

 about two flowers per plant for roses, 

 five per cent for carnations. We have 

 evidence that much of this phosphorus 

 is not used by the plant during the first 

 year, but reverts in the soil. We are 

 attempting to find if this phosphorus in 



Wtn. J. Hembreiker. 



(President-elect, Illinois State Florists' Association.) 



reverted form is as efficient in produc- 

 ing increased production as is a new 

 supply of acid phosphate. 



"3. We have begun an experiment to 

 test the effect of using the same soil in 

 the benches continuously for several 

 years. Most growers discard the soil 

 after one year and refill the benches 

 with new soil each year. This involves 

 much labor and expense and possibly 

 a loss of fertilizers. 



"4. Several apparently new and im- 

 portant diseases have come to our no- 

 tice recently and we are attempting to 

 follow up these diseases and determine 

 methods of control. 



" 5. A study is being made of the ger- 

 mination of orchid seed and the condi- 

 tions involved. 



"6. We are collecting data and fol- 

 lowing up the drop of buds on sweet 

 peas. The statement has been made by 

 writers that the trouble takes its 

 origin in the soil. There is a theory 

 to the effect that it is a phosphorus 

 problem; others claim that it is a nitro- 

 gen problem. We are not following up 

 this phase, for another experiment sta- 

 tion is doing this, but we expect to at- 

 tack the problem from another angle, 

 namely, temperature and moisture. 



"7. Much time is 

 being devoted to 

 the devising and 

 construction of ap- 

 paratus by means of 

 which we hope to 

 control certain con- 

 ditions, such as tem- 

 perature, moisture, 

 etc., so that we maj 

 take np more accu- 

 rately a study of 

 certain problems of 

 greenhouse plants. ' ' 



Restore Committee. 



Since the men in 

 charge of the work 

 at Urbana had ex- 

 pressed a desire for 

 it, the society re- 

 vived the old ad- 

 visory committee, 

 which had, until 

 late years, served as 

 a connecting link 

 between the trade 

 and the experiment 

 station. In the im- 

 poverished situation 

 in which the univer- 

 sity finds itself, 

 there seems strong 

 indication that the 

 state association 

 may have to do lob- 

 bying again at 

 Springfield in order 

 to insure the ad- 

 vancement of the 

 study of the trade's 

 problems at Ur- 

 bana. So it was 

 voted that an ad- 

 visory committee of 

 five be r e e s t a b- 

 lished, two mem- 

 bers being appoint- 



