March 17. 1921. 



The Florists' Review 



29 



damental principles underlying plant 

 growth are determined. 



Local Problems. 



' ' This suggests the several types of 

 work the experiment station is expected 

 to carry on. It must be of help, first, 

 in these difficulties that are local in 

 character. Each florist has his own 

 problems, peculiar to his locality or to 

 his own greenhouse. It may be a prob- 

 lem of disease, or a problem of soil, or 

 of water. Whatever the problem may 

 be, this florist needs advice or help. The 

 experiment station of his state should 

 be in a position to give this help. Usu- 

 ally the station can at once supply the 

 needed information; frequently, how- 

 ever, information or a remedy for the 

 particular trouble is not available. Let 

 us suppose that a florist in a certain lo- 

 cality finds his roses infested with an 

 insect pest. He can send a specimen of 

 the insect to his experiment station, 

 have it identified and get definite infor- 

 mation concerning its control or exter- 

 mination. The information which he re- 

 ceives as to method of control is based 

 upon definite experimental work which 

 has been done previously. If no definite 

 method of control of the insect pest is 

 known, experiment is necessary. 



"The station, of course, cannot make 

 a thorough study of each and every lo- 

 cal prffblem that may arise. But the 

 station should, as a rule, be able to give 

 sound suggestions, suggestions which 

 may involve certain efforts on the part 

 of the grower, but which will result, 

 nevertheless, in a means of control of 

 the difficulty. 



Scope of Experiments. 



"Secondly, the experiment station 

 should conduct definite and well planned 

 experimental projects on problems which 

 are of interest to florists in general. 

 Projects should not deal with local prob- 

 lems, such as are of interest or of value 

 to a few florists, but they should deal 

 with problems of value to all. For ex- 

 ample, the control of carnation stem-rot 

 and of aster wilt, and the effect of the 

 continued use of the same soil for a par- 

 ticular crop are problems which are 

 stato-wideand of interest to all florists. 

 The kind and amount of fertilizers to 

 use in greenhouse soils is a question 

 every grower needs to know. 



"Such problems cannot be solved in 

 a day. Reliable results cannot even bo 

 got in a year; often not in several years. 

 Long periods of time often are neces- 

 sary. Each problem must be considered 

 from all angles and each phase of the 

 problems must be studied by experi- 

 ment. This requires time. Neverthe- 

 less, the effort is worth while in the 

 end, for onjy by means of such long- 

 continued experiments can we hope to 

 get the information we desire. 



Finding Fundamentals. 



"Thirdly, the experiment station 

 should conduct experiments with a view 

 to establishing certain definite relations 

 and physiological principles underlying 

 plant growth and response. Let me il- 

 lustrate by a few concrete examples. In 

 growing cuttings, as for instance of the 

 rose, we are fairly successful. We meet 

 with success because we have learned by 

 experience what temperature, approxi- 

 mately, and what moisture conditions, 

 approximately, to use in order to produce 

 results. However, if we do not meet 

 with uniform success we are at a loss to 

 know why we were not more successful. 



t'< iiyjiiyjiiyjiii^iiyjityjiu^*i^i'ijiMit^^^ 



WHO'S WHO Kl AND WHY 



CHARLES E. CBITCHELL. 



KNOWN widely in the trade because his name is that of one of the leading 

 wholesale houses of Cincinnati, Charles E. Critchell is not disposed to seek 

 the limelight. Witness that this photograph of him, the only recent one at large, 

 was taken in a distant corner of the world, Hawaii. Mr. Critchell 's ability is 

 recognized despite his modesty, however, and he has served as president of the 

 Cincinnati Florists' Society and is at present a director of the Society of American 

 Florists. Another evidence of Mr. Critchell 's quiet way was his acquisition, last 

 month, of a bride. He was married at Honolulu, February 9, to Mrs. J. Keck Hall, 

 of Cincinnati. Mr. Critchell left some weeks ago on an extended foreign tour as a 

 vacation from the work of boosting the florists' business in that city floriculturally 

 so lively for its size, Cincinnati. 



The reason is that wo have but little 

 definite knowledge of the factors in- 

 volved in the formation of roots; we 

 know even less of the correlations be- 

 tween root and shoot growth; our knowl- 

 edge of the effects of temperature and 

 moisture conditions on root development 

 is only approximate, while the relation 

 between type of cutting and the future 

 plant and its production is still far from 

 solution. 



"Many problems appear to have only 

 an indirect value. A study of the pos- 

 sible effect of the selection of cuttings 

 on the production of future plants, for 

 instance, may appear to be a waste of 

 energy and time; a sti.dy of the in- 

 fluence of carbon dioxide on the growth 

 of greenhouse plants may appear im- 

 practical, yet the solution of such prob- 

 lems establishes facts which are funda- 

 mental. Pure research is never imprac- 

 tical. The work of the bacteriologist:, 

 who afiifliod with his microscone the lit- 



tle organisms or germs which we know 

 as bacteria, involved an almost infinite 

 amount of labor. Yet who today will 

 say that this work was useless or im- 

 practical? The successful treatment and 

 control of most of our human ailments 

 is based upon the results of this work. 

 In a similar way we must continue our 

 studies of the fundamental principles 

 underlying plant growth, study the re- 

 sponses of plants to the conditions of 

 their environment, the fundamental 

 causes of disease, and the laws of hered- 

 ity in plants. Research and experimen- 

 tation must not lag behind. They must 

 always forge ahead and must always be 

 the basis of the best methods of plant 

 culture." 



Wallingford, Conn.— Irvin Mitchell, 

 March 1, purchased the sole interest in 

 the business on Academy street, formerly 

 condiiptpd hv hims<»lf And W. Ci. Ttn-v(\fiT\. 



