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8 





The Rorists' Review 



July 24, 1913. 



tions that have floricultural courses that 

 have been established with more or less 

 difficulty, mostly because of the need to 

 first procure funds. For the undertak- 

 ing in the Chicago public schools ho 

 immediate appropriation is needed. 

 Class room and equipment are ready. 

 The high school funds available to the 

 vocati6nal department can be used for 

 the necessary salary. Indeed, the ^oard 

 rules shouU! make the opportunity at- 

 tractive to the best men in the business. 

 While: the regulations do not permit 

 paying a high salary at the start, sal- 

 aries advance automatically as time 

 passes and it is possible to reach $2,600 

 for ten months ' work. 



Practical Work. 



The course will be started in Septem- 

 ber if Mr. Roberts is insured of a class 

 of twenty or more. No vocational 

 courses can be started with less. The 

 question of what to teach will be de- 

 cided by the wishes of those who want 

 to be taught. Mr. Roberts is in con- 

 sultation with H. B. Dorner, who has 

 charge of the work for floriculture at 

 the University of Illinois; with W. N. 

 Budd, who probably has given the sub- 

 ject more thought than has anyone not 

 actually engaged in educational work; 

 with Fred Heuchling, secretary of the 

 West Parks civil service commission, 

 whose experience has shown the need of 

 such a school; with E. A. White, who 

 has charge of the floricultural classes 

 at Massachusetts Agricultural College, 

 Amherst; with the horticultural depart- 

 ment at Cornell, where florists' sons go 

 for their college course, and with lead- 

 ing growers in the city. While the 

 work being done at these institutions 

 is being investigated, it is not with a 

 view to adopting anything but the prac- 



$80 per year for those who take a fjill 

 course of five studies and proportion- 

 ately lower in the case of special 

 courses. 



Mr.. Roberts welcomes suggestions 

 from the trade. He wants to start a 

 school for florists and gardeners that 

 shall have a wide and permanent use- 

 fulness. He should be addressed: Wm. 

 \i. Roberts, District Superintendent of 

 Schools, Tribune building, Chicago. 



COLLEGE WORK FOB FLORISTS. 



Studies for those intending to engage 

 in the growing of flowers for commer- 

 cial purposes are provided in the depart- 

 ment of floriculture of the New York 

 State College of Agriculture at Cornell 

 University, Ithaca, N. Y. Instruction 

 in floriculture along general lines has 

 been given since the beginning of the 

 work of the department of horticulture 

 and almost all its graduates have had 

 more or less experience in both green- 

 house and outdoor work. There is now, 

 however, a separate department of flori- 

 culture, which adapts its instruction to 

 the florists' needs. 



The rapid development of fruit-grow- 

 ing, floriculture and vegetable-growing 

 as distinct occupations has resulted in a 

 demand for men specially trained along 

 a particular line, rather than men 

 broadlj' trained in the whole subject of 

 horticulture. In order to meet the grow- 

 ing demand for trained florists by pro- 

 viding special courses of instruction and 

 for the purpose of developing the in- 

 vestigative work, a department of flo- 

 riculture has been organized. 



Aims of the Department. 



The department of floriculture has 

 three principal aims — to give instruc- 



Hydrangea Otaksa Growo at Port Allegany Grcenhouaes. 



tical features of the instruction given. 

 The Chicago idea is practical in all 

 things. 



EligibUity. 

 The rules of the Chicago board of 

 education make the school age from 6 

 to 21 years; the vocational schools are 

 for those from 16 to 21, but in cases 

 of those above 21 years who wish to 

 share in the advantages offered the 

 board has granted special permits. It 

 will no doubt do so in the case of flo- 

 rists. The schools are free to all resi- 

 dents within the city limits; non-resi- 

 dents mtiet pay tuition, which is only 



tion at the college; to conduct investiga- 

 tions, field studies, and surveys aiming 

 to help in solving the floricultural prob- 

 lems of commercial florists throughout 

 New York state and to give information 

 and assistance to intending planters of 

 home and public grounds in the state. 

 The instruction given at the college 

 is intended to meet the needs of ama- 

 teur flower-growers; to provide instruc- 

 tion for students in other lines of horti- 

 culture who wish to get a knowledge 

 of some of the fundamental principles 

 of floriculture; to train students for 

 teaching and investigative work in flo- 



riculture in colleges and experiment bta- 

 tions and to prepare students for pro 

 fessional work. 



Classroom EquipmeDt. 



The equipment is divided into t vo 

 parts; that belonging to the classrocmis 

 and oflSces is on the second floor of the 

 main building and that connected with 

 the forcing-house and gardens, as veil 

 as with the experimental areas, is in 

 the field. 



Lectures are given in the headquar- 

 ters of the department on the second 

 floor of the main building. The larger 

 lecture room, which is provided with a 

 stereopticon, has a seating capacity of 

 120 persons. The smaller lecture room 

 seats thirty-five, besides containing the 

 herbarium. The remainder of the floor 

 is used for offices for the instructing 

 staff. Large display cases lining the 

 corridor are filled with horticultural 

 specimens, tools and various appliances. 



In addition to the large collection of 

 floricultural books in the university 

 library, the department is fortunate in 

 possessing the large private library of 

 the late Professor John Craig. This 

 contains 3,000 volumes, many of which 

 are on floricultural subjects and are 

 available for the use of advanced stu- 

 dents. 



Greenhouses and Gardens. 



The greenhouses completed in 1910^ 

 together with the contemplated addi- 

 tions to be erected during the present 

 year, cover an area , of about 8,000 

 square feet. The range consists of a 

 conservatory and propagating house and 

 a house for the culture of roses, carna- 

 tions, chrysanthemums, sweet peas and 

 other greenhouse plants. These build- 

 ings are used by all classes in floricul- 

 ture and afford space for advanced and 

 graduate students investigating special 

 problems. The service building is a 

 two-story structure containing labora- 

 tories, an office and seed storage and 

 tool rooms. 



The department has bee« assigned 

 twenty acres of land for its large col- 

 lections of peonies, irises, perennial 

 phloxes, roses, sweet peas, gladioli and 

 miscellaneous annual and perennial 

 flowers. These collections afford valua- 

 ble material for study and namerous 

 problems for investigation. 



Aside from ordinary equipment, the 

 garden herbarium, with more than l-r 

 000 sheets, is an important aid in the 

 study of plant variation. There is also 

 a good collection of negatives illustrat- 

 ing the growing of flowers, which is 

 being added to continually and whi h 

 furnishes a useful source for lantern 

 slides for illustrating recent methols 

 in the management and construction of 

 forcing-houses and the growing of flo]V- 

 ers in the field and under glass. Toe 

 department has a collection of 1,0' '0 

 lantern slides, to which additions a''^ 

 constantly being made. 



Regular Courses of Instruction. 



The following courses of instructi'i 

 are regularly given by the department^ 



Greenhouse Management. — Studies of 

 the principles and practice of propaga- 

 tion, soils, potting, ' shifting, watering. 

 ventilation, fumigation, and the like, 

 of florists' plants. 



Greenhouse Construction. — ^The ^^' 

 velopment of the modern greenhouse; 

 types of houses, materials and method* 

 of construction, installation of heating 

 systems, and the like. Practice in erect- 



