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% March 7, 1907. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



1169 



Home of J. F. Roscnfield, at West Poinl, Neb. 



scientific field unless he is a specialist, it 

 is not strange that this line of work has 

 received the most attention and support. 

 Illinois has taken the lead in recogniz- 

 ing the need of specialization in horti- 

 culture. In the university one man is 

 charged with the development of the 

 work along each of the following lines: 

 Pomology, vegetable gardening, landscape 

 gardening and floriculture. This institu- 

 tion is therefore better able to carry on 

 investigations in horticulture. 



Stations Poorly Equipped. 



The chief reason why more work is 

 not done for the florists is that stations 

 have not been properly equipped for car- 

 rying on work in floriculture. The Hatch 

 act assumed that the states would pro- 

 vide suitable buildings for the station 

 work. Many states were slow to do this. 

 Illinois did not support its station until 

 1901. At the present time the station re- 

 ceives from the state $95,000 annually, 

 divided as follows: Animal husbandry, 

 $25,000; soil investigations, $25,000; 

 com investigations, $15,000; dairy inves- 

 tigations, $15,000; orchard investiga- 

 tions, $15,000. In addition to the above, 

 the college receives $50,000 annually for 

 equipment. 



During the last two years the follow- 

 ing problems have come to us for solu- 

 tion: A prominent grower of cucum- 

 bers under glass appealed to the station 

 for aid to solve a trouble which was 

 destroying his plants and threatening to 

 wipe out a special trade which he had 

 developed in cities all over the north- 

 west. In response to repeated appeals, I 

 was directed to visit him and investigate. 

 I found his plants dying from a bac- 

 terial trouble, the organism multiplying 

 in such numbers in the water channels of 

 the stem as to cut off the water supply. 



so that the plants wilted and died. Hav- 

 ing determined the cause of the trouble, 

 we were unable to go further and assist 

 him in what he, above all else, wanted 

 to know — that is, how to get rid of the 

 trouble. We should have been in posi- 

 tion to have planned and carried out 

 some experiments in those infected 

 houses. I tried to reserve one of our 

 own small houses for some work on this 

 trouble, but had to yield it to a gradu- 

 ate student for a piece of work for a 

 thesis. The houses we have were built 

 for instructional purposes. We must have 

 separate equipment, especially designed 

 for experimental work. 



Last fall some infected leaves of a 

 chrysanthemum were received. After a 

 careful examination no disease was 

 found. Whether we failed to get the 

 fruiting stages of the fungus in the 

 leaves sent, or that the trouble was physi- 

 ological, due to something out of bal- 

 ance in the growing plant, or that it 

 was caused from something sprayed on 

 the plant, we were unable to determine. 

 A visit to the greenhouses would have 

 furnished the clew. 



At the present time in the city of 

 Springfield is a trouble affecting roses, 

 which at first sight a grower would say 

 was due to overwatering, but the trouble 

 is not a new one; three expert growers 

 have come and gone in the establishment, 

 but all failed to solve it. The amount of 

 water has been varied. It affects both 

 grafted and own root plants and also 

 benches with and without bottom heat. 

 The owner, seemingly, has tried every- 

 thing, yet there is an annual loss of 

 $5,000 on account of not being able to 

 solve it. 



An insect especially destructive on Me- 

 teor rose was the subject of an investi- 

 gation by an entomologist who pub- 



lished an excellent scientific account of 

 the life history, but did not tell the 

 growers how to combat it. Here was an 

 excellent opportunity for practical in- 

 vestigations of benefit to the rose grow- 

 ing industry. 



President Vaughn, at Washington, 

 spoke of the need of investigations with 

 fertilizers and cut flowers. In addition, 

 some investigations on soils for green- 

 house crops need to be undertaken. 



Efforts for an Appropriation. 



Two years ago the florists of the state 

 went to Springfield and asked for $30,000 

 to build greenhouses at the Experiment 

 Station and to carry on investigations 

 in floriculture. The men who went made 

 a good impression and some persons in a 

 position to know thought we would get 

 something. The bill looked as though 

 it would go through until the last ten 

 days of the session. The house appro- 

 priations committee recommended the 

 bill out, carrying $15,000, and next day 

 reconsidered and killed it on the score 

 of economy. Every one in this associa- 

 tion should recognize the fact that few 

 people have any conception of the amount 

 invested in floriculture and that we had 

 to carry on an educational campaign. 

 Much has been accomplished in this line 

 and this association can do a great work 

 in bringing to the people a realization of 

 the extent of floriculture. 



As most of us were inexperienced in 

 getting legislation, we made some mis- 

 takes last time, but these have been over- 

 come in our present endeavor to accom- 

 plish the securing of an appropriation. 

 The assurances are promising that we 

 shall succeed. Our state is in good finan- 

 cial condition and we must get our appro- 

 priation this year if at all. If a period 

 of depression should come, we could not 



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