14 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



^ 



Max 27, 1909. 



FUNDS FOR FLORICULTURE. 



D'gislature Cuts Appropriation. 



The Illinois legislature is struggling 

 this week with the matter of the appro- 

 priation for floriculture at the State Ex- 

 perimental Station. 



The lower house of the legislature re- 

 duced the sums allotted to each depart- 

 ment at the state 's educational institution 

 at Champaign. The asking for floricul- 

 ture, to cover two years, was $35,000, but 



nois to be, at first bands, more than four 

 million dollars a year. 



If you could realize the value of the Experi- 

 mental Station work to this large and rapidly 

 expanding Industry, you would, we are sure, 

 cast your vote in the Senate committee to re- 

 port out the full asking, $35,000. 

 Very truly yours, 

 FIX)BISTS' PUBLISHING CO. 



Chicago, May 22. 



HAIL BREAKS LATHS. 



On the afternoon of May 8 the most 

 terrific hail storm ever known in Okla- 

 homa struck the establishment of the 



adjoining the greenhouses roofed over 

 with laths nailed on rafters and sup- 

 ported on posts eight feet high. One of 

 the pictures shows what the hail did to 

 the laths. It is estimated that 3,000 laths 

 in this roof were broken. This lath 

 structure is used for summer stock, and 

 was vacant at the time. 



COMPOST FOR BEDDING PLANTS. 



"Will you please tell us about our soil 

 for next winter's use? "We grow gera- 

 niums, heliotropes, tomatoes, pansies, ver- 

 benas, asters and all kinds of annuals in 

 boxes for spring sale, and we want to 

 make up a compost that will do for all 

 these plants. We have now to start with 

 a heap of sod taken from clay soil one 

 year ago. We can get plenty of muck 

 taken from swamps, which, of course, is 

 light when dry. This year our soil was 

 decidedly clayey and our plants have not 

 done well. The geranium foliage has 

 turned red and we think it must be be- 

 cause of the soil. M. & S. 



Lath Roof of the Stiles Co., Hit by Hail. 



the House reduced this to $15,000, offer- 

 ing as the necessity therefor the fact 

 that the total of appropriations asked 

 was nearly twice what the revenue of the 

 state is expected to be in the next two 

 years. Therefore, it was argued, the ap- 

 propriation was reduced no more than 

 the average reduction of all askings. 



W. N. Rudd and George Asmus spent 

 May 20 at Springfield in an endeavor to 

 get the Senate committee to deal more 

 liberally with floricultural interests. On 

 the evening of May 21 there was a meet- 

 ing of a few of the craft at the Union 

 restaurant, Chicago, and plans were made 

 for further impressing the Senate com- 

 mittee with the necessity for this appro- 

 priation. The State Senate will act 

 within the current week, but as yet no 

 information is to be had as to what the 

 Senate committee on appropriations will 

 recommend and the conditions are such 

 that many other interests are receiving 

 much less than floriculture is reasonably 

 sure of. 



Last week Peter Reinberg wrote each 

 member of the committee as follows : 



Dear Sir: The maintalnaiice and extension of 

 the work in Floriculture at the Experimental 

 Station is of vital importance. The State has 

 never made but one appropriation for this great 

 industry and this appropriation was only one 

 half what was asked and was essential to put 

 this new department on Its feet. 



I trust that you will see that the present 

 asking for Floriculture is allowed and that no 

 cut is made from the authorized estimate of 

 $35,000. Yours very truly, 



I'ETEK KEINBEHG. 



Chicago, May 21. 



The Review addressed the following 

 letter to the chairman and members of 

 the Senate committee on appropriations: 



Since word went out that the House cut the 

 appropriation for Floriculture from $35,000 to 

 $15,000 we have been hearing from our sub- 

 scribers all over the State. They urge us to 

 '•do something about It." 



We expect next year's United States census 

 to show the value of florists' products in 1111- 



Stiles Co., at Oklahoma City. The ac- 

 companying illustrations will give some 

 idea of the result. It will be noted that 

 the glass in the sashbars was taken out 

 almost as cleanly as if done by hand. In 

 the greenhouses of the Stiles Co. there 

 were about 14,000 square feet of glass, 

 and diligent search failed to reveal more 

 than a dozen panes unbroken, except in 

 the partition walls, after the storm. So 

 heavy was the hail that many of the 

 pieces of ice not only broke the glass, but 

 also broke the flower pots which they 

 struck after passing through the glass. 



The Stiles Co. had a part of its field 



There is no great amount of virtue in 

 swamp muck by itself. It requires lay- 

 ing out for a year and sweetening before 

 being used for compost. "When dug it is 

 sour and if mixed with other soils right 

 away unsatisfactory plants will be the 

 result. I would advise you to mix one- 

 fourth well decayed cow or horse manure 

 with your clayey loam and stack up in a 

 pile. You can place the manure in lay- 

 ers, later turning it over. There is no 

 good reason why a clay loam should not 

 grow excellent geraniums. For young 

 stock I would add some leaf-mold at 

 potting time, also some sharp sand. The 

 same will lighten the compost nicely for 

 other bedding stock. Spent hotbed ma- 

 nure is excellent for mixing in your 

 heavy soil for bedding plants. Some of 

 these latter will do better if you use at 

 least one-half such a compost, while the 

 tomatoes like a fairly stiff loam and the 

 addition of cow manure would be all they 

 required. 



Fall is a good time to prepare a large 

 compost pile, chopping and mixing over 

 the same in spring. For bedding stock, 

 if the sod is fibrous, the pile will be 

 better if kept till the second year, but 

 for tomatoes it can be used the following 

 spring or summer. Keep weeds pulled 

 out of the compost pile, as they soon 

 largely exhaust it. C. W. 



Work of Hail at Establishmeot of the Stiles Co., Oklahoma City. 



