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Febhuary 17, 1910. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



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ILLINOIS STATE 

 FLORISTS' ASSOCIATION 



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OFFICERS ELECTED. 



President — C. L. Washburn, Chicago. 

 Vice-president— C. Loveridge, Peoria. 

 Secretary — J. F. Ammannt Edwardsville. 

 I'reasurer— F, L. Washburn, Bloomingtoo. 



Possibly the most important result of 

 1 he meeting of the Illinois State Florists ' 

 Association, that thriving little body of 

 (irairie state enthusiasts, at Champaign- 

 (frbana this week, was the adoption of 

 resolutions calling upon the authorities 

 of the great university with which the 

 florists now are so closely associated, to 

 L'onsider the landscape art in relation to 

 their broad campus. As "men build 

 jjrandly before they come to garden 

 finely," the higher art largely has been 

 neglected at the University of Illinois. 

 The deficiency long has been noted and 

 the possibilities commented on in private, 

 but it remained for the State Florists' 

 Association to start the movement for 

 l)etter things by the adoption of resolu- 

 tions offered by W. N. Rudd, after the 

 subject had been discussed at the an- 

 nual banquet. The university recently 

 has appointed a campus commission, for 

 the purpose of improving the appearance 

 of its great group of monumental build- 

 ings. But the commission is compose'] 

 entirely of architects; not a landscape 

 man among them! The Illinois State 

 Florists' Association asks that a compe- 

 tent landscape man be added to the com- 

 mission. 



The influence of the skillful landscape 

 treatment of the 1,200 acres of campus 

 will be of infinite value in inculcating an 

 appreciation of and love for gardening 

 in the 4,000 young people who are con- 

 stantly in residence at the university. 



Meet at Experiment Station. 



The object of meeting at Champaign- 

 Urbana was to afford the florists of the 

 state an opportunity to inspect the model 

 greenhouse plant which has been erected 

 at the university and the work for flori- 



culture that is being conducted there 

 under the direction of H. B. Dorner. 

 Phil Foley takes special pride in the 

 two houses that thus far have been built, 

 for they are up-to-date in every particu- 

 lar, not only the houses but the heating 

 plant and service building. The range 

 is commercial in character throughout, as 

 experimental work under any other con- 

 ditions would have little value to the 

 trade. The enterprise is solely in the 

 interest of the florists' business. At 

 present tests of chemical fertilizers for 

 carnation growing occupy most of the 

 space. It is yet much too early to pub- 

 lish results, but the members of the as- 

 sociation, most of whom grow carna- 

 tions, took much interest in examining 

 the test plots, for it is recognized that 

 before many y6ars some substitute for 

 animal manures must be found. Apart 

 from the floricultural experiment station 

 there is some interesting work in sweet 

 pea breeding in progress in one of the 

 old university greenhouses. 



Opening Session. 



The business sessions of the association 

 were held in a hall of the College of 

 Agriculture and were opened by an ad- 

 dress of welcome by Dr. Edmund J. 

 James, president of the University of 

 lUinois and an enthusiast in the work. 

 He spoke most interestingly for twenty- 

 five minutes, explaining the relationship 

 of the university and other public insti 

 tutions to the people of the state, sketch- 

 ing the growth of the university from 

 its inception as one of the first land- 

 grant colleges to its present enrollment 

 of over 5,000, counting all departments. 

 He told of the purposes of the university 

 and the education it imparts and said 

 that the functions of such a great center 

 of learning are not only to teach what is 

 known but to find out what is not known. 

 In the latter sphere agriculture offers an 

 almost virgin field, for there is as yet 

 little exact knowledge. For floriculture 

 the university will do its part, he said, 

 but its authorities rely for advice and 



assistance on the State Florists' Asso- 

 ciation, speaking through its advisory 

 board, and upon the craft at large to 

 know when it has made good in its work. 

 P. J. Foley responded for the asso- 

 ciation, speaking of the appreciation the 

 trade has of the efforts of the university 

 officials made in behalf of this new de- 

 partment, of the personal courtesy of the 

 men at the helm of affairs, and said the 

 association will push along in the hope 

 that some day Illinois will have the lead- 

 ing floricultural institution of the United 

 States. 



Reports of Officers. 



Secretary J. F. Ammann read his re- 

 port, in part as follows: 



' ' Your secretary begs to report a total 

 membership of 175, iSvided as follows: 

 Life members, 18; annual members, 153; 

 honorary members, 4. In the matter of 

 data on our industry I am sorry to re- 

 port slov/ progress. It seems there are 

 still a great many florists throughout the 

 state in a dormant condition, who need 

 forcing. For instance, out of 400 return 

 postals mailed, I received 125 answers, so 

 you see the percentage of dormant stock 

 is large. Some means should be devised 

 by which our membership would be ma- 

 terially increased. Present niembers who 

 are in arrears for dues should be urged 

 to pay up and take more interest. The 

 secretary has tried various means through 

 correspondence to accomplish results on 

 these lines, but so far has received little 

 encouragement for his work," 



Treasurer F. L. Washburn reported 



finances as follows: 



Balance $138.00 



Receipts 164.00 



1302.00 

 Expenditures 124.00 



Balance $178.00 



W. N. Rudd, secretary of the advisory 

 board, reported on the three meetings 

 held by that body during the year. He 

 said that the present greenhouse range 

 represents an investment of $18,650 and 

 that plans are on foot for additions to 

 glass and equipment. He reported briefly 

 on the work being done in the testing of 

 fertilizers and said : ' ' The reason for 

 taking up the study of fertilizers was 

 that it seemed to be the one subject of 

 greatest interest to the florists of the 

 state at large at the present time. The 

 reason for selecting the carnation for the 

 beginning of the experiments was that 

 in certain ways it was the most available 

 and desirable plant to begin with, and 

 that a good share of the results would 

 be almost equally applicable to other 



Copyright, International Stpreojfraph Co. 

 Members of the Illinois State Florists' Association at the University of Illinois, February 15, 1910. 



