TheWeddy Florists' Review. 



13 



Gladiolus Bulbs Inoculated March 10, Photographed Three Weeks Later. 



er. They were all in bloom in time for 

 Easter, just taking, you see, from four 

 weeks to a month from the time of first 

 showing bu(J. 



Who Gets the Money ? 



One of the most important "points in 

 growing a lily is the selling of it. I 

 think I am speaking advisedly when I 

 say it does not pay to grow lilies to sell 

 at 10 cents. Now don't misunderstand 

 me on this point; I did not mean that 

 a lily cannot be grown and sold at 10 

 cents per bud and not yield sufficient 

 margin for the grower to pay his debts, 

 but that is all it will yield; it will give 

 the grower no real profit ; that is, no such 

 profit as will in any way reward him for 

 his risk, trouble and anxiety. 



Bight at this point I cannot refrain 

 from wondering if we are conducting 

 our business in as wise a manner as we 

 should. Are we, not just stumbling along 

 in the dark? 



Every year, as long as I can remember, 

 I have heard the report that lilies were 

 going to be scarce, but without any real 

 foundation. No one knows how many 

 Ulies it takes to fill the requirements of 

 the city of Philadelphia. Don't you 

 think we should know? If we only knew, 

 or had a way of finding out, we would 

 commence to be on a business basis; we 

 would then be in a position to regulate 

 prices. I have thought that a Florists' 

 Board of Trade might be a benefit, with 

 committees to look after the different 

 branches of the trade. The committee on 

 Ulies would get reports from all the seed 

 houses and know just how many bulbs 

 were in the growers' hands, or get the 

 report direct from the growers, with 

 monthly reports as to progress, condition 

 and number ^expected to be put on the 

 market, in much the same way as the 

 government gets its agricultural reports, 



I believe if we all were to cut down 

 the lilies grown twenty-five per cent, try 

 to grow better lilies, and get a better 

 price, it would be a move in the right 

 direction. 



There is one thing sure; none of us 

 makes enough money. "We have the most 

 anxious, worrisome business in the world ; 

 everything we buy costs more, and still 

 more, but every time we get our returns 

 we find them less. 



Wholesalers Earn Theirs. 



The only ones I see making any money 

 on flowers are the street fakers and the 

 commission men, yet 1 think the commis- 

 sion man deserves all he gets. Without 

 these hustling and enterprising business 

 men, who are ever advertising to find an 

 outlet for our goods, 1 fear often our 

 business would be in a bad way. 



Two-thirds of the time the flower mar- 

 ket is glutted, prices demoralized and the 

 growers building more houses to throw 

 more stuff upon the market, to compete 

 with themselves. Would it not be ad- 

 visable to call a halt, to let every grower 

 who has more than 10,000 feet of glass 

 pledge himself not to build any more 

 for five years, until the market catches 

 up with the supply? Almost every week 

 during the season we read in the trade 

 papers of carnations, roses, violets or 

 Ulies being a glut on the market. Let us 

 work for prosperity and better prices — 

 not for the street fakers. 



Lilies, to afford the grower a proper 

 profit, should bring 15 cents per flower. 

 We hkve been too much in the habit of 

 rubbing shoulders with poverty. Let us 

 put ourselves upon an equality with other 

 professions and get more of the sweets 

 of life and not so much of the bitter. 



GLADIOLUS BULB ROTS. 



Co-operative Experiments, 



During the last season many letters of 

 inquiry have come to the Department of 

 Plant Pathology asking for information 

 concerning diseases of gladioli. Many, 

 growers are anxious to know how to con- 

 trol or prevent the rot which affects the 

 corms, and which is now alarmingly prev- 

 alent, in some cases causing serious loss. 

 During the season of 1908 and 1909 the 

 writer undertook an investigation of 

 these diseases and succeeded, after some 

 diflSculty, in locating the organisms re- 

 sponsible for several types of disease. 

 Prom quite similar types of rot, three 

 different fungi have been isolated, grown 

 in pure culture, and the diseases repro- 

 duced artificially by inoculation. With 

 two of these the inoculation experiments 

 of last season have been repeated within 

 the last month and the results seem con- 

 clusive. The inoculated corms have, in 

 every case, developed the rot in less than 

 two weeks, while the check corms re- 

 mained perfectly sound. I have now, 

 therefore, no doubt that the fungi which 

 we have located are the cause of the dis- 

 eases. A full description of these dis- 

 eases and the associated fungi wiU ap- 

 pear later in a bulletin of the Cornell 

 Experiment Station. A brief description, 

 with some notes, is given in the Rural 

 New Yorker, March 19, 1910. 



Unfortunately we are as yet unable to 

 give any definite information as to meth- 

 ods of control, and have not the time at 

 our disposal necessary to personally con- 

 duct experiments along this line. Know- 

 ing this, one or two growers have gen- 

 erously volunteered to carry out some 

 cooperative experiments. In accordance 

 with this suggestion, I have prepared a 

 plan for such field and harvesting experi- 

 ments as we tjiink most promising, judg- 

 ing by what /ive , have learned of the na- 

 ture and ca,ti8e of these diseases. This 

 plan is subftiitted below, for the benefit 

 of growers/who might be interested. We 

 shall be g;ad to have as many as possible 

 test out any or all of the points here 

 mentioned and report results to us. The 

 larger the number who can duplicate 

 these experiments, the more reliable will 

 be the conclusions to be drawn there- 

 from. 



Judging from what we now know con- 

 cerning the fungi causing these diseases, 

 it does not seem probable that any meth- 



Check Gladiolus Bulbs, Not Inoculated. 



i ki ■ 



