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Februaky 16, 1911. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



11 



rUBUC WORK FOR FLORICULUJRE in ILLINOIS 



FERTILIZER EXPERIMENTS. 



Work at the florists' experimental 

 greenhouses has been continued during 

 the year under the direction of the ad- 

 visory committee and bids fair to give 

 some interesting results. As a whole, 

 the work is progressing nicely and an 

 inspection of the houses will, we think, 

 show the plants in the experimental 

 plats in better condition than ever be- 

 fore. The work, as carried on, is quite a 

 large undertaking and keeps those con- 

 nected with it busy looking after the 

 many details. Much of the success of 

 the season's work is due to the watch- 

 fulness and careful attention to details 

 given by Mr. Nehrling. 



The work of the year is divided into 

 three experiments, one on carnations 

 and two on roses. The completion of 

 the new houses last winter made it 

 possible to take up these lines of work 

 on roses. 



The Carnation Experiment. 



The work in carnations is a con- 

 tinuation, or rather a duplication, of 

 the work of the past year. This dupli- 

 cation is necessary in order to check 

 up the work of the past year. At least 

 another year will be necessary before 

 final conclusions can be drawn. The 

 work has given a mass of data which 

 will require several months' hard work 

 to put it into such shape as to give the 

 greatest value. As a result of the past 

 season's work, records were taken on 

 47,729 carnations, representing the cut 

 of six months, beginning with Novem- 

 ber and ending May 1. During the last 

 three months records have been taken 

 on 17,092 flowers. 



The object of the experiment is to 

 determine whether just as good and as 

 many flowers can be grown by using 

 a small amount of manure supplemented 

 by commercial fertilizers as when large 

 quantities of manure are used. It is 

 also desired to determine in what pro- 

 portion the three elements, nitrogen, 

 phosphorus and potassium, should be 

 applied. If, of course, better flowers 

 can be grown with the aid of commer- 

 cial fertilizers, this only proves our 

 point. 



It must be kept in mind that all natu- 

 ral manure cannot be dispensed with 

 without injury to the soil and crops. 

 Much of the nutritive substances in the 

 soil are only made available by the bac- 

 teria present in the soil. The humus 

 or decaying vegetable matter — and it is 

 for this that natural manure is used in 

 the experiment — furnishes the food and 

 the medium in which these bacteria 

 grow. So, to get the best results, ma- 

 nure should not be discarded altogether, 

 but the quantity should be much 

 reduced. 



During the season of 1909-10 four 

 varieties of carnations. White Perfec- 

 tion, Beacon, Enchantress and Winsor, 

 were selected as being representative 

 types upon which to experiment; 678 

 plants of each were used and each va- 

 riety represented a complete experi- 

 ment. 



From the first year's work it was 

 decided that the best commercial fer- 



A statement of the work for floriculture at 

 the Illinois State Experiment Station In the last 

 year, by H. B. Dorner, who Is in charge. 



tilizers to use are dried blood for nitro- 

 gen, with ammonium sulphate as a good 

 second, acid phosphate for the phos- 

 phorus and potassium sulphate for po- 

 tassium. The units of application se- 

 lected are: 



Dried blood, 2 lbs. per 100 sq. ft. bencii, Ti 

 In. deep. 



Am. sulphate, 1% lbs. per 100 sq. ft. 



Acid phosphate, % lb. per 100 sq. ft. 



Potassium sulphate, ]/i lb. per 100 8(i. ft. 



Manure, 115 lbs., or about 3% bu., per 100 

 sq. ft. 



The standard, then, contained amounts 

 of dried blood, acid phosphate and po- 

 tassium sulphate at the rates above 

 mentioned. The control or check sec- 

 tions contained an equal amount of 

 manure, but no commercial fertilizers. 

 These fertilizers in the other sections 

 were doubled and quadrupled singly, in 

 pairs and all together. This, then, gave 

 combinations of various amounts for 

 the study of the quantity of each 

 necessary. 



Complete records of the cut from No- 

 vember 1 to May 1 were kept, and a 

 study of these is of great interest. 



CUT BY MONTHS. 



Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. 



W. Perfection 1276 3086 1736 1120 1108 3183 



Beacon 772 1986 2542 3167 2428 3317 



Enchantress 402 1809 1937 1873 2080 3172 



Winsor \ 185 1107 1883 2219 2105 3426 



CUT FOR SIX MONTHS. ^ « 



V a o'o, 

 beta _ m 

 OS'S •" 



J/ ^ ti ^ S 



Total. 0. K. split. Spllt.< o. a a 



W. Perfection.. 11,510 9,583 597 1330 15.0 Dec. 



Beacon 14,047 11,872 554 1621 18.3 Feb. 



Enchantress 11,247 10,160 235 852 14.6 Jan. 



Winsor 10,925 10,416 129 380 14.2 Jan. 



By half splits are meant those whose 

 calyx is partly split, but not enough to 

 allow the petals to fall down. In regu- 

 lar grading they would be classed 

 among the firsts. 



During the present season the follow- 

 ing cut has been made: 



Nov. Dec. Jan. Total. Gain. 



W. Perfection... 940 1062 1227 .•?829 —2269 



Beacon 1715 1491 1240 4446 —854 



Enchantress 1452 1962 1493 4907 -f750 



It will be noticed from this table 

 that Winsor has been omitted. Owing 

 to the fact that stem-rot developed 

 badly, it was discarded and White En- 

 chantress was used in its place. With 

 this change in the variety it was de- 

 cided to make a variation in the experi- 

 ment. . Accordingly half of this variety 

 is being grown with commercial fer- 

 tilizers and the other with natural 

 manure and liquid manures made from 

 it. The amount of dried blood, acid 

 phosphate and potassium sulphate ap- 

 plied was twice that of the unit sec- 

 tions in the other experiment. 



The following table shows the cut 

 to date: 



Nov. Dec. Jan. Total. 



With commercial fer- 

 tilizers 468 743 420 1631 



With natural ma- 

 nures 461 791 4:i9 1691 



This shows a slight increase in the 

 natural manure, but the present condi- 

 tion of the plants shows that there will 

 be more flowers in the commercial fer- 

 tilizers during the next two months. 



The experimental work in carnations 

 will, no doubt, show conclusively that 

 equally good carnations can be grown 

 with the use of commercial fertilizers 

 in conjunction with a small quantity of 

 natural manure as with nothing but 

 the natural manure. 



The quantity to be used, however, 

 will of necessity have to be varied to 

 &uit the soil of each establishment. This 

 quantity will have to be determined by 

 experimentation. It must be borne in 

 mind that commercial fertilizers are 

 more concentrated than natural ma- 

 nures and so must be used with caution. 

 An injudicious use of these concen- 

 trated fertilizers will be followed by 

 greater disaster than in the use of natu- 

 ral manures. In taking up such a line 

 of work, the following applications may 

 be taken as the basis of the work and 

 be considered safe for the average soil: 



Dried blood, 2 to 4 lbs. per 100 sq. ft. bench, 

 r> in. deep. 



Sodium nitrate, 2 to 4 lbs. per 100 sq. ft. 



Ammonium sulphate, P/i to 3 lbs. per 100 

 sq. ft. 



Acid phosphate, % to 1 lb. per 100 sq. ft. 



Potassium sulphate, % to 1 lb. per 100 sq. ft. 

 /Manure should be applied at rate of about 3 

 to 4 bu. per 100 sq. ft. 



Any help desired in planning such an 



experiment will be glady given to any 



Illinois florist desiring it. 



The Rose Experiments. 



In taking up the work on roses it 

 was decided to establish two lines 

 which could be carried on at the same 

 time; namely, fertilizer work such as 

 was being carried on with carnations, 

 and a test of grafted versus own-root 

 stock. 



As roses are considered heavier feed- 

 ers than carnations, it was decided to 

 use as a unit twice the amount used as 

 the unit in the carnations. Otherwise 

 the proportions are the same. For this 

 work Bride and Killarney were se- 

 lected, as representing two types of 

 roses. Under the treatment given them 

 the Brides have responded well and bid 

 fair to give some splendid results. The 

 Killarneys have not developed quite so 

 well. 



Where nitrogen has been applied in 

 large doses the foliage is now taking 

 on a yellowish color and shows over- 

 feeding. Those sections with smaller 

 amounts have a much better color and 

 growth. 



Grafted and Own-Root. 



In the study of the grafted and own- 

 root stock it has been found that the 

 grafted plants made a more rapid 

 growth in the beginning, which in 

 nearly all cases has been maintained to 

 the present, although the differences 

 are becoming much less marked. 



A study of the number of roses cut, 



not considering the grade, shows: 



Own Dlffer- 



Grafted. root. ence. 



Bride 3019 2596 423 



Killarney 2864 2503 361 



While every attempt has been made 

 to have these notes concerning the 

 work accurate, they are at best tenta- 

 tive. It is only when all the notes 

 have been thoroughly studied that com- 

 plete results can be given. 



Again let me repeat that the price of 

 success in use of commercial fertilizers 

 is care in the quantity used. 



Peoria, m. — F. Nicholas has returned 

 to this city and is said to have pur- 

 chased the Art Florist stand, at the 

 Fey hotel. Mr. Nicholas was formerly 

 manager of this stand, before Robert 

 Lowenberg took charge of it. 



