r^'^r,;. 



20 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Mabch 21, 1912. 



STATE AID FOR 

 FLORICULTURE 



WOEK AT EXPERIMENT STATION. 



[A report by Prof. H. B. Dorner, of the experi- 

 ment station at Urbana, 111., read at the conven- 

 tion of the Illinois State Florists' Association at 

 JoUet. March 5, 1912.] 



As a representative of the University 

 of Illinois, I beg to present the follow- 

 ing report on the work being carried 

 on at the florists' experimental green- 

 houses at Urbana. This work is a con- 

 tinuation of that of the last two years 

 and is under the direction of your ad- 

 visory committee. 



Department Staff. 



During the last year it was thought 

 advisable to add a pathologist to the 

 staff of the department. As a result, 

 H. W. Anderson was appointed an as- 

 sistant in the department and is de- 

 voting his time to the study of the 

 diseases of floricultural crops. At the 

 present time he is studying the stem- 

 rot and other diseases of the carnation. 

 More will be said about this subject 

 later. 



The increase of work in the depart- 

 ment, in the instructional as well as 

 the experimental side, has made it nec- 

 essary to secure additional assistance 

 in the greenhouses. The services of 

 James Hutchinson, formerly of Pitts- 

 burgh, Pa., have been secured and he 

 is taking charge of the greenhouse and 

 outdoor work. 



As the instructional work has greatly 

 increased, it is necessary to devote more 

 time to it and so an attempt is being 

 made to secure a scientifically trained 

 man to assist in the experimental work. 



Instructional Work. 



During the last year sixty-eight stu- 

 dents received instruction in several of 

 the lines of work offered in floriculture. 

 During the present year ninety-one stu- 

 dents have enrolled for various lines of 

 work. It is hoped that this number 

 will increase from year to year. The 

 work offered will be much improved 

 when the new houses, for which money 

 was appropriated this past year, are 

 erected. 



New Qreenhouses. 



The new houses to be erected will 

 ■consist of show houses and will be con- 

 nected with the experimental range. It 

 is hoped that these houses will not 

 only aid in the instruction of students 

 intending to follow commercial work, 

 but will admit of the offering of courses 

 •of interest to students wishing to take 

 up work on private estates. 



The work on the construction of the 

 new houses has been delayed, owing to 

 the question of the future develop- 

 ■ment of the university campus. The 

 rearrangement of the campus and the 

 location of new buildings may make 

 it necessary to move the present experi- 

 mental houses. It is expected that this 

 will be decided soon and so will in no 

 way affect the experimental work. If 

 the houses are moved it will be to the 

 •opposite side of the campus, on a site 



much better fitted for the work than 

 that at present occupied. 



Expeilmental Work. 



The experimental work on fertilizers 

 has been caried on by Mr. Nehrling and 

 the writer. Mr. Nehrling for the last 

 two years has been in charge of the 

 greater portion of the experimental 

 work. The report on the following 

 work, then, is to be considered as a 

 joint report with Mr. Nehrling. 



Carnation Experiment. 



The experiment with commercial fer- 

 tilizers in the growing of carnations 

 may be divided into three sections. The 

 work in one house is a repetition of 

 the work carried on for the last two 

 years. This is a test of varying quan- 

 tities of manure. The second house, 

 this year, is being devoted to a com- 



The Kdltor is pleased 

 w^hen a Reader 

 presents his ideas 

 on any subject treated in 



tv«e^ 



As experience is the best 

 teacher, so do 'we 

 learn fastest by an 

 exchanee of experiences. 

 Many valuable points 

 arebroueht out 

 by discussion. 



Good penmanEhip, spelling and 

 grammar, though desirable, are not 

 necessary. Write as you would talk 

 when doinsr your best. 



WE 8HAIX BE GLAD 

 TO HEAR FROM TOU 



parison of carnations grown with nat- 

 ural manures and carnations grown with 

 commercial fertilizers. Part of the 

 house is also devoted to an experiment 

 to determine the effects of an excess 

 of fertilizer upon the plants. 



Varying Quantities of Fertilizer. 



The work in this part of the experi- 

 ment is a duplication of the work of 

 1909-10 and 1910-11. This duplication 

 is necessary, for in all experimental 

 work of this type it is necessary to 

 repeat the work for three or four 

 years before any definite conclusions 

 can be drawn. The report upon this 

 part of the work will be brief, as a 

 circular is now in preparation and it 



is hoped that it will be ready for distri- 

 bution this spring. 



During the season of 1909-10 records 

 were taken on 47,729 carnations, and 

 during 1910-11 on 42,425. This data 

 must be studied and many tables con- 

 structed for comparison. 



The Object. 



The object of the experiment is to 

 determine whether as good or better 

 carnations can be grown with the use 

 of commercial fertilizers instead of 

 natural manures. It must be kept in 

 mind that humus is necessary in all 

 soils for the best results, and so all 

 manure cannot be dispensed with un- 

 less the humus is applied in some other 

 form. This humus is necessary for the 

 development of the bacteria which help 

 to make available the nutritive sub- 

 stances in the soil. For the experiment 

 a small quantity of manure was used 

 to supply this necessary humus. 



By previous experiments it was de- 

 cided that the best commercial fertili- 

 zers to supply the needed elements were 

 dried blood and ammonium sulphate 

 for nitrogen, acid phosphate for phos- 

 phorus and potassium sulphate for po- 

 tassium. In the experiment these were 

 applied to all but the control sections, 

 in order to determine if possible in 

 what proportion they are best suited 

 to the carnation. 



For the experiment the following 



amounts of fertilizer were selected as 



units of application: 



Dried blood, 2 lbs. per 100 sq. ft. bench, soil 

 5 In. deep. 

 Am. sulphate, IV^ lbs. per 100 sq. ft. 

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

 Potassium sulphate, i^ lb. per 100 sq. ft. 

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



The standard application, then, in- 

 cluded these fertilizers at the rates 

 mentioned. Dried blood was used for 

 the nitrogen except in a few sections, 

 where ammonium sulphate was used in 

 its place. The control sections had 

 the same amount of manure, but no 

 commercial fertilizers. 



The commercial fertilizers in the 

 other sections were doubled and quad- 

 rupled singly, in pairs and all together. 

 This, then, gave combinations of vary- 

 ing amounts for the study of the quan- 

 tity of each necessary. 



The Cut. 



The varieties originally selected for 

 this work were White Perfection, Bea- 

 con, Enchantress and Winsor. Winsor 

 was discarded at the end of the second 

 year, on account of the excessive 

 amount of stem-rot. It was replaced 

 by White Enchantress, which does not 

 appear in the tables, as it was used 

 for the comparison of the commercial 

 fertilizers and natural manures. 



The following table shows the entire 

 cut by varieties for the two years and 

 also the average number of flowers per 

 plant. These "numbers are not as great 

 as they would be if all the plants were 

 under the best possible cultural con- 

 ditions. 



