24 



The Florists' Review 



Maech 6, 1913. 



daries and keep the center of the lawn 

 open. If the lawn is large, a small speci- 

 men tree or shrub or two may be planted, 

 but they must be nearer to one side — 

 never in the center. 



The line where the foundation of the 

 house meets the lawn is ugly, so we get 



Eule No. 3. — Plant shrubs around the 

 foundation of the house and especially 

 around the porch, both to conceal the 

 ugly space underneath and also to afford 

 a feeling of protection. 



Rule No. 4. — Frequently conditions in 

 th^i,, t>«ckyard are wjsightly; therefore 

 plant a sdreiSn of tall shrubs across from 

 the back of the house to the boundary 

 fence to conceal such things. Of course 

 this screen is to be as far back from the 

 street as possible. 



Rule No. 5. — Do not plant in straight 

 lines. Use shrubs of varying sizes and 

 heights and plant so the line is irregular. 



Rule No. 6. — Mass your shrubs. That 

 is, do not dot them around, but plant all 

 of one kind together. 



Rule No. 7. — Do not plant clipped for- 

 mal hedges for our climate. It is very 

 difficult to make them do well here. If, 

 after years of work, a plant dies out, the 

 whole thing is ruined and they take an 

 immense amount of care to keep them in 

 proper condition. Finally, even when in 

 perfect condition they are formal and 

 ugly and a good honest wire fence, cov- 

 ered with Virginia creeper and other 

 vines, has the advantage from every point 

 of view. 



The Places For Flowers. 



AVe now have the backbone of our work 

 •done and the places for planting flowers 

 Will suggest themselves. The big, the 

 Bhowy, and the brilliant colored things, we 

 will get well to the back. The cannas 

 and hollyhocks will make a gorgeous show 

 ipl&nted in front of the screen at the rear. 

 The little bays in our undulating border 

 will be .iust "the place for geraniums or 

 other plants in long irregular beds. 

 Clumps of the earlier hardy bulbs, as 

 squills, snowdrops and the like, may be 

 planted under the edges of the overhang- 

 ing shrubbery, to remain permanently. 

 The smaller and more delicate flowers, 

 which must be seen at close range, will 

 naturally be planted near the front. 

 Sweet scented blossoming plants should 

 be near the windows and the porch. 



Great care must be taken not to plant 

 discordant or clashing colors together, 

 and a red or brightly colored house re- 

 quires discrimination in selecting the col- 

 ors to be planted closely to it. 



Time permits here only the crudest and 

 briefest hints, but there are numberless 

 books and magazines dealing with the 

 subject very fully — to be sure, there is 

 an immense lot of rubbishy nonsense be- 

 ing published also. Many publishers ap- 

 pear to think that a flashy literary style 

 is all-important and real knowledge of 

 the subject an entirely secondary matter. 



If space available permits, some well 

 grown shrubs, or small trees on the flo- 

 rist 's grounds will not only be orna- 

 mental, but will make excellent selling 

 samples. Unless conditions are unusual 

 it will probably not be advisable to at- 

 tempt to propagate or grow on, shrub 

 stock, as it can be bought very cheaply 

 as wanted from the nurseries. 



In cenclusion, let me earnestly urge 

 every florist in the class mentioned to 

 look into this matter and try it. I am 

 sure that the profit and the pleasure de- 

 rived will both be great. 



FLORICULTUBE AT URBANA. 



[A synopsis of a paper by H. B. Dorner, read 

 at the convention of tlie Illinois State Florists' 

 Association at Peoria, March 6, 1913, descriptive 

 of the florlcultural worlt at the University of 

 Illinois.] 



During the last year G. L. Peltier suc- 

 ceeded H. W. Anderson as pathologist, 

 and r. W. Muncie was appointed physio- 

 logical chemist. The staff now numbers 

 , flye. The equipment was variously added 

 to. 



At a meeting of the advisory board, 

 heW yU; spring, it was decided to con- 

 tinue, tfcr another year, the Experiments 

 on commercial fertilizers with roses and 

 carnations and on the stem-rot of carna- 

 tions. The experiments on the growing 

 of roses with chemical fertilizers and the 

 testing of own-root and grafted stock 

 are a continuation of the work of the last 

 two years. The results, up to date, bid 

 fair to verify the conclusions of last 

 year. Without doubt, the results of these 

 experiments will be of great value to all 

 florists growing roses. 



The experiments on carnations are a 

 continuation of the comparison of com- 

 mercial and natural manures and on over- 

 feeding with nitrogen, potassium and 

 phosphorous. This work also promises 

 very gratifying results. 



The results on the experiments on com- 

 mercial fertilizers with carnations, which 

 were completed last year, are now await- 

 ing the verification of this year 's work 

 so that they may be published in full. 



The first year's work on stem-rot was 

 a study of the life history of the fungus 

 that causes the disease. The work of this 

 year has been a further study of the ac- 

 tion of the organism and preliminary 

 experiments on its control. 



While the work of the coming year has 

 not, as yet, been decided upon by your 

 committee, the following lines will be pre- 

 sented for their approval : 



It is proposed that the work with roses 

 be continued along the lines of soil fer- 

 tility, on both own-root and grafted 

 plants. 



The work on carnations, as planned, 

 contemplates further work on the effects 

 of overfeeding and measures to overcome 

 it, on the study of the limiting element 

 in feeding and on the chemical constitu- 

 ents of the plant and their relation to 

 feeding. 



The study of stem-rot of carnations is 

 to be continued and methods for its pre- 

 vention and control will be worked out. 

 An entire house will be devoted to path- 

 ological work. 



It is also proposed to carry on some 

 work with chrysanthemums along the line 

 of feeding to determine the kinds and 

 amounts of fertilizer required and when 

 they should be applied. 



A study of the effects of overwatering 

 and overfeeding of various pot plants is 

 also proposed. A study of this kind will 

 assist the florist in diagnosing such cases 

 without difficulty. 



Two circulars have been issued. A 22- 

 page circular on the experiments on car- 

 nations and roses and a 16-page circular 

 on the instructional work were printed in 

 time for distribution at the Chicago meet- 

 ing of the S. A. F. More complete cir- 

 culars will be issued as soon as this year 's 

 work is completed and the results can be 

 compiled and verified. 



Many requests have been received from 

 florists and amateurs concerning plant 

 troubles. These have all been given close 

 attention and the growers have received 

 all the help possible. The results of this 

 work have been gratifying. The reports 

 show that in many cases the help given 



has been the cause of the saving of thou- 

 sands of dollars. It is hoped that more 

 florists will avail themselves of the oppor- 

 tunity and allow your workers at the sta- 

 tion to be of service to them. All queries 

 and material sent to the Division of Flori- 

 culture will receive prompt attention. 



Eight students are now registered for 

 the four-year course in floriculture. The 

 completion of the new houses will add 

 greatly to the facilities of the division 

 and make it possible to give the students 

 considerable work along practical lines. 



As stated in a previous report, the re- 

 vision of the campus necessitates jibe re- 

 moval of the greenhouses to a new loca- 

 tion on the east side of the campus. The 

 new houses that were provided for in the 

 appropriations of two years ago are being 

 built upon the new site and are nearing 

 completion. The plans are to move the 

 old range this coming summer. 



The new range consists of two houses, 

 35x105 and a curvilinear palm house 40 

 x80 feet. These, with the addition of 

 another house 35x105 feet, to be built this 

 summer, and the old houses to be moved, 

 cover an area of 27,700 square feet. The 

 new houses are all of iron frame con- 

 struction. The contract has also been let 

 for a new service building, 35x95 feet, 

 two stories high. In this will be located 

 the work rooms, storage rooms, labora- 

 tories, class room and offices. 



EXPERIMENTS ON STEM-ROT. 



[Extracts from a paper by G. L. Peltier, of 

 the University of Illinois, read before the Illi- 

 nois State Florists' Association at Peoria, March 

 C, 1913.] 



Following the plan of last year, most 

 of our attention has been confined to 

 one disease, namely, wet stem-rot of 

 carnation. A number of strains of 

 Rhizoctonia from various hosts, potato, 

 clover, corn, bean, carrots, thistle and 

 other vegetables, were obtained from 

 various sources. The object is to de- 

 termine Whether the strain of Rhizoc- 

 tonia from the carnation host alone, or 

 those from all other hosts, can produce 

 stem-rot of the carnation. If the first 

 statement proves to be the case, then 

 the matter of controlling stem-rot will 

 be simple, for it will be merely a ques- 

 tion of eliminating the diseased plants. 

 On the other hand,^ if other strains of 

 Rhizoctonia are able to attack the car- 

 nation it will be a difficult problem to 

 work out a means of control, for one 

 will never know when the plants w^ll 

 be attacked in the field. Further, the 

 soil brought into the greenhouse, if 

 taken from a field on which the hosts 

 named above have been grown, might 

 be infected with Rhizoctonia. This 

 question is of fundamental importance. 



Some Conclusions Reached. 



From observations in the carnation 

 field last summer the following con- 

 clusions, some of them no doubt being 

 well known, but which can probably 

 bear repeating, may be made: 



(1) When plants are put out in the 

 field in the spring they are liable to be 

 set too deep, which perhaps may bring 

 about some morphological difference in 

 the stem just at the surface of the 

 ground, causing the plant to become 

 more susceptible to stem-rot. Great care 

 should be exercised in planting the 

 plants just the required depth. This 

 should be done again when the plants 

 are taken into the house in the fall. 



(2) From data collected from diseased 

 plants in the field, a plant with a single 

 stem which breaks one to two inches 

 above the surface of the soil is much 



