Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-03-08

possibilities are chrysanthemum
show will be held in connection, the
flowers to be furnished from the eX-
perimental station at the Illinois uni
versity. Annual spring meeting will
take place in Urbana..
DR.. ". Z. Taylor OF Moline, who was
the main speaker last evening. while
he declared he had no more business
at florists banquet than a Ford at
an automobile show, apparently
knows a great deal more ;-bout fiori-
culture than his modesty would permit
him to acknowledge
The speaker paid his respects to the
men who have taken up the growing of
! flowers as a vocation, declaring that
it was profession ranking with that
/ of the lawyer or doctor. He told Of
the growth of the industry and stated
/ that if the Lord was kind 10 us ana uId
not send down any disaster upon us
that this would be one of the greatest
| floral countries in short time
BY study of the physiology and an
atomy of the plants and the mechan-
ism and chemistry of the soil, he de-
clared that the things which now are
as mysteries in the production of flow
ers will be revealed, as the skill OF
man has discovered in the past. Ma
ture, he said, has provided the ele-
ments which go into plant production
but he added that it was the skill OF
man that developed the rose and other
flowers to their present beauty.
In 1885, he DECLARED. there was not
a commercial florist in the country
According to the government reports
which dates back five years, he said
there are now 5000 establishments in
the United States, representing $751;
100000 in money The public invests
approximately S60,000,000 in flowers
= during a year, and it is estimated that
, 1856 ,000, 900 square feet of grass are re-
| CURED to cover the greenhouses thai
are in operation. and six and a hal
millions of dollars are paid out eacf
year lot employment
Educating the Public.
W. E. Fricker, in his talk OF
christmas and Easter Flowering an(
Foliage Plants" declared that tn,
public is gradually being educated tt
appreciate all the year round plant'
which were usually sold only a
Christmas and Easter time. 1t uset
to be, said the speaker, that red woult
be the predominating color at Christ
mas and that white held the stage a
Easter, but it is found that the peopl
are now using more varied colors il
their holiday decorations.
By proper craftsmanship and treat
ment Of the plants he predicted
= growing demand for such plants al
:. the year around. He urged agains
- forcing growth of plants, which i
= done in order to get supply of
), certain variety for a certain date
u This would not be necessary if sale
= of these varieties were pushed at othe
; seasons of the year
H. B. Dorner, assistant professo
of Horticulture at the University {
Illinois, told of some of the things th
y division of Horticulture is doing. wv
have % students at the experiment.
- station who are taking gradual
D." courses in Horticulture. Seven wi
" graduate this coming June and the
- they will go out and put into practit
~ what they have been taught at Il
~ university We don't expect them I
~ be florists when they leave the schoo
- but we aim to give them a foundatio
- on which to build. Commercial flo
lists who hire them should not expe
ie too much of them, and | will ask tn;
: you be lenient with any student of II
u university you may have in your en-
&c ploy."
He urged that the growers give Il
research men at the station their a
lg sistance by advising them of al
Id troubles in growing, so that exper