Evening star., 1950-03-19

the ones they wanted. The 10
new varieties were in 800 that
were saved. The remaining 200
are still under trial.
The 10 best were chosen for ex-
tensive trials. Here. the flower
breeders turn to the experiment
station people and the trade.
Members of the cooperating asso-
Citations are assigned by their
leaders to take part. They agree
to give the new flowers a thorough
testing. This makes it possible for
each selection to get tryout in
as many as 100 locations from
coast to coast.
Their names? One of them Is
the Yerkes. for the plant breeder
who began the project. Another
is the Hume, for another we'll
known plant breeder-Dr. H. H.
Hume of the University of Florida.
The others are Polar Bear, Pink
Profusion, Rose Banner, White
Banner, Rose Glory, Majestic
Pink, Snowhite and White Perfec-
tion.
Other new varieties will be COM
ing along from the remaining 200
seedlings as further trials are run
Exhibit Contoins Lilies
i The exhibit from Beltsville con-
tains all of the Easter lily varieties
for which bulbs are now produced
commercially in the United States
Agriculture Department scient-
lists began researc h on Easter lilies
more than Is years ago. At that
time DR.. David Griffiths set up
experiments at Arlington Farms
in Virginia to demonstrate that
lilies of good quality could be
grown in the United States. But
it wasn't until World War
II that production of lily bulbs
became commercial indus
try. Until Pearl Harbor most
American growers bought their
pulDS from Japan.
Department research on Easter
lilies Is designed to improve pres
ent varieties. At the plant in
dustry station the scientists are
testing all available Easter lily
varieties. They inter-cross and
self-pollinate and grow thousands
Of seedlings to evaluate their pos
sible. use.
Plant Hormones Used
They have overcome difficulties
in obtaining seed from hybridiza-
ton by applying one of the plant
hormones, naphthalene acetamide
to the base of the lily flower at
the time of pollination.
They have been able to use an
other relatively new plant-breed-
ing technique-treatment of the
scales with the poisonous drug
colchicine-to create lilies with
larger. stronger flowers, and
sturdier, more vigorous plants
than any now grown.
These are tetraploid lilies. Tet-
raploid describes the number OF
chromosomes in all the cells of a
plant. Chromosomes are small
rod-shaped bodies, which carry the
hereditary characters and trans
NIT them from one generation to
the next.
The flowers Of the new tetra-
ploid lilies are from one-half to
two-thirds larger than normal
lilies. The petals are about twice
as thick.
DR.. Emsweller has made dozen
or so varieties of Easter lilies
into tetraploids. He hopes to have
them ready for distribution to
growers within a few years.
Forcing the lilies into bloom for
Easter Sunday has always been a
problem. The date may vary as
much as five weeks in different
years. This means the florist
must plan carefully to obtain flow
ering at the right time.
Research at Beltsville shows
that the date of blooming is closely
related to the time and tempera-
lures the bulbs are kept in storage
before planting. For example,
bulbs stored for six weeks at As
degrees F. bloom in about ITO to
! 120 days. Those stored at 81 de-
grees F. require about 125 days
to come into flower. but they pro-
duce more flowers than those
stored at higher temperatures.
Bulbs packed in peat or some other
moist material do better than
those that are permitted to dry
out during storage. They should
be held at 81 or 80 degrees r.,
however, or they will produce root
growth during storage.
Gorden Lilies Studied
Garden lilies, including the Ma
donna lily, Speciosum and Japa-
lnese Auratum are also under study
at Beltsville. Some Of the out
standing varieties and new strains
are shown In the exhibit. DR..
Emsweller and his colleagues are
making crosses to get more hardy