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[SOVIET PLANT SCIENCE] Vygonka tsvetov [i.e. Flower Forcing]

Trespe, G.

Item #2588

Moscow: Selkhozgiz, 1937. 90, [2] pp.: ill. 19,5 × 13 cm. In original illustrated wrappers. Stains on covers and upper margin of last leaves, pages mostly clean and in good condition.

First and only edition. Illustrated with photographs depicting Soviet botanical experiments.

The edition presents how flowers were forced to increase their productivity and speed up their blooming rates in the 1930s. The deliberate manipulation of environmental conditions (light, temperature, soil nutrients) in greenhouses to force bulbs and plants to bloom out of season, especially for holidays like International Women’s Day. It reflects the broad Stalinist campaign
for the “conquest of nature” and the application of industrial, plan driven methods to all spheres of life, including science and agriculture. Thus, flowers were expected to become “shock workers” of agriculture. The work was composed by Soviet gardener Georgii Trespe (1868–1941) who had a significant impact on the MSU Botanical Garden. Trespe was born and studied
in Riga. For some time, he worked at commercial horticultural enterprises in the Baltics before moving to St. Petersburg in 1888. There, he became the head of a seed station and fruit nursery at the company ‘E. Immer and Son’ near the Catherine Park in Tsarskoye Selo. Under his leadership, the Immer enterprise produced colorful albums featuring plans for flower beds and parks, promoting the use of the firm plants for landscaping projects. Trespe was deeply interested in breeding new species. Trespe was invited to the position of a head gardener at the MSU Botanical Garden in 1900. In 1902, Trespe published the book “A Guide to Caring for Houseplants”, which included a substantial section dedicated to the design of flower beds. Through his efforts, the Botanical Garden established a permanent plant collection, with some species cultivated in greenhouses, and saw the installation of an alpine garden (rockery). In 1905, a greenhouse with steam heating and pools for growing tropical plants was constructed. In 1908, a Victoria amazonica (Victoria regia) bloomed, cultivated by Trespe in the new greenhouse. A book about it was published in 1925. In 1937, he published two books: “Flower Forcing” and “Landscaping of Buildings, Balconies, and Windows with Decorative and Climbing Plants”. In 1941, at the age of 73, he was arrested for his anti-Soviet agitation and passed away one month after his arrest.

In his book, Trespe provides a detailed account of the manipulations performed on flowers, shrubs, and herbaceous plants. He writes about etherization, warm baths, watering with warm water, steam treatment, fumigation with smoke, prechilling in a refrigerator (prior to forcing), dissection and preparatory cultivation of hyacinth bulbs, bud wounding, fertilizing forced plants with pre-formed flower buds. Also, the book includes two chapters “Photoperiodism” and “Electric Light Culture, and Carbon Dioxide Fertilization” written by Nikolai Krasinskii.
The co-author, Nikolai Krasinsky (1896–1957) was a Soviet Doctor of Biological Sciences. He graduated from the Moscow State University (MSU) in 1919. He worked at the Department of Plant Physiology at MSU until 1935, later serving as the head of the Department of Plant Physiology at the Gorky State University until 1953.

Worldcat doesn’t track this edition.

Price: $450.00