u 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



young stock during this ckai 

 weather should have a dusting of sul- 

 phur onc<> a week. This should be ap- 

 plied during bright weather, wlien the 

 foliage is dry, and the houses should 



he closed for some ti so thai 1he 



fumes may not. be dissipated H there is 

 any necessity for firing il i- well to take 

 full advantage of it. and paint the 

 pipes with the sulphur mixture. 



Rjbes. 



SOCIETY OF AMERICAN FLORISTS. 

 All the transportation lines repre- 

 sented in the Western. Central, Trunk 

 Line and Southeastern l'a— enuci A'--" 

 eiations have now announced the spe- 

 cial rates for the S. A. F. convention at 

 Milwaukee August 18-21. The New 

 Kngland lines only remain to he heard 

 from, and there is no doubt that they 

 will co-operate in the rate agreed upon. 



which is one and one-third fare on the 

 certificate plan. 



It' now becomes the duty of state vice 

 presidents and all others interested in 

 seeing a record-breaking meeting at 

 Milwaukee to get to work and organize 

 s.i a* tn gel out a creditable representa- 

 tion from their respective districts. 



Local agent- of the railroads over 

 which parties will travel will be glad 

 In lend active assistance by sending out 



tc 



am of the con- 

 nt out early in 

 lirections as to 



certificates. In the meantimi 

 quiries addressed to the secret 

 fiee will be promptly answerec 

 available information regarding 

 partment of the convention' 

 cheerfully furnished. 



W.u. J. Stewart, See 



MISCELLANEOUS 

 SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Solid Beds Versus Benches. 



In a short time repairing and build- 

 ing benches will be the occupation of 

 many florists. Luckj i- the man whose 

 style of house allows him to have his 

 beds on the ground or near it. Mr. 

 Baur, under the head of "Carnation 

 \ni,.-." has written some very sensible 

 articles about solid beds for carnations; 

 and if I repeat in some degree what 

 he has already said I must, ask yotl to 

 excuse me. 



Except for bedding plants and small 

 plants in pots, the days oi raised 

 wooden benches are, I believe, num- 

 bered. Where houses are built, say, 19 

 to 22 feet wide, with wooden walls 

 five feet high and the pipes beneath (In- 

 side benches, you could not do without 

 the raised bench unless it were in the 

 center of the house, and the old style 

 of long span to the south will admit 

 only of raised benches. But these house- 

 are fasl being superseded bv houses like 



Mr. Pierson's, at Scarboro, or tho f 



Ernst \-mu-. of N. h Jersey, which are 

 -dine 55 feel wide, with the glass within 

 two feet of the ground; or by another 

 style much more common, viz.: a range 

 of houses, each house 16 to 20 feet wide, 

 all connected, with tm partition-, cut- 



to 



and supported by a 2-inch pipe or iron 

 post. In neither of these two -tyles of 

 houses is there the slightest excuse for 

 having raised benches. 



When I first saw carnations grown 

 in beds, the surface of which were not 

 over nine inches above the walk-. I 

 thought it must be a back-break inr i i. 

 to weed or attend them, but you soon 

 get over that, and with many varieties 



they will by spring be i e convenient 



to disbud and tie than those on benches 

 two and a half feet, above the ground. 

 Nine inches is, however, a little low. 1 

 would, say, haw the surface of the beds 

 one foot ,i, fifteen inches above the 



anient loi carnations, and for rosea it 

 is just th. thing, for before ball' hie 



attention is just up to your hand-. 



The wooden bench is a nuisance all 

 around. If built of pine or hemlock 

 and saturated with crude oil. or given 

 a eoat of water lime (hydraulic cement) 

 they will last only five or six years. If 

 all the boards would rot out at once 

 it. would be more satisfactory. Then 

 it would be a clean job of building a 

 new bench. But that is not the case: 

 a. third of the hoards must be removed 



roses, carnations, chrysanthemums or 

 ■ mi crop thai nerd- tour or five inches 

 "i -ml on the bench T believe in lixii 

 planks for bottom of bench, allowing. 

 of course, a space of three-fourths of 

 an inch for drainage. 



Many people arc under the impression 

 that lumber shrink- in the summer and 

 swells in the winter. If in both sea- 

 sons they are protected from -now- or 

 rain, it, is just the reverse of Ibi-. 

 'there i- more moisture in the a.tmo- 



snhi re in summer and i he least di e 



the !,..,.! frost, and then i- when lumber 





boards at least two years longer than 

 they would last without it. We mix 

 the lime in a pail and spread it on the 

 boards with a whitewash brush. You 

 will notice that the board- or planks 

 nearly always go .'first where they rest 

 on the cross piece of scantling, or where 



w I touches wood, so put Hi.- cement 



lieiw on the top of the cross pieces 

 and on the under side oj the board 

 before you nail it down. Dipping or 

 even painting the board- with crude oil 

 is -aid to he an excellent preventive 

 of decay, but f have had no experience 

 with it. 



Those who can get cypress lumber at 

 anything near the price of pine or hem- 

 lock should, of course, use it. We all 

 know how durable it is. Tamarack, the 

 American larch, which is closely allied 

 to the southern cypress, both being de- 

 ciduous conifers, is also far more dur- 

 able than pine, but in many localities 

 these cost too much, although I am not 

 sine that cypress boards would cost any 

 more than pine of the same quality. 

 Our northern forests are nearly gone 

 and the beautiful tariff prevents us 

 from getting lumber from Canada, and 

 the freight from the south makes it, 

 high, -o we arc paying just about double 

 the price for pine and hemlock board- 

 that, we did ten years ago. Of course 

 it protects (?) the man with the ax 

 and saw in the woods and incidentally 

 puts millions into the pockets of (In 

 few lucky oin- who own the standing 

 timber. 



Now for these beds which I so thor 

 oughly believe in for tlie commercial 

 grower. In the first place, raising 

 benches for the purpose of getting them 

 near the glass for increased light is 

 fudge of the first water. Tf you have 

 unobstructed light the plant will have 

 as much lieht fifty feet from the glass 

 as five feet or five inches. Solid bed-. 

 in which you have prepared six inches 

 of -oil placed en the floor of the house, 

 I have no faith in. Or it may be six 

 inches of soil and beneath it the nat- 

 ural soil dug or plowed a foot deep. 

 That is truly a solid bed. This style of 

 bed will grow roses and carnation-. ,,i 

 mums, but not of the right quality. 



A little experience is best of all. Two 

 houses of American Beauties were 

 planted late last. fall. One was on what 

 is known a- hollow buck. The bricks 

 were placed on the floor of the house, 

 which is quite dry. Tin- other had two 

 niche- oi coal ashes ami limn four inches 

 ,f -oil. Both have grown about the 

 same, and I may add that each has 

 made mme thin 'an ordinary strength 

 of growth, yd i should nol have used 

 the coal ashes << I could have afforded 

 more of the hollow bricks, for I ecu 

 -idcr them (be very perfection for the 

 bottom of a bed. A bench of Kaiserin 

 was planted last May on hollow bricks 

 and made a fair growth. After a rest 

 of three months this past winter thev 

 have given us a crop of flowers that 

 rather surpasses in quality anything I 

 have seen, and 1 feci sure that, with an 



6f Sbil On the hollow bricks, they are 

 conic I,, be good for at least another 

 (wo years. We have also one bench, 

 or rathet bed. of Beauties in four inches 

 of -oil on three inches of rubble stone 

 and they have grown jiisl a- vigorously 

 a- on the tile or ashes. 



Rubble -lone beneath a bed i-. I 

 think, excellent drainage, and if you 

 can grow roses anywhere you can grow 

 them aho\e the stones; but when il 



