572 



HORTICULTURE: 



October 23, 1909 



SOME WORK OF THE U. S. DE- 

 PARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

 AS AFFECTING FLORI- 

 CULTURE. 



By B. T. Galloway, Chief of the Bureau 



of Plant Industry, U. S. Department 



of Agriculture, before the Society 



of American Florists, at 



Cincinnati. 



(Continued from page ibo) 



Special Work with Carnations. 



I have briefly reviewed the foregoing 

 questions more as an introduction than 

 an attempt to give you detailed infor- 

 mation as to work actually accom- 

 plished, or in progress. My particular 

 object at this time is to set before you 

 certain results which have been se- 

 cured in connection with our work on 

 carnations and the growing of bulbs In 

 the "United States. At one of the for- 

 mer meetings of this Society we pre- 

 sented some of the results secured in 

 the matter of feeding the carnation. 

 Soon after this work was completed 

 the houses in which we grow carna- 

 tions were modified for the purpose of 

 obtaining light on the relative effect 

 of growing the crop on raised benches 

 as compared with solid beds. The 

 rapid increase in the price of lumber 

 has made it essential and necessary 

 that florists should take advantage of 

 all methods or practices which will 

 reduce the cost of production without 

 interfering with the size and vigor of 

 the plants or crop grown therefrom. 



The experimental carnation houses 

 of the Department are built on the 

 rigid furrow plan and run north and 

 south. There are no separating parti- 

 tions, the house as a whole being 48 

 feet wide and 133 feet long. For ex- 

 perimental purposes the house is divid- 

 ed into seven beds which when filled 



"r^i 



Wooden bench to the left with 3 in x 4 in. 

 apart. Bench three feet high. 



will hold about six thousand plants. 

 It was planned in the experiment about 

 to be described to test the effect of 

 growing the crop on raised wooden 

 benches constructed in the usual way 

 with wooden supports; on tile bottom 

 benches with iron supports, and in 

 solid beds with concrete walls. The 

 wooden supports of the raised wooden 

 benches are made of 3-inch by 4-inch 

 Georgia pine and placed four feet 

 apart. The benches themselves are 

 made of 1-inch by 12-inch by 16-foot 

 white pine boards. The benches are 

 about three feet high. The tile bench 

 has a frame constructed of 1 1-4-inch 

 iron pipe, the supports being set five 

 feet apart. The legs of the supports 



M ■ .!■■■ 



Method of constructing tile bencli with Iron supports, V. S. Department of Agriculture. 



wooden supports, supports placed 4 feet 

 Solid concrete bed in center. 



are set 12 inches in the ground In con- 

 crete, with two lines of two-inch angle 

 Iron and two lines of two-inch T-irons 

 resting on the pipe supports to carry 

 the tile bottom. The tile slabs are 

 23 3-4 inches long, 12 inches wide and 

 1 inch thick. There is a 6-inch iron 

 spear point attached to the legs to 

 support the side or facial boards. The 

 height of the tile bench above the walk 

 is 18 inches, corresponding practically 

 with the solid beds next described. 

 The walls for the solid beds are made 

 ot concrete, 4 inches thick and 24 

 inches high. Six inches of the wall is 

 below and IS inches above the ground. 

 The concrete was made of one part 

 Portland cement, three parts sand and 

 six parts broken stone or gravel, with- 

 out reinforcement. Such construction 

 work can be done by greenhouse men 

 themselves. Where soft coal is burned 

 the ashes after screening would take 

 the place of sand and gravel in about 

 the same proportions. The usual way 

 to constiuct with ashes or cinders Is 

 to use one part Portland cement, three 

 parts fine ashes, and six parts coarse 

 cinders. We constructed our beds 18 

 inches high for convenience in work- 

 ing them and gathering the flowers. If 

 the beds are lower than this it is neces- 

 sary to bend the back a good deal, 

 which cuts into the time of the men 

 when they are working with the plants. 

 The accompanying photographs illus- 

 trate the methods of construction more 

 satisfactorily than mere description. 



It is interesting to note the relative 

 cost of these different types of con- 

 struction. The cost of the wooden 

 benches constructed in the ordinary 

 way with the wooden supports was 

 12 1-2 cents per square foot of bed 

 space. The cost of the raised beds with 

 iron supports and tile bottoms was 17 

 cents per square foot, while the cost 

 of the solid beds with concrete walla 

 was 11 cents per square foot. The cost 

 per plant was 9 cents for the wood 

 benches, 8 cents for the solid beds with 

 concrete walls, and 12 cents for the tile 

 bottom benches with iron frames and 

 supports. It thus appears that the 



