Treatment After Benching 



the strings will not slip up and down the wires. Two strings are used be- 

 tween each plant, so that when the wiring and tying is finished each plant 

 is held by itself in a square composed of wire and twine. This wiring is 

 put on in several tiers, from two to three being used with average grow- 

 ing plants. 



A combination of the two systems just described has been adopted by 

 many of the most successful growers, and it seems to be nearly a perfect 

 system of supporting carnation plants. A round wire circle having three 

 legs is used to support the base of the plant. It stands about three inches 

 above the ground, and holds the base of the plant firmly. Six inches above 

 this, and then again six inches above that, and still ten to twelve inches 

 higher, if necessary, the wire and string supports are stretched, so that the 

 carnation plants are supported their entire height, and will grow perfectly 

 erect in the little squares provided for them. It is not necessary nor desirable 

 to put on all of these supports at one time, but the wiring should be added as 

 the plants grow upward and need support. However, these supports must 

 be put on at the proper time, as it is important to keep the young shoots con- 

 stantly growing upward and straight, and not allow them to fall over and 

 lop about. 



Another system of supporting carnations is the V-shaped wire netting, 

 supplemented by stretching the wires and string overhead. This method is 

 shown in the adjoining cut, which illustrates it very well. This is an 

 excellent method of supporting carnations, and has the advantage of per- 

 mitting the plantsman to work between the rows without striking or injuring 

 the plants. With varieties that are very heavy growers, however, it has a 

 tendency to compress the plants a little too much at the base. The netting 

 is also expensive, and since the advance in the cost of wire it has been 

 abandoned, both on the score of expense, and also for the reason that the 

 system of round wire supports, combined with wires and string, is consid- 

 ered better. Anyone, however, having the netting on hand would be able 

 by it to support his carnations to good advantage. 



Cultivation of Soil on Benches 



As the season advances weeds will grow up among the plants, and with 

 surface-watered benches the surface of the soil will become packed and 

 hard. These weeds should be removed when young, and the hard crust be 

 broken up by very shallow cultivation. Under no circumstances should 

 cultivation be deep, as the root system of a plant extends to the surface of 



114 



