BENCHES FOR CARNATIONS 225 



Trap, granite, and hard limestone are among the best 

 materials for mixing with Portland cement to make con- 

 crete. Soft materials should be avoided. All particles 

 passing a quarter-inch screen may be considered as sand. 

 In regard to water, any good tasting drinking water is 

 suitable for the mixing. This is done on a wooden plat- 

 form with shovels, and when fiUing in the concrete see that 

 no vacuum is left, but puddle it in and make it smooth by 

 means of trowels. The forms may be removed after the 

 concrete has set four days. Recently the firm of McCasIan 

 Bros, at Zanesville, Ohio, patented their sectional 

 concrete slabs and construction for greenhouse benches, 

 and the excellence of these sections is at once apparent on 

 glancing at the accompanying illustration. 



BENCHES FOR SUB-IRRIGATION 



At one time this form of watering was much discussed, 

 but owing to the cost of instalhng suitable benches for sub- 

 irrigation and the care necessary in handling the beds, it 

 never became the success it was at first thought it would. 

 Experiments were originally made at the Ohio Experimental 

 Station. The idea is simply that of the pot and saucer, 

 where water is filled in the saucer and rises by capillary 

 attraction through the soil in the pot. It is Nature's plan, 

 and good when properly understood and when experienced 

 care is exercised. 



Benches provided with sub-irrigation save the time 

 of three or four persons so far as watering is concerned, 

 and finer plants result in the case of some varieties. One 

 watering lasts double the length of time when placed under- 

 neath than when put on top. Yet it was held that on the 

 balance of cases as good blooms could be grown by means 



