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24 



The Florists' Review 



JANUABY 28, 1915. 



made with the corner of a board and 

 then given a final smoothiQg. la say 

 three hours, when partly set, this was 

 cut into blocks. 



For benches desired for carnations 

 and roses, veneer should be cut one foot 

 wide and separated with 1-inch lath, 

 one-fourth inch thick. Then trowel the 

 concrete to the lath. When the con- 

 crete is partly set, remove the lath. 

 This affords proper drainage. 



As to Cost. 



Now, as to cost, a bench 5x140 re- 

 quires twelve sacks of cement and can 

 be laid by two men easily in nine hours. 

 My son and I laid side benches forty 

 inches wide and 190 feet long in a 

 short January day. 



To add to their durability, all pipes 

 were thoroughly covered with linseed 

 oil and painted. The moisture that 

 may leak through, catches the edges 

 only, where it dries out quickly. The 

 concrete is shaped around the posts well 

 above the ground line, to make for per- 

 manency at that point. Viewing these 

 benches at . short range with our long- 

 range "specks," we firmly believe 

 these benches will be benches in thirty 

 years, without repairs or cuss words 

 in the meantime. 



As stated, the side-boards c&n be eas- 

 ily removed. These benches harbor 

 neither insects nor fungi, are smooth 

 and exceedingly, porous, holding lots of 

 moisture , im reserve, and afe quite 

 strong. The . cross-wires hold in place 

 any piecve^ that may be cracked by 

 rough usage. We believe, everything 

 considered^ that this is the last word 

 in a greenhouse bench. The concrete 

 benches as usually built are too clumsy 

 and too expensive. Where the sides of 

 benches are concrete, much valuable 

 space is wasted. 



Anticipating some inquiries, I will 

 here say that the veneer may be beech 

 or maple. It adds no strength to the 

 bench and serves only to hold the con- 

 crete in place until hard. -In making a 

 bench over forty inches wide, I would 

 advise using the veneer in two pieces, 

 having it slightly, more than half the 

 width of the bench, so that it will lap 

 in the middle. In this way a perfect 

 fit is secured along the side-boards. 

 This veneer, I think, could be furnished 

 at about $6 per thousand square feet, 

 and could be shipped in rolls. Wire for 

 reinforcing can be secured of any wire 

 company, cut to length desired. 



A word about concrete mixture, par- 

 ticularly in regard to the formula. The 

 writer has had forty years' experience 

 in the use of coal ashes in concrete and 

 would not now dream of using concrete 

 without them. There is no question 

 about the superiority of the concrete 

 containing ashes. For walks, floors, 

 walls and everything else, it has no 

 equal for durability. It never dusts 

 out in spots from wear, like sand con- 

 crete. Once used, always used. Where 

 hard service is required, I would make 

 the formula 1^, 1% and 1. 



S. C. Templin. 



HIGH LIFE FOR SOW BUGS. 



The average florist, knows th^ good 

 things of this world — none of the'simple 

 life for him; he sets his table with all 

 of the season's delicacies. Why, then, 

 should he expect cut worms to accept a 

 diet of brao in preference to succulent 

 young growths? As a matter of fact, 

 bran is a failure as a lure for any pest 

 one seeks to poison. 



Corn meal is what should be used to 

 entice the cut worms, according to the 

 experience of Frank Felke, whose experi- 

 ence is worth repeating, since so many 

 growers still have trouble. While Mr. 

 Felke used bran in his poison mash his 

 stock was devastated. Carnations, mums, 

 pansies — indeed, about everything he 

 grew — seemed to appeal to the palate 

 of the destroyer more potently than did 

 the prepared food. Watching his colony 

 of unwelcome boarders steadily increase, 

 Mr. Felke concluded to set a Better 

 table for them, so he tried poinoning 

 corn meal. The destruction was won- 

 derful. Never since then has he had a 

 visitation of cut worms , biit that he 

 promptly got the upper hand. 



' ' Use corn meal, mix it with Paris 

 green, just enough to color; at nightfall 

 scatter among the infested plants; don't 

 water for six or eight hours before or 

 after and you will have no further 

 trouble from cut worms," he says. 



Rye flour is a delicacy much relished 

 by sow bugs, sometimes called wood 

 lice; according to Mr. Felke, the little 

 pigs will gorge themselves with it, if it 

 has been sweetened to their taste, and 

 roll up and die of the poison also in- 

 cluded. He uses two parts rye flour, 

 two parts sugar and one part Paris 

 green, mixing only so much as is to be 

 used at one time, as it deteriorates if 

 it stands any length of time. The mix- 



ture is scattered along the top of the 

 edge-board of the bench in the evening,, 

 being carefuj to see that the board is , 

 dry, else the mixture will become lumpy 

 and unpalatable to even the most voraci- 

 ous of sow bugs. "Try it," says Mr. 

 Felke, "and you will be surprised to 

 find how many it will kill; you wouldn 't 

 have believed there were that many on 

 your place." 



PINCHING BACK VmCA ROSEA. 



Kindly advise me when flowering vin- 

 ca, or Vinca rosea, should be pinched 

 back to make the best plants for 

 Memorial day. W. G. K. 



Vinca rosea should not be pinched 

 at all. Sow the seeds from the middle 

 to the end of January in order to have 

 strong plants for Memorial day. 

 C. W. 



OAKS FROM ACOBNS. 



You may have heard the saying, not 



at all uncommon, that "great oaks 



from little acorns grow, ' ' but did you 



ever consider how applicable it is to 



the classified ads in The Review, and 



the results? Like this: 



I enclose 70 cents to pay for the classified ad. 

 Have bad to turn away orders for thousands ot 

 cnttin£S. — R. H. Workman, LoudonvUle. O., Jan- 

 uary 12, 1915. 



NOTES FRQM FOREIGN I^NDS 



Esjberg, Denmark. — Julius Hansen, 

 the well known nurseryman of Pinne- 

 be'rg, Germany, has opened an establish- 

 iiient here, from which he expects to be 

 able to supply his lines of stock to cus- 

 tomers of neutral nations. 



Enkhulzen, Holland.. — In spite of the 

 difiiculties, the 1914 seed crops were 

 harvested in excellent condition and 

 demand is unusually good, particularly 

 from the countries in which German 

 competition is prohibited. 



Veendam, Holland. — Attention is be- 

 ing drawn to the fact that supplies of 

 young fruit trees and like stock, now 

 imported by United States nurserymen 

 from France, may be obtained from this 

 region in case the old source is closed. 



Brussels, Belgium. — The trade in flow- 

 eiE from Nice, in ordinary years a most 

 active one, has ceased entirely. The 

 blooms offered by local growers are 

 scattered over the graves of the Bel- 

 gian soldiers who have died in the hos- 

 pitals. 



Oostdunkerke, Belgiiun.— Em. Draps- 

 Boudry, whose presence as a refugee in 

 London was reported in The Review 

 for January 21, has returned to try to 

 put to rights his greenhouses here. The 

 houses in which he grows American 

 carnations are now safe from bombard- 

 ment. Four bombs fell in the estab- 

 lishment, shattering all the' lights. An- 

 other fell only two yards from the resi- 

 dence, but, fortunately, failed to ex- 

 plode. , . 



Scarborough, England. — During the 

 recent raid on the coast a German warr 

 ship dropped a shell in one of Walshaw 

 & Son's houses. The fatalities were 

 many, among the Easter lilies. 



Edinburgh, Scotland. — In their 1915 

 book Dobbie & Co. say: "Since the 

 war started we have not reduced our 

 expenditure by a single sovereign. We 

 are keeping things going on the old 

 lines, and in the catalogue we now 

 send you we have concentrated on Brit- 

 ish produce, supported by French and 

 American. 



Haarlem, Holland. — There still are 

 large quantities of bulbs on hand 

 through the district, and it develops 

 there is great irregularity in the prepa- 

 rations for next season. Some grow- 

 ers have cut down their area, but oth- 

 ■ers have planted as large a part as 

 possible of their surplus. The outlook 

 is highly uncertain. 



Paris, France. — The association of re- 

 tail florists of Paris passed resolutions 

 declaring that the organization should 

 remove from the membership list any- 

 one employing a German, and boycott 

 any concern receiving supplies from 

 Germany. The association also forbade 

 members, under pain of expulsion, to 

 deal in lilies of the valley, as essen- 

 tially a German product, but this ban 

 was raised when it was found that some 

 growers in France cultivated the pips 

 and that they were also to be had from 

 neutral sources with a guaranty of 

 origin. 



