Mai 26, 1904. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



Greenhouses and Carnation Field of Strafford Flower Farm, Strafford, Pa« 



(See Philadelphia News Letter, Page ».) 



*over each line of plants, running length- 

 wise of the bench. No. 16 galvanized 

 vire is strong enough for this purpose, 

 as the wires do not require to be 

 stretched very tight. 



At each plant a wire stake of No. 6 or 

 No. 8 galvanized wire should be placed. 

 This stake should be of sufficient length 

 to reach at least six inches above the 

 horiz'ontal wire and should be tied tight- 

 ly to it at the junction. 



In place of using twine for tying some 

 growers have adopted a wire clasp which 

 seems to suit the purpose admirably and 

 win no doubt become popular as its 

 merits are recognized. 



To prevent sagging of the horizontal 

 wire use a frame made 'of %-inch gas 

 tubing of the same shape as the ^ end 

 frames and joined at the corners by el- 

 bows, the legs to be of sufficient length 

 to reach the floor of the bench. These 

 require no nailing to steady them, tying 

 to tlfe horizontal wires being sufficient 

 to keep them in place. 



These supports are practically inde- 

 structible, neat in appearance (which is 

 considerably enhanced by a couple 'of 

 coats of white paint) and at planting 

 time are easily removed by detaching the 

 wires from the frames and hanging the 

 wires to the roofs. After the benches 

 are planted they are easily and quickly 

 replaced, entirely eliminate the old sys- 

 tem of wood supports, nailing, sawing, 

 etc., which detracted so much from the 

 neatness and beauty of a house. 



Many of the 'other systems, while pos- 

 sessing some points of merit, have been 

 tried by myself and other growers and 

 found unsuited for use in large places. 

 This system which I have described, 

 with local variations, seems at present to 

 be the most practical and in point of 

 efficiency and expediency the most suita- 

 We. Rises. 



SOLID BEDS OR BENCHES. 



I am now building a new house, or 

 rather two houses 68x100 feet, half for 

 carnations and half for roses. I want to 

 know if you would advise me to use 

 benches or beds? My soil is a red clay, 

 well drained ; that* is, it does not hold 

 water like pipe clay; it is rather porus 

 and water sinks rapidly. I am a begin- 

 ner without any experience. Lumber is 

 cheap and I have enough cypress on hand 

 to bench my entire house, but I want to 

 know whicli is best. It seems to me the 

 solid bed would take much less water and 

 less heat. T. W. L. 



Some few expert growers 'of roges 



and carnations prefer solid beds, not the 

 old solid beds of twenty years ago, but 

 be-ds constructed on a scientific basis 

 with many variations and which entail a 

 great deal of skill in construction, plant- 

 ing, watering and feeding; more care, in 

 fact, than a table bench requires. 



Seeing that lumber of such good qual- 

 ity is so plentiful and cheap and as he is 

 a beginner I would advise T. W. L. to 

 use the table bench, giving three-quarters 

 of an inch space between bottom boards 

 for drainage. By using the table bench 

 better control can be kept on roots, wa- 

 tering and heating of the soil. The ma- 

 jority of successful rose and carnation 

 frrowers are still in favor of and using 

 the table bench in some form or other. 



ElBES. 



TARIFF ON CUTTINGS, 



Under date of May 16, the Treasury 

 Department has issued the following to 

 customs officials: 



Referring to the decision of the Board 

 of United States General Appraisers, G. 

 A. 5645 of April 14, 1904 (published 

 in full in the Review for April 28) 

 wherein it is held that certain so called 

 rooted rose cuttings are not dutiable as 

 rose plants at 2^^ cents each under para- 

 graph 252 of the tariff act of July 24, 

 1897, but should be classified as cuttings 

 of plants commonly known as nursery 

 or greenhouse stock at twenty-five per 

 cent ad valorem under the same para- 

 graph, I have to advise you that the 

 Department does not concur in the con- 

 clusions reached by the Board of United 

 States General Appraisers in this ease. 



As the record presented in this case 

 is not very satisfactory, no appeial has 

 been directed from the decision of the 

 board therein. You are instructed, how- 

 ever, not to apply the said decision to 

 any other importations at your port, it 

 being the desire of the Department to 

 prepare a new case for the consideration 

 of the Board of United States General 

 Appraisers which will more fully present 

 the issue. Robert B. Armstrong, 



Ass't. Sec'y. 



The case referred to is that of the 

 American Express Company, which had 

 imported through the port of Buffalo 

 certain rooted rose cuttings for Heller 

 Bros., John Burton and others. The 

 collector assessed duty at 2^4 cents each, 

 the cuttings being Bride. Maid, Meteor, 

 Perle, Sunset, etc. As previous decisions 

 of the Board of General Appraisers, 

 to the effect that "rose cuttings are 



not dutiable as rose plants" at 2V2 

 cents each, had been allowed by the 

 Treasury Department to stand without 

 appeal, it is likely that exception is taken 

 to that part of this decision which ap- 

 parently offers a ruling on other articles 

 than rose cuttings. 



The law is: "Stocks, cuttings, and 

 seedlings of all fruit and ornamental 

 trees, deciduous and evergreen, shrubs 

 and vines, manetti, multiflora, and brier 

 rose, and all trees, shrubs, plants and 

 vines, commonly known as nursery or. 

 greenhouse stock, not specially provided 

 lor in this Act, twenty-five per centum ad 

 valorem. ' ' 



The Appraisers said: "This is not 

 altogether free from ambiguity, owing 

 to the uncertainty as to how far the ex- 

 pression * stocks, cuttings and seedlings 

 of qualifies the clauses which follow 

 ifc. in the paragraph. Since rooted rose 

 cuttings can not be said to be either 

 ' trees, ' ' shrubs, ' * plants, ' or ' vines, ' 

 if these goods are dutiable at all under 

 the provision referred to, it would seem 

 to be as * cuttings of plants commonly 

 known as nursery or greenhouse stock.' 

 This construction, it will be seen, ex- 

 tends the effect of the expression 'stocks, 

 cuttings and seedlings of to all the 

 subsequent members of the paragraph, 

 and reads it as though it were printed 

 as follows : 



Stocks, cuttings and seedlings (not 

 specially provided for in the act) of all 



(1) fruit and ornamental trees, de- 

 ciduous and evergreen. 



(2) shrubs and vines. 



(3) manetti, multiflora and brier rose. 



(4) trees, shrubs, plants and vines, 

 commonly known as nursery or green- 

 house stock. 



The Board is of opinion that this 

 interpretation should be adopted. Al- 

 though it may appear doubtful upon a 

 strictly grammatical construction of the 

 paragraph, it accords with what we be- 

 lieve to have been the purpose of Con- 

 gress, viz., to include within the com- 

 prehensive language practically every- 

 thing in the nature of nursery or green- 

 house stock. " 



BLIGHT ON TULIPS. 



S. J. G. is not by any means alone in 

 having blight on his tulips. We have 

 seen some very badly affected batches 

 the past few years. Our first experience 

 of it was in 1903. when many of our late 

 blooming or species tulips were badly 

 diseased. We attributed this mainly to 

 hiiving left the bulbs undisturbed for 



