JULY 6, 1905. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



351 



Bench Building;. 



This is by no means an idle time with 

 the growers. The store clerks may take 

 their vacations now, but at the green- 

 houses carnations must soon be lifted. 

 Chrysanthemums are not yet all planted 

 and rose benches are not all filled and, 

 if all this is done, there are benches to 

 repair or build. I see that poor lumber 

 is going in as bench material at several 

 places. It is time the greenhouse men 

 woke up and built more substantially. 

 It is not likely any wood or metal will 

 ever take the place of cypress for the 

 roof material. There is no need of it, 

 for this splendid wood seems everlasting, 

 but for side walls and for permanent 

 beds and benches concrete should take 

 the place of wood or even brick. Ashes 

 or cinders are about as good to make 

 concrete as sand or gravel. If you use 

 ashes, and it is a mixture of fine and 

 coarse, you can use six parts of the 

 ashes to one of cement. If you use sand 

 with considerable coarse gravel in it, 

 then the same proportions will do. If 

 the sand is fine, with no gravel in it, 

 then three of sand to one of cement 

 should be used, but three parts of broken 

 stone should be added. It makes the 

 (juantity of your material about double, 

 with little more expense and is just as 

 strong. Bemember this crushed stone 

 or coarse gravel fills up in bulk but does 

 not absorb any cement and, therefore, 

 does not weaken the wall. 



The bench or bed of the future for 

 roses and carnations will be a wall 

 twelve or fifteen inches in height, filled 

 in with ashes or soil, then a floor of tile 

 and finished with an edging of cement. 

 This is about as permanent as a bed can 

 be made and about as inexpensive as a 

 bench of 2-inch hemlock and, once built, 

 affords great peace of mind. 



If the wan is fifteen inches high and 

 the tile three inches, with five inches of 

 edge, it brings the top of the soil al- 

 most two feet above the path, high 

 enough for anything, in fact perfection 

 in height, drainage ^nd durability. Some 

 use, instead of the drain tile, coarse 

 ashes or cobble-stones, cheaper, of course, 

 if you have them on your place, and for 

 a year or two good enough for drainage, 

 but awkward to shovel on and in time 

 must become compact from the soil fil- 

 tering into the ashes or stones and there- 

 after cannot give the perfect drainage 

 of the tiles. 



Saving Pansy Seed. 



The pansy sowing season is near at 

 hand in this part of the country. We 

 liave found after trying different dates 

 t'lat about July 20 is the best time. If 

 I'ansies are to be grown in cold frames 

 and protected with sash during winter, 

 several weeks later will do, but I am 

 supposing that they are protected merely 

 ^^[th straw and nature's overcoat, snow. 

 " e used to sow pansy seed under the 

 ^liade of a tree, or under a shaded sash. 

 I 'lis is not necessary; in fact, it pro- 

 ^'"tes weak plants. Sow in full sun, 

 •^"l^' do not let the seed bed ever get 



dry. The seed germinates quickly and 

 for a few days the seed bed will want 

 constant care. Sprinkle it not once, but 

 ten times a day, if necessary to keep 

 the surface moist, and every good seed 

 will germinate. Sow thinly or your little 

 plants will be greatly crowded before 

 they are large enough to transplant into 

 the winter beds. 



Grass Seed. 



To digress a moment, we are asked re- 

 peatedly when is the best time to sow 

 grass seed. Undoubtedly it is in 

 spring, up to the middle of May, or 

 again in the end of August and early 

 September, but all this depends on care 



was kept continually moist until the grass 

 was well up and big enough to stand a 

 parching. And so it is with your pan- 

 sies. Never let the ground get dry and 

 there is no need of shade. 



Berberis Thunbergii. 



There is a hedge of Berberis Thun- 

 bergii in this city that 1 would like all 

 lovers of shrubs and the beautiful to 

 see. It is just inside a retaining wall, 

 on an elevated lawn, four feet above the 

 level of the street, a proper place for 

 such a hedge. It would be cruel and 

 uncalled for to shear back its lovely ten- 

 dor growths. It was pruned in early 

 spring and its outline is regular, without 

 being stiff and formal. 



Privet Hedges. 



The privet hedges are different. Be- 

 sides the winter or spring pruning, they 

 need a slight shearing again in July. 

 The berberis has a branching, handsome 

 habit of its own. The privet has not. 

 If left to itself it makes strong, long 

 growths and if you want to lay the foun- 

 dation of a comely hedge, a shearing is 



Erythronium Revolutum Watsoni. 



and the facility and time you have for 

 watering. In 1900 we saw grass seed 

 sown every day of a^Tinier from the 

 middle of April until the middle of Sep- 

 tember. No dry spell in July and Aug- 

 ust suspended operations. Every day a 

 certain area was sown, and with the 

 greatest success. All this was simply 

 accomplished by the hose. The ground 



necessary now. The shoots will break 

 out with more growth. 



A privet hedge is no ornament and 

 should only be planted where it means 

 something, for a division line of prop- 

 erty or to enclose a tennis court. It is 

 much handsomer than a wooden or iron 

 fence, but if not compact and properly 

 managed it is simply hideous and makes 



