Ijy^-.-^A^^.I^'^. _-» 



j-'i.*. -r v.v-.^ 



June 7, 1906. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



View in the Store of the Schiller Estate, Chicago, Geo. Asmus, Manager. 



faddists. We copy, or follow the teach- 

 ings of men who have new ideas. Many 

 of tnese bright and original ideas are 

 fallacies, and yet others are jewels. The 

 idea that roses could be grown to pro- 

 duce the finest blossoms in four inches 

 of soil on a board bench at first was 

 laughed at by the majority of florists, 

 and was called a fad, yet long ago it 

 was universally adopted and has proved 

 correct. The New Jersey friend, who 

 styled the short-span-to-the-south a fad, 

 was about right, but when he included 

 butted glass as another fad he was far 

 wrong. However, this is no time or 

 place, to discuss the merits of that style 

 of glazing. Only those who have ex- 

 tensively tried both the butted and 

 lapped methods are fit to pass an opinion. 



Cost of Bench Material 



A few years ago there was a slight in- 

 clination with many growers to adopt 

 solid beds for our most important 

 products, and that reached the stage of 

 a fad, but most growers are going back 

 to benches, or what has been called semi- 

 solid beds. The enormous increase in 

 cost of lumber suitable for benches made 

 us realize that repairing and renewing 

 wood benches is a most serious item of 

 expense. One illustration: Hemlock 

 lumber, which ten years ago cost $11 

 per thousand feet, now costs $26 per 

 thousand, and used for benches it is 

 only good for an average of about four 

 years. 



Last summer, having returned from 

 the fad of solid beds to the raised 

 benches, we bought a carload of pecky 

 cypress. It was landed in western New 

 iork at a trifle less than $21 per 

 thousand feet, mostly boards 1x6 inches 

 and _x4 inches. It is rough looking and 

 irom the holes in it you would think that 

 the patriarchs of the borer family had 

 nourished in the trees since the age of 



Noah, but those who ought to know say 

 these apparent borings are not caused 

 by any of the boring insects, and it is 

 no unsoundness. One year's experience 

 is not enough to be any guide, still we 

 believe it will outlast by three times the 

 life of white pine or hemlock. If so, it 

 is a boon, and this material must be 

 available at a much lower price to 

 thousands of florists than it is to us in 

 western New York. 



Several Styles of Benches. 



Having had several kinds of benches 

 and beds the past season — the board 

 bench with five inches of soil; the solid 

 bed, with no separating material between 

 the prepared soil of the bed and the 

 floor of the greenhouse; and what we 

 will call semi-solid, with six inches of 

 soil on a floor of tile or hollow brick, — 

 we have come to the conclusion that the 

 raised bench with four or five inches of 

 soil will grow roses or carnations to 

 perfection from July till the following 

 March, and for the average florist it is 

 safest and best, and in the majority of 

 houses tue plants will receive the greatest 

 light. 



The solid bed, where the prepared soil 

 is on the floor of the greenhouse is, of 

 course, the least expensive to construct, 

 as the side can be merely a plank. There 

 are, however, several disadvantages. Un- 

 less the floor of the greenhouse is of 

 gravel, the beds will have poor drainage, 

 ami with houses that have board sides, 

 both north and south, the plants will not 

 receive enough light. Another factor is 

 that the atmosphere surrounding the 

 plants is heavier and less pure than it 

 is three feet above the floor. 



I have noticed this spring a decided 

 advantage, both in roses and carnations, 

 on the semi-solid beds. There are several 

 ways of making these beds; one was 



described by Mr. Montgomery last sum- 

 mer in his article on grafted roses. 



The Best Style of Bed. 



The beds used by the Canadian grow- 

 ers are about perfection and attain the 

 object in view, viz.: Nothing to decay, 

 and practically everlasting. They build 

 low walls, either two bricks high, or just 

 as well make the walls of concrete, six 

 to ten inches high. Then soil is filled in 

 even with top of wall, and firmly packed 

 down. Then a floor of 2-inch drain tile 

 or 4-inch hollow brick is laid in the 

 soil, extending to the outer edge of the 

 walls. A 2x4 or 2x6 cypress scant- 

 ling will do for the edge of the 

 bed, or to be still more permanent an 

 edging of concrete can be laid on the 

 tiles. This makes a bed of perfect 

 drainage, brings the plants up to a con- 

 venient height and the air at the temper- 

 ature of the house is circulating through 

 the tiles or bricks at all times. 



The first cost of such a bed may be 

 a trifle more than of the raised wood 

 bench, yet only a trifle. It is convenient 

 to flll or empty, has perfect drainage, 

 and there is nothing about it to decay, 

 and when we get the hot suns of April 

 an<l May there is not the continual dry- 

 ing out that take^ place in the raised 

 wood bench. What is known as hollow 

 brick is better than the round drain tile; 

 not better drainage, but more convenient 

 for shoveling off. 



Soil Beneath the Tiles. 



The soil beneath the tiles need not be 

 a special preparation; any old soil that 

 has been previously used is good enough. 

 The utility this six or eight inches of 

 soil beneath the tiles is not easy to ex- 

 plain, yet it is of the greatest use. If 

 you doubt it, place the tiles on planks 

 or a concrete floor and notice the marked 

 difference between the plants grown 



