■^OWW 



856 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



February 7, 1907. 



and i/^-inch cross supports. In describing 

 the construction Mr. Gingrich said: 

 "The corners, or uprights, were bent 

 with forge and anvil. The legs are im- 

 bedded in cement, a hole being made with 

 a post-hole augur for insertion of the 

 concrete and the frame pounded into it 

 with a maul. The heating pipes are 

 placed on hangers clamped to the 1-inch 

 legs. Aften^the frames are erected two 

 2-inch planks are run lengthwise under 

 the %-inch cross supports. The frame- 

 work for the concrete consists of 1x6 

 boards five feet long. Into these boar.ds 

 are driven sixpenny finishing nails six 

 inches apart. These boards are merely 

 tacked to the plank to keep them in posi- 

 tion. The boards being in position, a 

 2% -inch fitrip is nailed lengthwise so as 

 to project above the bottom one and one- 

 half inches. This done, newspapers are 

 covered over the board bottom to prevent 

 the concrete from adhering to the boards. 

 Then 18-inch chicken netting with a 

 2-inch mesh is rolled into position and 

 two runs of %-inch round iron strung 

 along the full length of the bench. 

 Spools 1x1% inches, drilled through the 

 center, are placed over the sixpenny nails. 

 The benches are then ready for the con- 

 crete, which is mixed in the proportion of 

 three to one, using the best grade of 

 Portland cement. We have found that 

 wet cement makes a tougher bottom than 

 when used rather dry, as in the manufac- 

 ture of cement walks or walls where 

 heavy tamping is the practice. After the 

 cement 'has been see-sawed properly a 

 trowel is used to make a perfectly 

 smooth surface and to prevent the water 

 from soaking into the cement and injur- 

 ing the re-inforcement. In from two to 

 three days the cement is sufficiently set 

 to permit the staging being removed. 



running lengthwise of the bench, as the 

 %-inch rods are just a trifle weak when 

 the legs are spaced four feet apart. 

 Should the legs be spaced three feet 

 apart we believe that the rods could be 

 eliminated. This, however, would not be 

 economical, as the rods are cheaper than 

 the frames. The total cost of benches 

 constructed in this manner is approxi- 

 mately 12 cents per square foot ready 

 for the soil." 



The smaller picture shows a carnation 

 house, 37x206. The roof bars are approx- 

 imately twenty feet long to the south and 

 twenty-four feet on the north, these 

 lengths making sixteen feet to the ridge. 

 Mr. Gingrich says: "We are rather 

 prejudiced against too wide a house, as 

 repairs to the glass cannot readily be 

 made. Our new houses are twenty-nine 

 and one-half feet wide, even-span, using 

 up without waste 16-foot bars. The ridge 

 is fourteen feet from the walk, the gut- 

 ters seven feet. This pitch allows the 

 sun to enter all the houses without cast- 

 ing any shade on the shortest day in the 

 year. This roof has supported a snow 

 fall of six inches, breaking through only 

 in two places where the trussing plates 

 were too loose. The glass used in the 

 new houses is 16x24, the bars being 

 spaced twenty-four and five-eighths inches 

 on centers, 



"As an experiment we are using the 

 Wittbold sprinkler in our carnation 

 house, using the %-inch nozzles. We use 

 this only from spring until dark weather 

 in the autumn, as this is the period when 

 watering is most likely to be neglected. 

 We are satisfied that with judicious use, 

 the automatic watering device will super- 

 sede the hose. The use of this sprinkling 

 system not only waters the plants, but 

 throws the water with suflicient force to 



Carnation House of South Bend Floral Co., South Bend, Ind. 



The spools, however, are left in a day or 

 two longer and then punched out with a 

 stick and mallet, A bench constructed in 

 this fashion gives perfect drainage. For 

 sides we use 2x6 planks bored to receive 

 the upright %-inch pipe. The ends of 

 the planks are screwed together with 2x5 

 %-inch galvanized plates, which are 

 punched in the local factory. 



"Such benches as we will make in the 

 future will contain three %-inch rods 



keep down red spider, which is the worst 

 enemy a carnation grower has to contend 

 with. By the use of this device the 

 watering can be done early in the morn- 

 ing, as soon as the flowers have been 

 taken off the plants, and fifteen to twenty 

 minutes is sufficient to water the entire 

 house, so that ample time is given every 

 plant to dry off before night, thus avoid- 

 ing rust. During the winter months we 

 still use the hose, although next season 



we shall equip one bench with smaller 

 nozzles and attempt to use the mechanical 

 watering throughout the season. What 

 the results will be is at present mere 

 conjecture." 



GROWING ASTERS FORI SEED. 



The trade has for some years watched 

 with interest the efforts of James 

 Vick's Sons to make a commercial suc- 

 cess of the growing of aster seed at 

 Rochester, N, Y,, and it is a pleasure ti 

 everyone that they have had the courage 

 to persevere in the face of many dif- 

 ficulties. Of these obstacles to the suc- 

 cess finally achieved the firm speaks as 

 follows in its new illustrated aster list, 

 just issued: 



"When Admiral Tarragut issued hi? 

 famous command: 'Damn the torpc 

 does ; go ahead ! ' he expressed a deter- 

 mination to be checked by no obstacle 

 which by any possibility could be over- 

 come. That was a critical moment for 

 Admiral Farragut ; but, like similar crises 

 in the lives of every person, the deter- 

 mination to go ahead made all the dif- 

 ference between success and failure. 



"Such crises have occurred time and 

 again in our work of specializing in as- 

 ters. Obstacles almost impassable have 

 appeared again and again. It has re- 

 quired infinite patience to work year aft- 

 er year for results which might in the 

 end, after all our pains, prove worthless. 

 More than once we have almost lost, by 

 flood or drought, a strain upon which we 

 had spent years of anxious effort. Then 

 the cost, with every ounce of our aster 

 seed actually costing us twice as much 

 as others were asking for seed grown 

 in Europe and California, it has required 

 no small amount of courage to risk 

 thousands of dollars in aster crops, when 

 in the end the public might possibly turn 

 aside to buy cheap seed. Other difficul- 

 ties, which only experienced seed growers 

 could appreciate, have presented them- 

 selves at every point. We have seen 

 other growers give up the struggle, and 

 the question has often forced itself upon 

 us: 'Shall we, too, choose a less peril- 

 ous course?' But each time we have con- 

 sidered the wonderful possibilities for 

 development in the flower itself, and, 

 besides, we have felt confident that some 

 day flower-loving Americans would be- 

 stow upon this glorious queen of flowers 

 the admiration which she so richly de- 

 serves, 



"Success, they say, comes to those 

 who wait. How rich a measure of suc- 

 cess has crowned our effort as a result 

 of our perseverance may be seen from 

 the fact that, with ever-growing acreage 

 and steadily increasing crops of aster 

 seed, the demand for some varieties has 

 continually been in excess of the amounts 

 we could spare. But, after all, the best 

 tribute to our success is the fact that 

 Vick's asters at present have a reputa- 

 tion for superior quality which is world 

 wide. ' ' 



NOTES FROM ENGLAND. 



Over 100 years ago the large flowered 

 chrj'santhemum was introduced into Eu- 

 rope by M. P. Blancard, whose grand- 

 daughters are now said to be in poor 

 health and straitened circumstances. A 

 fund is being raised for their relief, sub- 

 scriptions to which are to be sent to the 

 foreign secretary of the N. C. S., C. Har- 

 man Payne, 141 Wallmeadow road. Cat- 

 ford S, E. 



It is said the favorite flower of Queen 

 Alexandra is the American type of win- 



