:^ 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



Mabch 19, 1908. 



brown and drop, but i£*carefully water- 

 ed, there should be very little trouble 

 even with. this. The fact that they re- 

 ceive only a little sunshine should not 

 affect them if the light is good. C. W. 



CONCRETE BENCHES. 



A Subject of General Interest. 



Even the big cut flower growers, who 

 use acres of tabling, are beginning to 

 take a real, live interest in concrete 

 benches. Pecky cypress has don5 a great 

 deal to relieve the greenhouse men from 

 the sweltering task of rebuiWing benches 

 in the heat of summer, and it has re- 

 lieved them of the vexation of the acci- 

 dents which were frequent when hemTocl^ 

 was permitted to go too long unrenewed. 

 But experiments with concrete in green- 

 house construction have been so satisfac- 

 tory that practically every grower is in- 

 terested in the subject. -x 



Foundations and side-walls cfin be 

 made of concrete to advantage, but it is 

 in bench .CQ.nstructipn. that this modern 



greatest. The accompanying illustrations 

 will show the shapes of the various sec- 

 tions and how they lock together. It will 

 be seen that the heavier the load on the 

 bottom sections, the more firmly they 

 hold the sill and side sections. In the 

 top of the post there is a piece of iron 

 which fits in the notches in the ends of 

 the side sections and prevents any acci- 

 dent in the nature of knocking the sill off 

 the posts. Otherwise the bench retains 

 its place and position entirely through its 

 own weight and the weight of the soil 

 and stock. 



The Cement. 



Any grower can make the molds for 

 manufacturing such sectional benches. He 

 should use a good brand of Portland ce- 

 ment, mixing one part cement to four 

 parts gravel, fine crushed stone or cin- 

 ders. It is important in all cement work 

 to see that the cement and the rubble are 

 thoroughly mixed. If they are not mixed, 

 the concrete does not hold. The idea is 

 to coat every part of every piece of the 

 gravel or other filling material with the 



Outside. Inside and End View of Sill and Side Section. 



building material will have its largest 

 fullness. There are almost innumerable 

 styles of construction. Some who have 

 experimented advocate one-piece benches, 

 while others declare for sectional con- 

 struction. In the first case, the mold is 

 put up in the greenhouse and the bench 

 made all at one time, in one piece, and is 

 not removable. In the second casexjhe 

 molds turn out the pieces separately, the 

 parts may be made in advance of need 

 and the bench put up whenever ,fhe houise 

 is empty, the bench being movable should, 

 circumstances require. *^ 



Adopted by Big Growers. 



When Elmer D. Smith, Adrian, Mich., 

 was last in Chicago he expatiated so en- 

 thusiastically on concrete bench construc- 

 tion that he converted C. L. Washburn 

 to his ideas, and Bassett & Washburn, at 

 Hinsdale, will next season plant a part of 

 their stock on benches built on the Smitii 

 pattern. There is no question of the wel- 

 fare of the stock on concrete benches; 

 ■ plants will grow as ^wen on a cement 

 bench as on onp of wdoti or tiles, provid- 

 ing certain requisites, such as drainage, 

 are provided. In the one-piece bench ap- 

 ertures must be made for the passage of 

 water, but in all styles of sectional con- 

 struction the cracks between the blocks 

 provide all the drainage that is required. 



The Pattern Molds. 



Half a dozen ingenious growers have 

 devised patterns for sel flocking bench 

 construction. Some of them reinforce 

 their sections by putting in iron, and Mr. 

 "Smith puts what are known as cold- 

 twisted lug bars in his blocks to give ad- 

 ditional strength where the strain is 



moistened cement. Then when it is 

 tamped it brings the surfaces together 

 ^nd they will stay. Insufficient mixing or 

 careless tamping leaves spaces between 

 the filling material, and each space weak- 

 ens the structure by just so much. After 

 the sections have set they may be finished 

 with a little cement made wet enough 

 to work smooth with a trowel. 



There are concrete contracting firms in 

 most towns that will make cement 

 benches for florists, and do it at no great 

 cost when they can take weather not 



ONE PIECE BENCHES. 



I have noticed many references to con- 

 crete construction for greenhouse benches, 

 and wherever one goes among green- 

 house owners, it is evident that there is 

 much interest in this subject. I am con- 

 vinced that concrete benches will be uni- 

 versally adopted for greenhouses as soon 

 as the proper mode of construction has 

 been decided upon, and I wish to give 

 my experience and opinion in regard to 

 this new development in greenhouse build- 

 ing. 



After three years of experimenting 

 with several different methods of build- 

 ing benches of concrete I have become 

 satisfied that the bench built in one piece, 

 where it is to remain, has many advan- 

 tages over the sectional style of con- 

 struction. I have had built probably 

 as many square feet of cement bench 

 as any grower in this country and I have 

 found that any way I built a sectional 

 or portable bench it cost more by a 

 large percentage than where it was built 

 in one piece, as has been illustrated in 

 recent issues of the Review. The one- 

 piece construction was cheaper because it 

 took less labor and much less material. 

 The beams or carriers are eliminated 

 and the construction is cheapened by 

 omitting the reinforcing mateTial that is 

 necessary where movable slabs are used 

 to make them carry the heavy load. The 

 slabs and other parts consume cement 

 and make a heavy and unwieldy looking 

 structure. I have found that it takes 

 more labor, as well as material, to build 

 a sectional bench then to build a per- 

 manent one all in one piece. If you 

 make the sections light, you cannot make 

 them strong, and if you make them 

 strong it is surprising how it eats up 

 material, adds weight and occupies space. 



After the several years of experiment- 

 ing I have adopted the shape and style 

 of the old wood bench : bottom and 

 sides one inch thick, the only reinforcing 

 being with common chicken wire with a 

 2-inch mesh. I have proved that only 

 the posts are needed to hold up this 

 structure and, so little material being 

 used, I have found that I can build a 

 bench of this character at a first cost 

 less than for a wood bench at the pres- 

 ent prices of lumber. It took consid- 

 erable experimenting to get a mold which 

 was quickly erected, but, having found 

 it, after the mold is in position it is a 



Side, Bottom and End View of Bottom Section. 



Post. 



suited to outdoor work for turning out 

 the sections. But a florist can readily do 

 the work himself under the same condi- 

 tions. The first cost will be little if any 

 more than the expense of hemlock 

 benches that have to be renewed every 

 two or three years, and in the end the 

 saving will be considerable. 



matter of only a short time to pour ill 

 the cement and smoothen. 



With no part of the bench over an inch 

 thick and no beams or carriers of any 

 sort, the bench is stronger than necessary 

 for any weight which can be put upon it 

 in practical use. Any amount of drain- 

 age can be provided by placing corks in 



