April 9, 1908. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



31 



Twig Basket of Valley as an Easter Plant Arrangement*' 



an inch wide round the eye. This color 

 gradually fades away, but, as before re- 

 marked, when it first opens the flower 

 is very beautiful. The supply of this 

 and several others of the kinds noted is 

 at present inadequate for the demand, 

 but another year will see stock more 

 plentiful. 



Culture of Singles. 



Several inquiries reached me last week 

 as to culture, and I can only say that 

 culturally the single chrysanthemum is 

 one of the easiest subjects to handle. 

 Don 't be afraid to keep the shoots pinch- 

 ed down, till July, of the looser grow- 

 ing kinds previously noted, and give the 

 plants reasonably generous treatment as 

 regards feeding. 



A central stake and strands of mat- 

 ting or green thread to tie the main 

 shoots up to the stake is all the sup- 

 port necessary. Some of the kinds pro- 

 duce buds so profusely that a little dis- 

 budding gives the flowers a better chance 

 to open, but generally speaking forget 

 all about disbudding. Rob Boy, 

 Gretchen, Belle of Weybridge, J. T. 

 Angus and Gertrude may be disbudded 

 a little with advantage. 



Plants rooted in June and flowered in 

 6-inch pots without any stopping or dis- 

 budding are a beautiful sight, and I 

 believe will turn 'in more money per 

 square foot for the three months or 

 so that they occupy the space than any- 

 thing else a florist can grow. 



The singles will not displace the big 

 fellows by any means, but they are 

 creating a place for themselves in the 

 hearts of the flower lovers. 



Charles H. Totty. 



CONCRETE BENCHES. 



An Important Subject. 



I was greatly interested in the notes 

 on concrete benches in the Rkview of 

 March 19. While the scheme is still in 

 the development stage, to a certain ex- 

 tent, it is far enough advanced to show 

 that the cement bench is the bench of 

 the future. Lumber will soon be out 

 of the question, owing to its ever increas- 

 ing cost, and the concrete bench once 

 erected is good for a lifetime. We should 

 give every credit to the pioneers who, 

 as Mr. Wittbold says, have spent time 

 and money working out the problem. 



The most practical ideas I have seen 

 so far were illustrated to me the other 

 day by John Wilson, of Short Hills, 

 N. J. I gathered from his remarks that 

 a company is now in course of promotion 

 to erect greenhouse benches of concrete, 

 and he showed me a model that I con- 

 sidered left little to be desired. I trust 

 if these notes reach his eye that he will 

 favor Eeview readers with a detailed 

 report of his experiences in experiment- 

 ing with concrete till he got the details 

 worked out. 



Another One-piece Mold. 



Mr. Wilson's strong point is the mold 

 which he and his partner have patented. 

 Like Mr. Wittbold, he says that the sec- 

 tional bench is too crude; it is expensive 

 to make, too, owing to the heavier con- 

 struction using much more material, and 

 makes a heavy and unwieldy structure, 

 its only good point being that it can 

 be taken down and moved at any time. 



A wooden mold can be used in winter, 

 but it is impossible to use lumber for 

 a mold in the hot sun of July, as it 



warps badly and a neat job is impos- 

 sible with a 200-foot stretch. The mold 

 used is of thin sheet iron and a 6-foot 

 length is erected and held in place by 

 two thumb-screws, so that with a suffi- 

 cient number of lengths a mold of any 

 dimensions can be erected in a short time. 



Drainage. 



The question of drainage is cleverly 

 taken care of by upraise in the mold 

 «very six inches. This upraise comes 

 to the level of the thickness of the 

 concrete, so that the bench, when the 

 molds are taken off, has a continuous 

 line of drainage precisely as though the 

 bench were built of 6-inch lumber. This 

 would seem a much better and more work- 

 manlike way than Mr. Wittbold 's corks. 



Mr. Wilson uses the iron rods to re- 

 inforce the bottom and sides. The cross 

 bars on the bottom lock in the sides. 

 These iron rods are the kind in general 

 use in buildings made of reinforced con- 

 crete. 



I note Mr. Wittbold says these are not 

 necessary, so that item of expense may 

 possibly be eliminated. I confess I 

 did not think the rods were necessary, 

 when I looked the bench over, though 

 my experience in this line is limited. 



The fact that the molds can be so 

 easily erected seems to point to the one- 

 piece bench being the bench of the fu- 

 ture, as once the mold is properly in 

 place the filling is easy and there is 

 no hauling around of heavy sections of 

 concrete. 



The sectional bench may be useful to 

 a florist who handles a variety of crops 

 in a year, necessitating some change in 

 the benching; a man, for instance, who 

 uses a house for storing bay trees or 

 large palms, in winter, and can grow 



