48 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



AVQVBT 19, 1900. 



ports are set twelve inches in the ground 

 in concrete, with two lines of 2-inch 

 angle iron and two lines of 2-inch T- 

 irons resting on the pipe supports to 

 carry the tile bottom. The tile slabs 

 are twenty-three and three-fourths inches 

 long, twelve inches wide and one inch 

 thick. There is a 6-inch iron spear point 

 attached to the legs to support the side 

 or facial boards. The height of the tile 

 bench above the walk is eighteen inches, 

 corresponding practically with the solid 

 beds next described. 



The walls for the solid beds are made 

 of concrete, four inches thick and twenty- 

 four inches high. Six inches of the wall 

 is below and eighteen inches above the 

 ground. The concrete was made of one 

 part Portland cement, three parts sand 



iron frames and supports. It thus ap- 

 pears that the solid beds with concrete 

 walls cost less than the other two forms 

 of construction and are, for all prac- 

 tical purposes, permanent. 



The soil for the entire house was the 

 sam^ being made from good, fine sod, 

 composted at the rate of three parts soil 

 and one part of well-rotted manure. The 

 soil and manure were mixed thoroughly 

 and worked over several times before 

 being brought into the house. The raised 

 wooden bench and tile bench were filled 

 in the usual way. The solid bed was 

 filled to a height of twelve inches with 

 cinders, then two inches of straw was 

 put on to prevent the soil from washing 

 into the cinders. On top of the straw 

 four, inches of compost was added, this 



Method of Conttractiiif Tik Bench With Iron Sapports, U. S. Department of Agricaltare. 



and six parts broken ttone or gravel, 

 without reinforcement. Siieh construc- 

 tion work can be done by greenhouse 

 men themselves. Where soft coal is 

 burned the ashes after screening would 

 take the place of sand and gnvel in 

 about the nme proportions. The osoal 

 way to construct with ashes or cinders is 

 to use one part Portland cement, three 

 parts fine aahes, and adz parts coarse 

 cinders. We constructed our beds eight- 

 een inches high for convenience in work- 

 ing them and gathering the flowera. If 

 the beds are lower than this it is neces- 

 sary to bend the back a good deal, which 

 cuts into the time of the men when they 

 are working with the plants. 



The accompanying ilhistrations 6bow 

 the methods of construction more satis- 

 factorily than mere description. 



Co«t of Several Styles. 



It is interesting to note the relative 

 cost of thea* different types of construc- 

 tion. The cort of the wooden benches, 

 constructed in the ordinary way, with 

 the wooden supports, was 12% cents per 

 square foot of bed space. The cost of the 

 raised beds with iron supports and tile 

 bottoms was 17 c«nta per Mjuure foot, 

 while the cost of the solid beds with 

 concrete walls was 11 cents per square 

 foot. The cost per plant was 9 cents 

 for the wood benches, 8 cents for the 

 solid beds with concrete walls, and 12 

 <-ents for the tile bottom benches with 



bringing it up flush with the top of the 

 concrete walls. 



Planting and Record4:eepin£. 



With a view to getting definite infor- 

 mation regarding the effect of the char- 

 acter of the bed, if any, on vigor and 

 productiveness, the house was divided 

 into five sections, a different variety of 

 carnation being planted in each. Sec- 

 tion one, for example, was planted to 

 Winsor; that is, a portion of the wooden 

 bench, conatituting about one-fourth of 

 the entire length, was planted to Winsor, 

 the Muoe variety being used for one- 

 fourth of the tile bench and one-fourth 

 of the solid beds. There were 1,126 

 Winsor plants involved in this experi- 

 ment, a sufficient number to give us a 

 fair commercial test. 



The same methods were followed in the 

 next section, which was planted with 

 White Enchantress, the next section with 

 White Perfection, the next with Beacon 

 and the next with Rose-pink Enchantress. 



A careful record was kept of the num- 

 ber of flowers cut from each section 

 and the value of the cut estimated from 

 the prevailing prices of carnations dur- 

 ing the season. 



Average Cut of Blooms. 



Without going into the details of this 

 work, it suffices to say that the records 

 kept as described were for five months, 

 including November, December, January, 



February and March, and show practi- 

 cally no difference in the yields from the 

 beds of different construction, if axiy- 

 thing the solid beds giving slightly better 

 results. 



Our records show, for example, that 

 the average yield per plant from the 

 Winsor plants on the raised woodei, 

 benches was fourteen flowers for the 

 period indicated. The average yield oh 

 the solid beds was twelve flowers; ov 

 the tile bench eleven flowers per plant. 



The average yield of the Beacon ob 

 the raised wooden bench was thirteen 

 flowers, on the solid beds 13.9 flowers, 

 and on the tile bench 9.9 flowers. 



The average yield of Enchantress oi, 

 the raised wooden bench was ten flowers, 

 on the tile bench ten and on the solid 

 beds thirteen flowers. 



It should be borne in mind that rec- 

 ords were kept for five months only. If 

 they had been kept the whole season 

 through, the average yields would have 

 been about doubled. 



Difference in Vigor. 



The plants in the solid beds, however, 

 were decidedly more vigorous; the stems 

 being stronger and the flowers larger 

 than in either the wooden or tile benches, 

 consequently were worth more money .^ 

 This is due to the fact that there is much 

 better drainage in the solid beds. The 

 soil never becomes soggy when an over- 

 supply of water is put on, as has been 

 found to be the case with the wooden and 

 tile benches. The plants in the tUe 

 bench were the least vigorous. It has 

 been our experience that it takes about 

 the same time to work the solid beds as 

 the raised wooden benches. We have 

 found, further, that the solid beds do not 

 require watering as frequently as the 

 other benches. It has been our practice 

 to water the solid beds once a week, while 

 it has been necessary to water the tile 

 and wooden benches at least three times 

 in two weeks. 



The cuttings for this experiment were 

 made about January 1 and potted in 

 2-inch pots when well rooted. Early in 

 March they were shifted to 3-inch pots, 

 where they were kept until the last week 

 in April, when they were transferred to 

 the benches. No field-grown stock was 

 used in the experiment. 



ExpcrlflKots in Bulb Growing. 



For a number of years the Bureau of 

 Plant Industry has been giving attention 

 to the poMihilities of bulb culture in the 

 United States. Various efforts have been 

 made to encourage bulb growing in dif- 

 ferent Mctions and four or five years ago 

 cooperative experiments were inaugu- 

 rated in the state of Washington with 

 several individuals, the work having for 

 its object experiments and demonstra 

 tions in the matter of growing bulbs, es- 

 pecially Dutch bulbs, in that section of 

 the country. Reports of this work have 

 been made from time to time, but as it 

 progressed it was seen that to secure the 

 best results the government should have 

 control of a certain amount of land upon 

 which it could inaugurate with its own 

 men a line of experimentation and demon 

 stration that would necessarily have to 

 last for several years. 



The citizens of BeUingham, Wash., 

 were very much interested in this work, 

 and for the purpose of encouraging the 

 department to undertake it near this 

 town, placed at our disposal ten acres of 

 land four miles from the city. The 

 ground is well adapted to bulb culture 

 and, in addition to putting it into thor- 

 ough shape for the work in view, the 



