J^.'--^'- 



NOVEMBEB 9, 1911. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



19 



Salesroom and Show House at the New Range of the Iowa Seed G>., Des Moioes. 



manure ineorporated. Ground bone is 

 also useful. Good sorts which should 

 be sown now are: Watchung, Mont 

 Blanc, Christmas White, or Florence 

 Denzer in white; Christmas Pink, Mrs. 

 Wm. Sim, salmon pink; Mrs. Alexander 

 Wallace, lavender; Flamingo, scarlet. 

 Leave the seedlings ten inches apart in 

 the rows to insure strong haulm and 

 fine flower spikes, and run the night 

 temperature 45 to 48 degrees. The 

 higher figure should be maintained 

 when they start to flower. 



It might pay to plant some gladioli 

 in a part of the house. The sweet pea 

 temperature would suit them. In large 

 varieties, use America, Mrs. F. King, 

 Augusta and Shakespeare. These can 

 not be planted until December, but you 

 can get bulbs of such sorts as Colvillei 

 The Bride, Peach Blossom, Ackermanni, 

 Blushing Bride and others of the small 

 flowering or nanus tjrpe now. The lat- 

 ter can go quite thickly in the beds or 

 benches, and will start to flower with 

 you about March 20. A soil which 

 suits roses will do equally well for 

 gladioli. ■ C. W. 



THAT THIN CONOEETE BENCH. 



I note in The Review for October 5 

 a description of the concrete bench 

 built by Loyd C. Bunch and am special- 

 ly interested to note that his bottom 

 slabs are only half an inch thick. Is 

 this correct? Can such benches, even 

 if reinforced with expanded metal, be 

 strong enough to support the weights 

 put upon the average greenhouse bench? 

 H. O. 



The one-half inch in thickness for the 

 slabs is correct. I would say in justi- 

 fying this thickness that it is not strong 

 enough to get onto with a wheelbarrow 

 or for a man to walk on. I use three 

 stringers lengthwise of the bench to 

 lay the slabs on. I use 1x4 common 

 pine. Of course cypress would be bet- 

 ter, but with the small surface exposed 

 to drip, pine will last a long time. I 

 set the outside stringers two or three 

 inches in from the ends of the slab, 

 with one in the middle. I find this is 

 strong enough for a cutting bench and 

 for standing pot plants in. I have not 

 yet tried them for carnations, etc., 

 where they carry soil, but am sure they 

 will hold, for the load is even. A weight 

 as heavy as a man standing between 

 the stringers will bend the slab and 

 crack it, but not break it entirely, be- 

 cause of the metal reinforcing. I be- 

 lieve a thickness of one inch would be 

 strong enough to wheel soil over if the 

 stringers were placed sixteen inches 

 apart. The added expense for material 

 for a slab one inch thick would be lit- 

 tle. The advantage of this kind of con- 

 struction is in the saving of time and 



forms to build them. Better drainage 

 is also a good point in its favor. 



I believe the solution for a good con- 

 crete bench lies in the proper reinforce- 

 ment, more than in the seeking for bet- 

 ter molds, etc. I use metal lath. There 

 perhaps is better metal for the purpose 

 than this, but I have not been in touch 

 with a concern which has any to an- 

 swer the purpose better. The only thing 

 necessary to make this construction an 

 ideal one in my mind would be to have 

 metal made for the purpose. The mesh 

 would do as well if twice as large as in 

 the metal lath and so made that about 

 three pieces of bar iron about ^x% or 

 ^xi^ could be threaded lengthwise, on 

 edge, through the metal. This would 

 give it stiffness enough, I believe, for 

 a half -inch slab to hold up any weight 

 required, when supports were sixteen 

 inches apart or perhaps more. With a 

 reinforcement of this kind a bench 

 could be made so cheaply and easily 

 that wood benches would soon be a 

 thing of the past. 



I would be glad to see any editorial 

 comments on this method. We are all 

 here to learn. Loyd C. Bunch. 



MIT.T.EPEDS. 



Will you please tell us what to do with 

 some pests that are troubling us? They 

 are a sort of thousand-legged worms, 

 which are white when small and grad- 

 ually get darker until grown, when they 

 are dark brown and about one inch long. 

 They get under the pots and do not 

 seem to do much harm, except that they 



crawl up in the pots and eat the roots 

 of some kinds of plants.* There are 

 millions of little ones coming on. 



A. G. 



The pests in question are millepeds. 

 While not greatly injurious to growing 

 plants, they are a nuisance. Fumigat- 

 ing with nicotine paper on two or three 

 successive evenings will destroy most 

 of them, with the exception of those 

 beneath the pots, where the nicotine 

 fumes may not jreach them. W. H. T. 



FLOBAL HILL GEEENHOUSES. 



On Wednesday and Thursday, No- 

 vember 1 and 2, the Iowa Seed Co., of 

 Des Moines, celebrated the completion 

 of its new greenhouses by holding a 

 formal opening. The firm has entirely 

 rebuilt the plant during the last two 

 years and has just finished eight fine 

 new houses. The range, which is known 

 as the Floral Hill Greenhouses, com- 

 prises thirty-two large houses, and the 

 Floral Hill grounds extend for five 

 blocks on Thirty-first street, running 

 from Kingman boulevard south to Cen- 

 ter street. 



The opening was well advertised in 

 advance, by means of circulars and 

 newspaper announcements, and large 

 crowds attended, in spite of the fact 

 that the houses are six blocks from the 

 street car line. One of the principal 

 attractions was a large number of 

 somewhat rare plants, such as are not 

 usually seen in ordinary commercial 

 greenhouses. 



House of Single and Pompon Mums Grown by the Iowa Seed Co. 



