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April 13, 1911. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



9 



Missouri Greenhouse Plant After Explosion of an Uninsured Boiler. 



age amounted to about $50,000, and not 

 a cent's worth of insurance was carried. 

 Even supposing that inspection would not 

 have prevented the accident, insurance 

 would have taken away the sting of the 

 loss. 



When considering the advisability of 

 boiler insurance, remember that the in- 

 spections are really the most valuable 

 part, and these points should be borne in 

 mind: That is cheapest which is best. 

 This is especially true of boiler insur- 

 ance. Good mechanics cannot be secured 

 at less than standard prices, and good 

 inspections require that a certain amount 

 of time be consumed in making them. A 

 few dollars saved in premiums at the 

 cost of eflSciency in inspections, may mean 

 thousands wasted in the end. The advice 

 that a good company is able to furnish 

 its policy holders is frequently the means 

 of saving them, in economies, many times 

 the cost of the service. 



The Eeview heartily endorses insur- 

 ance of all kinds, when taken out in repu- 

 table companies, and recommends to its 

 readers the aerious consideration of this 

 protection wherever and whenever possi- 

 ble. 



CEMENT BENCHES IN ENGLAND. 



It may be remembered that when 

 W. Wells, of W. Wells & Co., Merstham, 

 England, visited this country last fall, 

 he was favorably impressed with the 

 results obtained here by the use of 

 concrete benches, and one of the fea- 

 tures of this system of benching that 

 especially appealed to him was its econ- 

 omy. Since his return to England he 

 has given the concrete benches a trial 

 in some of his own carnation and chry- 

 santhemum houses, and is highly 

 pleased with the outcome of the ex- 

 periment. The Horticultural Adver- 

 tiser (English) gives the following ac- 

 count of Mr. Wells' method of con- 

 structing the benches: 



"The benches have all been made 

 on the nurseries at Merstham by the 

 handy man, and two entirely different 

 methods have been tried in the con- 

 struction. At first, a flat surface was 

 prepared with floor boards, which was 

 bordered with boards firmly fixed to 

 form the edges of the bench. Molds of 

 the exact size were then made from 

 floor boards to form a partition, so 



that the bench was composed of sec- 

 tions eighteen inches wide, to enable 

 one to handle and fix them. The ce- 

 ment was then leveled in the bottom, 

 and, to hold the edge inside, a plank 

 was tacked to the inside of the part- 

 ing mold, making the bottom surface 

 two and one-half inches thick, and the 

 side edges two and one-half to one and 

 one-half inches. These benches were 

 three feet wide where they fitted 

 against the sides of the house, and 

 five feet, when in the center. Three 

 feet is quite as far as one can reach to 

 plant, etc. 



"The proportions were four parts of 

 sharp sand to one of cement, which 

 was knocked up wet. In about a 

 week's time the sections could be 

 moved from the molds and stood up 

 on end with care, and from then given 

 plenty of water until set quite hard. 

 The second method is much preferred, 

 however, for it is quicker and does not 

 take so much ground space. For this, 

 a box mold was made in two pieces, 

 so that the cement could be rammed 

 in and the mold taken off, merely by 

 opening the two parts. The propor- 

 tions here are the same, but the cement 

 or sand should not be wetted at all. 

 It should be put in the mold and well 

 rammed when moist enough to cling 

 when squeezed in the hand. In half 



:ui hour the mold can bo taken off 

 and the newly made section be damped 

 down with plenty of water from a fine 

 rose. In three days this section will 

 be solid enough to be stacked close 

 to others, so that the sun and wind do 

 not dry them too quickly. In less than 

 a month they can be placed in the 

 house, but it is best not to hurry. 



' ' Drainage holes should be allowed 

 for by either method, also two pieces 

 of thin pipe. Or, better still, bed laths 

 should be put almost the whole length 

 of the section to give it support. The 

 bench system has been tried and found 

 unsatisfactory by some growers in 

 England — due, no doubt, to the incor- 

 rect method of fixing. The idea is to 

 get good drainage, warmth and air un- 

 der and around the roots. It should 

 not be confused with the raised border, 

 from which it has quite a different ef- 

 fect. In fixing, the bench should be 

 raised at least six inches clear from 

 the ground, and is best supported on 

 light iron rails, such as are used by 

 contractors. These can be obtained 

 cheap. By this mode, a man can wa- 

 ter 1,000 plants in a few minutes; 

 in fact, a house does not require a tenth 

 the labor spent on it when pots are 

 used. It does not take so long to plant 

 as it does to pot, and, finally, the re- 

 sults in the first trial at Merstham are 

 quite suflicient to warrant extensions 

 without considering the labor-saving 

 point of view, and growers are recom- 

 mended to give the system a trial." 



ABRANGEMENT OF SHBUBS. 



Never plant shrubs, nor flowers, nor 

 anything else, in the center of the lawn, 

 says the National Council of Horticul- 

 ture in one of its recent bulletins dis- 

 tributed to the newspapers of the coun- 

 try. Such planting dwarfs the place 

 and spoils all artistic effect. 



Where the house foundation meets 

 the lawn is a harsh line. Plant shrubs 

 around the house, close to the founda- 

 tion, to bide it. The view under the 

 front porch is not pleasing, so plant 

 something to hide that. The weekly 

 wash and other things occasionally seen 

 in the backyard are not beautiful, so 

 plant a screen of tall shrubs from the 

 back of the house to the fence on either 

 side. » The division fences are not hand- 

 some, so shrubs may be planted to hide 

 them, at least partly. Square corners 

 are not pleasing, so plant shrubs in the 

 corners to round them off. 



If there is anything unsightly about. 



Effect of Boiler Explosion on Carnation Bange Adjoining. 



