160 How TO (iRow Cut Flowers. 



pieces every twenty feet. Take common white cord, 

 and instead of running at right angles with the first 

 wire, carry it across the bed diagonally, passing the ball 

 around each wire as you proceed. The distance between 

 the strings should be six inches, and when finished the 

 surface will be as represented in Fig. 33. Two men, one 

 on each side of a bench, will perform the work rapidly. 

 The plants will soon grow up through this net work 

 and it will prevent their being pressed to the ground 

 by the weight of additional growth. For strong plants 

 my preference is for wire netting. Take a roll of two 

 inch mesh chicken-wire, cut in lengths the width of the 

 bench, divide this into two pieces, lengthwise, fasten 

 each edge to oak or yellow pine, strips one inch by half 

 inch with small staples one-fourth of an inch in length. 

 A still more durable way is to sew the edges with wire 

 to five-eighths inch iron rods of suitable length. Bend 

 this now in the form of an inverted V, and place be- 

 tween the rows, fastening the ends of the strips to which 

 the wire is fastened to the edge of the bench, by means 

 of common staples. This will commend itself to all 

 who adopt it, for the following reasons : It keeps all 

 foliage from touching the ground at any time during 

 the season ; a constant current of air passes through the 

 space caused by the inverted V, drying out any damp- 

 ness that may have gathered ; liquid food can easily be 

 supplied without wetting the foliage, and when the sea- 

 son is over, shut one into another, they occupy but little 



