all of their roots in the package. With rotten 
bands, the plants were rooting all over the neigh- 
bor’s precinct. 
Someone suggested wood preservatives. ‘That 
looked like it might help,.so we tried it. But 
the costs of the wood preservatives and applica- 
tion were high enough to offset many of the 
other economies. 
Along came the War; clay pots became more ex- 
pensive and harder to get. It looked like more 
plantbands would have to be the solution. 
A number of kinds were ordered in for more 
trials. ‘Treated paper bands were quickly elim- 
inated. Light paper kinds were too hard to 
scramble into a flat. Some stuck together. Roof- 
ing paper bands were too water-tight to permit 
moisture to circulate freely in the flat. “That 
meant individual plant watering, or dipping the 
whole flat in a pan of water; and that just cost 
too much money. 
Veneer bands were selected as the most desirable. 
Stapled types were tried, too; but to remove them, 
when removal was necessary, meant cutting them 
at a corner with a knife, and that was very slow 
indeed. Slotted bands came off with just a twist 
of the wrist. 
By making a few simple changes in the slot design, 
we greatly stepped up the business of setting up 
the bands. High School girls, with their skinny 
nimble fingers, and their ever-pressing need for 
ready cash, did the job quickest and best. It is a 
good point in economics, however, to pay them 
by the flat rather than on an hourly basis. Some 
will set up 600 to 700 bands per hour, after a 
little practice. ) 
Several years ago. we located a southern manu- 
facturer who could make a few Cypress bands. 
But Cypress was being bought by the govern- 
ment just about as fast as it was being logged, so 
it has not been possible to secure enough cypress 
plantbands even for our own requirements, un- 
til this year. ‘This delay, while annoying, did 
however provide excellent opportunities to test, 
re-design, check, and perfect the product. Now 
we are ready to introduce the new improved Cy- 
press Plantbands. ‘They are coming to us in 
carload quantities and are available to you for 
your requirements. 
Try some of them! We have certainly found 
them most satisfactory, and you will, too. There 
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