Io 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
December 1, 1907 
benches, and if there are side ventilators 
this can be readily done. If it is not 
feasible to have openings in the sides ot 
the houses, it will be a yreat convenience 
if a small car can be run along the edges 
of the benches. 
For many years solid beds were almost 
universally used for gcowing roses and 
similar plants. They admit of supplying 
a full amount of plant food, but while 
they lessen the danger of injury from 
neglect in watering, they frequently do 
great harm if the plants are over-watered, 
particularly if the sun does not show 
itself for a number of days, as they are a 
long time in drying out. For this reason 
they fell into disrepute, aud were re- 
placed in most establishments by shallow 
raised benches, as it was found that roses 
grown upon them in four or five inches 
of soil were less likely to receive a check 
during the dull days of early winter, 
Upon solid beds, however, with good 
drainage large crops are secured as the 
bright sunny days of spring come on, 
and what is of much importance the 
plants can be grown for two or more 
years before they are thrown out, while 
upon shallow benches it is generally ad- 
visable to renew the plants each year, 
A method has now come into nse that 
provides for the thorough drainage and 
the aeration of the soil, as well as warming 
it up and drying it out. The solid beds 
are generally about 7 ft, wide with two 
beds and two walks in a house 20 ft. in 
width. The drainage is provided, in some 
cases, by means of common drain tile laid 
across the beds at intervals of from 1 to 3 
ft., while in others a foot or more in 
depth of stone or broken brick is placed 
in the bottom and covered with 8 inches 
of soil. A few most successful growers 
secure bottom heat by running one or 
more steampipes lengthwise of the beds 
at about the centre of the layer of stones ; 
the heat distributes itself through the 
bed and is of marked advantage in wet, 
dull weather, in drying out the surplus 
water and warming up the soil, Another 
favorite arrangement is to have three 
beds each 5 ft. wide, and four walks in a 
house 22 it. wide, These beds have all 
of the advantages of the old solid bed, 
with none of the disadvantages, and are 
equally well adapted to carnations, violets, 
lettuce and other crops. The watering 
of the plants by what is known as sub- 
irrigation has many advantages. 
Before the beds are filled with soil, 
ample drainage facilities should be pro- 
vided, and if raised wooden benches are 
used there should be cracks of nearly one 
inch between the bottom boards, which 
should preferably not be more than six 
inches wide. When tile bottoms are used 
the cracks can be somewhat smaller. To 
prevent the soil from falling through the 
cracks, or falling through the cracks, or 
from filling up the openings between the 
stones in the solid beds, it is well to first 
put down a layer of sods with the grass 
side down, and upon these four ot five 
inches of the prepared soil for a raised 
bench or seven or eight for a solid bea 
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should be placed. This should be leveled 
off and firmly packed down, 
The beds are now ready for planting, 
and this should not long be delayed, as 
the thin layer of soil will soon dry out 
and will be in an undesirable condition 
for setting out the plants. The rows are 
generally 12 inches apart lenythwise of 
the house, so that a bed will held as many 
rows as it is feet wide, and the plants are 
set 12 to 16 inches apart in the rows, 
accerding to the strength of the variety 
and whether designed for one or two 
years’ growing. Assort the plants and 
use the smaller ones next the walk. Dig 
holes for the plants with a trowel, and 
set the plants about as deep as they grew 
“5 & <i 
ETHEL 
in the pots, taking care not to break the 
‘balls’ unless the plants have become 
pot-bound, when it is well to loosen the 
roots, While it is always desirable to 
work the soil carefully into. place and 
to press it firmly about the roots, the soil 
between the plants should be smoothed 
off and the surface left light. Upon slop- 
ing benches in particular it is an excellent 
plan to have depressions about the plants 
to hold water and cause it to sink down 
to the roots for the first few waterings 
until the plants become established, If 
weeds start, as they probably will in a 
week or ten days, the soil should be 
stirred as soou as they appear, and this 
should be repeated whenever necessary to 
wh 
BROWNLOW, 
