Excluding transportation, orders for durables climbed 1.1 percent in October.

International orders climbed 29 percent, to $1.35 billion.

The order includes various shrubs and trees, together with many herbs and climbing plants.

Total military orders climbed 8.1 percent, to $9.8 billion in October.

Without the rise in military orders, total orders would have climbed a smaller 1 percent.

Last month, total foreign orders climbed 158 percent, to $86.7 million, compared with $33.6 million in July.

If that trend persists, orders for all of 1996 could climb above 1995's record levels, the association said.

Ben sent out the specs for the spring '06 line; orders climbed to 4,500 shirts.

Without this weakness, orders would have climbed a healthy 1 percent during the month.

The figures for July showed that domestic orders climbed 36.3 percent in the month from June's level.