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Copyright, 1899, BY 

 FLORISTS' PUBLISHING CO.. 520-535 Caxton Building. GHIGAGO. 



Vol. IV. 



CHICAGO AND NEW YORK, JULY 27, 1899. 



No. 87. 



DRACAENA FRAGRANS. 



This handsome foliage plant is one 

 of the true dracaenas, for it will be 

 remembered by some of our readers 

 that the majority of the plants we 

 know as dracaenas in the trade are 

 actually cordylines, these two closely 

 allied families of plants having been 



family of tropical plants, having been 

 in cultivation for considerably over 

 one hundred years, and was originally 

 brought from Africa. But having been 

 in cultivation for so long a period, 

 this plant has now become widely 

 distributed, and many of the stems 

 used for propagation are now sent 

 from the West Indies to Europe and 



Dracaena Fragrans. 



much mixed in their nomenclature, 

 and in consequence we find that the 

 brightly colored cordylines that have 

 mostly arisen from C. terminalis are 

 more widely known as dracaenas. 



Dracaena fragrans is one of the ear- 

 liest introductions in this interesting 



also to our own plant centers, where 

 they are usually sold for so much per 

 foot. - 



These stems, which range from half 

 an inch to three times that diameter, 

 are laid in a propagating bench where 

 strong bottom heat can be maintained, 



nearly buried in sand or light soil and 

 kept constantly moist, under which 

 conditions the dormant eyes soon start 

 into growth and the young shoots are 

 taken off as cuttings. The latter are 

 by no means difficult to root, and 

 should be potted off into small pots 

 and kept well shaded and rather close 

 until they become established and 

 then shifted on into larger pots be- 

 fore they show signs of starvation, it 

 being one of the essentials of success- 

 ful dracaena culture that the young 

 plants be kept moving along steadily. 



Good turfy loam with a liberal pro- 

 portion of dry cow manure and a 

 sprinkling of bone dust forms a satis- 

 factory compost for these dracaenas, 

 and they require a shaded house, a 

 moist atmosphere, and a temperature 

 of 65 to 70 degrees at night to grow 

 them rapidly. If allowed to become 

 starved they soon lose that rich dark 

 green color of the foliage and the tips 

 of the leaves are likely to decay, be- 

 side the possibility that the plants 

 may run to flower instead of contin- 

 uing to grow. 



In a well-grown specimen the leaves 

 are very broad and of a leathery tex- 

 ture, and such specimens will andure 

 house decoration for a considerable 

 time before they grow shabby, but if 

 the plants have been grown very soft 

 by means of an extremely high tem- 

 perature and close atmosphere the> 

 are likely to prove decidedly un-5— s- 

 factory to the decorator. 



Our illustration gives a good idea of 

 a sturdy young plant of D. fragrans, 

 such as may be grown in a iew 

 months from the cutting, providing 

 reasonable care be given to its cul- 

 ture. The plain green foliage of the 

 type is not, however, the only form 

 we have of this handsome plant, there 

 having been at least two variegated 

 forms of D. fragrans that have been 

 distributed. 



The first of these is that known as 

 D. Lindenii, the habit of which is sim- 

 ilar to that of the parent, and the 



