€8 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



of tbem measuring 2h to 3 feet iu length. It is perhaps only as 

 isolated specimens that they will be planted in private gardens ; I 

 confess I am not at all anxious to see great beds of them in 

 small places. The bed selected for any of these plants should consist 

 of light rich earth, if containing a considerable proportion of turf 

 all the better. It should also be deep and moist. The <:nd of May, 

 or even the second week of June, will be early enough to plant, but 

 this must depend on the weather ; in a forward season they might 

 be put out in the middle of May. It must be remembered that 

 they produce an effect at once, so they may well be kept under cover 

 until all the ordinary bedding is finished, as they will all the time be 

 increasing in size. 



C. escidentum. — The most robust of all ; it produces huge cordate 

 leaves a yard long, and of a fine sombre green colour. Planted 

 singly or in small groups, it is a most noble subject. The roots must 

 be taken up in the autumn and placed in dry sand, and kept dry 

 and safe from frost till March ; then to be started to grow in a light 

 rich soil in a moist heat of 70\ 



C. cuchlorum. — This is a very fine species, with large leaves of a 

 .-deep green colour. Four or five plants put a yard apart make a 

 beautiful group. Take up the roots in autumn, keep them in sand 

 all winter, and start in heat in March. 



0. cueullatum. — The grandest and most fast growing of all, but 

 a trifle more tender than C. esculentam, and therefore not likely to 

 do so well if the season should not be favourable. 



C. violaceum. — A pretty stuall-growing kind, with purplish leaves, 

 well adapted to make an edging to large beds of caladiums, or to 

 mix with other plants in flower beds. 



HARDY AND XEAELT HAEDY PALMS. 



It is not exactly a, new discovery that many palms may be placed 

 out of doors for the embellishment of the English flower garden, but 

 attention has only lately been seriously drawn to the subject, and I 

 venture to believe that my humble pen'has contributed somewhat to 

 this happy result. It should be known far and wide that one of the 

 noblest palms in the world, Chammrojjs Fortmici, is quite hardy in 

 the southern districts of England, and that there is a superb specimen 

 of it five feet high planted out on a bank in the Eoyal Botanic 

 Gardens, Regent's Park, and which has braved the winters unpro- 

 tected for seven years past. Of all the sub-tropical plants adapted 

 for English gardens, Chama^rops Fortunei, or Fortune's hardy 

 Chinese Palm, is perhaps the most truly valuable, because it may be 

 planted out like a Yucca — and what a grand companion for winter 

 effect to Yucca recurva ! — and remain a permanent ornament and one 

 of the most dignified forms of vegetation it is possible to imagine. 

 "With the exception of this species, which may be planted out in a 

 sheltered spot in any garden south of Nottingham, the palms must 

 he used as temporary occupants of the parterre, and the safest way 

 to deal with tliem is to plunge them in their pots. To grow a 

 'eollection for the purpose does not demand a great outlay, or long 



