THE CULTURE AND 



general unsightliness, and these few are 

 brown and dry at the tip of each leaflet. 

 Healthy color is lacking. The impression that 

 the plant gives you is that it would die if it 

 could, but it cannot. Because of great inhe- 

 rent vitality it keeps on living against its better 

 judgment. It feels that it is not a credit to 

 itself, and that it poorly plays its part in the 

 general decorative scheme, but it knows that 

 the fault is not its own. And the owner of it 

 feels equally sure that the fault is not hers. 

 She has heard of a great many things that will 

 bring about success in the culture of these 

 plants, and she has tried them all. Has she not 

 bathed the leaves with oil, as advised? Has 

 she not buried pounds of beefsteak at its roots ? 

 Is there anything in the long list of " desirable 

 fertilizers" she has not experimented with? 

 And yet her pet plant has not improved. On 

 the whole, it has grown more shabby arid un- 

 sightly month after month, until she has about 

 lost all hope of its ever realizing the ideals 

 she has formed when she brought it home from 

 the greenhouse. 



The fact is, the Palm is a comparatively slow 

 grower under the conditions which exist in the 

 ordinary living-room, and we, in our impa- 



