THE CARE OF PALMS 



for potting Palms I mix the bone with ordinary 

 garden loam in the proportion of a teacupful 

 of the former to a bushel of the latter. This 

 is the compost in which I would expect the 

 plants to do well at all times, but when growth 

 was being made I would add a spoonful of bone 

 to each seven- or eight-inch pot, working it 

 well into the soil about the roots of the plant. 

 I would repeat the application once in three 

 months if growth continued. As a general 

 thing, under good treatment the Palm will 

 grow pretty nearly the year round. 



Good drainage is an item of great impor- 

 tance. I believe that more Palms are lost be- 

 cause of poor drainage than from all other 

 causes. If the soil retains water unduly, it 

 soon sours, and this condition of it is sure to 

 bring on a disease of the roots ; and as soon as 

 the roots of a Palm become diseased the tips of 

 the leaves will turn brown and become so un- 

 sightly that they have to be clipped off. Clip- 

 ping results in temporary improvement only. 

 Very soon the tissue of the leaf will turn brown 

 at its extremity, as it did in the first place, and 

 a second clipping will be necessary. After 

 about a third clipping the leaf will have lost 

 its beauty and your plant will cease to be an 



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