PLANTS 



I know of no plant better than this. It stands 

 all kinds of neglect and hard usage. Because 

 of its succulent nature it is not readily injured 

 by lack of moisture at the roots. Having a 

 thick, tough skin, it is not susceptible to injury 

 from insects, and dry air and dust seemingly 

 have no effect on it. Its peculiar foliage has 

 a suggestion of the tropics in it, and on this 

 account it will appeal to many. For some 

 reason it has never been much grown, but I am 

 confident that it would soon become a very 

 popular plant if its merits were better under- 

 stood. 



I have referred to the Aspidistra as a Mark 

 Tapley among plants. If anything in the 

 plant line can " come out strong " under diffi- 

 culties, it is this. I have seen specimens of it 

 which had not been repotted for years, and had 

 not had an application of fertilizer more than 

 two or three times in their lives. They had 

 been allowed to get dry repeatedly. They had 

 seen the thermometer run from one hundred 

 above zero to dangerously near the freezing- 

 point, and for weeks at a time they had stood in 

 a shady corner ten feet away from any direct 

 light. And yet these plants looked well and 

 were thickly set with foliage of good color; 



16 241 



