THE FLORISTS MANUAL. 



J75 



Livistona Rotundifolia. 



and piece of green moss are enough for 

 plants in a 5-inch or 6-inch pot, but 

 when in larger, and more especially 

 when in very large pots or tubs and 

 boxes, which they may remain in for 

 four or five years, they should have two 

 or three inches of drainage. If water 

 passes quickly through the soil, whether 

 the plant is in a 4-inch or 14-inch, then 

 the drainage is all right. If it does 

 not, and it is slow in disappearing from 

 the surface, then it is all wrong. In 

 spring and summer, when making leaves 

 fast, they want copious watering, but 

 usually when thoroughly watered, once 

 a day is enough. In winter, with a 

 lower temperature, darker days and 

 slower growth, less water is needed. A 

 gardener knows at a glance whether 

 they are dry or not. Palms .in winter 

 want as regular watering as in summer, 

 but with the difference that after a 

 watering they may remain moist for two 

 days, while in summer, with the pots 

 full of roots, they want a watering 

 twice a day. 



Syringing is most essential to all 

 palms. First it creates that moisture 

 in the atmosphere so congenial to their 

 growth, and then again it cleans their 

 foliage of insects, more especially that 

 nuisance, the mealy bug. If the house 

 is paved with stone or cement, you 

 should syringe at least twice a day in 

 summer, and frequently throw water 

 about the paths and benches. If the 

 floor is gravel or earth, there is always 

 more or less moisture rising, but 

 syringe every day, and when you do 

 syringe, don t hold and direct the hose 

 as if you were watering a bed of 



radishes, but direct your fine but strong 

 stream upwards at the underside of the 

 leaf. Constant syringing on such palms 

 as latanias, kentias and arecas is an 

 other reason why the soil should be in 

 good condition to let the water pass 

 through. In winter syringe occasionally 

 in the morning, and when firing hard 

 damp down the houses; less moisture 

 is needed in winter, as the plants are 

 in less active growth. 



Soil and Potting. 



I have within a few years heard of 

 several of our leading palms being 

 planted out in spring on a bench in 

 six inches of soil and grown there dur 

 ing the summer and lifted in the fall. 

 You can doubtless with great heat and 

 moisture produce a latania or a kentia 

 much larger in the same space of time 

 that you would be growing it in a pot, 

 but would it be as serviceable a plant 

 in the fall? Would you not have to 

 lift it early and get it well established 

 before you sent it out to the confiding 

 retailer? We don t believe it is a good 

 plan and would not buy such plants if 

 we were aware of it. 



Producing a large, showy palm is 

 not the only object. People who give 

 you a good price for a 6-inch ken 

 tia or latania expect it to thrive in 

 the house a few weeks at least, and the 

 plaintive cry of &quot;My palm is turning 



Latania Rubra. 



