FOURTH WEEK IN AUGUST 



and the plants were amply supplied with water from a hose 

 throughout their first summer. A large quantity of water 

 is given to their roots each year in warm, dry weather ; and 

 as a precaution to avoid injury from the high winds of 

 autumn the leaves of some of the more delicate palms are 

 tied together, like a folded umbrella, from October till 

 April yearly, placing each in position from the centre, 

 and covering the outside leaves with a mat. This is not 

 necessary, however, in the case of Chamasrops excelsa and 

 C. humilis, the latter having proved extremely hardy. 

 Phoenix sylvestris, too, and P. canariensis do not suffer 

 from the cold, but the effect of rough winds is disastrous 

 to their beauty, as may often be seen on the Riviera and 

 elsewhere. 



Early in April, too, the whole collection of sub-tropical 

 plants obtains a somewhat heavy mulch of well-decayed 

 manure just as the new growth begins, which no doubt 

 supplies them with plenty of nourishment throughout the 

 summer. 



With so fine a sub-tropical background, the Indian shot 

 (Canna indica), Hedychium gardnerianum (the yellow 

 garland flower), oleanders and pomegranates, and many 

 another foreign plant, will harmonise well ; whilst plenty of 

 rich colouring is afforded by beds of tuberous begonias, 

 pelargoniums, and other brilliantly tinted flowers from 

 warmer climes than ours. 



Dracaenas (as well as the India-rubber tree, Ficus elasticus, 

 and other plants) are apt to become leggy and awkward- 

 looking after a time when grown in pots, but this can be 

 remedied by means of stem-rooting them. To do this suc- 

 cessfully a 5-inch pot should be sawn in half perpendicularly, 

 so that the hole at the bottom of the pot is divided into two 

 parts. The stem of the plant is then slit half through (in 

 the same way that a carnation is layered) just below the 

 foliage, and the two halves of the pot are fixed around it 

 (resting on two stakes in the ground, or by wire and string), 

 in such a position that the stem, just below the incision, 

 appears through the hole at the bottom of the pot. Drainage 



305 R 



