Twelve] jfoltage plants 



under favourable conditions from eight to ten feet 

 tall with leaves three feet in diameter. 



Banana plants are very showy and attractive and 

 in the North are more or less of a novelty. They may 

 be planted out in the open ground or in tubs when all 

 danger of frost is over. Though less sensitive to root 

 disturbance than the Ricinus, they are very impatient 

 of the immediate presence of other plants, and young 

 plants should be grown by themselves. Robust two- 

 year-old plants, however, may be used as centres for 

 beds of Cannas or similar plants with fine effect. 

 When obtainable they should be given a compost of 

 muck and old manure and supplied with a very lib- 

 eral amount of water; the water from the laundry 

 and kitchen should be saved for them, as one can 

 scarcely overfeed them. Give a warm, sunny situa- 

 tion, protected from rough winds, which whip and 

 tear the broad leaves, rendering them most unsightly. 

 A southeast angle of building or shrubbery furnishes 

 an ideal location. In the fall the plants may be re- 

 moved to the cellar in the tubs in which they have 

 been grown, or they may be lifted, if grown in 

 the open ground, and planted in suitable tubs for 

 the adornment of the conservatory or living-room. 

 Grown indoors they are very ornamental, the foliage 

 being perfect, which is rarely the case out of doors. 

 It is also much easier to carry the plants through the 

 winter in this way; as they are very sensitive to cold 

 and damp when dormant and cannot be carried sue- 



