was no difference in performance in the various kinds of pots although 

 plants growing in porous pots required slightly more water. 



Feeding 



Only five growers fed their plants, these five plants all being in the 

 successful group. Little or no food should be necessary so long as a 

 cordyline plant is given good soil at the time of repotting. This plant 

 is one of a group that tends to grow large after several years, so feed- 

 ing will cause it to grow past the medium-sized stage rather rapidly. 



Insect control measures 



As the broad leaves of the cordyline catch dust easily, about two- 

 thirds of the growers practiced regular washing of these plants. Washing 

 serves to remove this dust and since the leaves are smooth, insects are 

 readily washed off, especially if water is used under pressure. Mealybug 

 is usually the most troublesome insect on this plant but should not be 

 difficult to wash off. 



Suggested summer care 



Cordylines will be more satisfactory if kept indoors the year around. 

 In summer they should be shaded from direct sun. Plants that are 

 placed out-of-doors in shaded locations should be watered just as reg- 

 ularly as indoors. If the foliage is severely damaged by excess drying, 

 the plant will require many months to recover its decorative value. Re- 

 potting or shifting to larger pots may be necessary each summer. In re- 

 potting, the entire soil mass may be changed by washing the old soil from 

 the roots and replacing with a fresh mixture. By keeping them slightly 

 cramped in five- or six-inch pots cordylines may be kept for five or 

 more years before they finally grow too large. 



Cyclamen 

 Cyclamen africanum 



The cyclamen is a lovely, though often unsatisfactory, holiday plant 

 which to some few house-plant growers proves a fine winter blooming 

 plant. To learn more about its culture in the home, 20 cyclamen plants 

 were placed in as many homes in early December when they were just 

 beginning to throw up flower stems. Absolutely no instructions were 

 given for handling these plants. The high per cent of failures (50) shows 

 the difficulty with which these plants are grown. However, the informa- 

 tion obtained should help to reduce the number of failures with the 

 cyclamen. 



The 20 plants under test performed as follows: five very satisfactory, 

 five satisfactory, and ten failures. The failures were caused almost en- 

 tirely by drying with at least four plants failing because of a combination 

 of high temperature and drying. One plant kept in a jardiniere de- 

 veloped root rot, undoubtedly receiving too much water. The most 

 satisfactory plants lasted in good bloom for two-and-a-half months and 

 longer, while most of the failures came during the first two weeks that 

 the plants were in the home. 



Window exposure 



A wide variety of exposures was given these plants. Of the ten 

 plants which were satisfactory four were kept in sunny windows with 



Thirty-three 



