PALM CULTURE IN OUR HOMES. 



hot air furnace, be sure to keep the 

 water pan filled, as much for the benefit 

 of yourself as your plants, and avoid if 

 possible coal gas, though palms stand 

 even more of this than most plants. 

 Should your house be lighted by gas, 

 grow your palms in the room where 

 least of it is used. Special ventilation I 

 do not think is necessary, the air that is 



have them in any quantity, take a tooth 

 brush and water and scrub the leaves 

 until the scale has fallen off. If how- 

 ever, your plant is free from these pests 

 to start with, and you examine it oc- 

 casionally, you will probably never 

 find more than half a dozen or so, which 

 may be removed with a little piece of 

 stick, or anything else that comes handy. 



Fig. 1535. — Kentia Canterburyana. 



pure enough for us will be all the palm 

 requires. 



There is but one class of insects that 

 are injurious to palms. These are 

 generally known as scale, and you will 

 have to learn to know them and keep a 

 sharp look-out for them, otherwise, your 

 efforts at palm culture will come to 

 naught. They appear as little greyish 

 or brownish scales on the leaves, and 

 will, if left undisturbed, render the finest 

 green leaf a sickly yellow. Should you 



Never apply kerosene emulsion or any- 

 thing else of that nature to your palms, 

 it may kill the scale, but will certainly 

 injure the plant. 



And now, we may consider the soil 

 and method of potting. I have grown 

 palms with some measure of success, in 

 soils of widely varying nature ; for in- 

 stance, in rotted clay sod, then in leaf 

 mould, and again in a mixture of the 

 two, and I have found but one soil so 

 far, in which they would not grow, and 



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