262 



PALMS AND CYCADS. 



It is a matter for surprise that with a climate so suitable for 

 their growth, and with so many natives at hand, these plants, 

 which are undoubtedly the noblest and most majestic of the 

 vegetable kingdom, have suffered so much neglect ; their name 

 is Legion and their luxuriance, grandeur, and adaptation for 

 table and other decorative purposes unsurpassed, yet beyond 

 a few common varieties, they are almost unrepresented in most 

 collections, and the absence of the finer kinds in our Annual 

 Shows and in our gardens is an error that must be put right 

 without loss of time ; no known plant is capable of imparting 

 the oriental grandeur, that a pile of palms can, to a tropical 

 garden ; the numerous dwarf kinds with miniature, but neverthe- 

 less perfectly graceful forms, are admirably suited for the deco- 

 ration of the drawing and dining room, while the larger kinds are 

 suitable for entrances, verandahs and conservatories, the natives 

 being grown out in the open garden. - ,, 



The most economical method of obtaining a collection is to 

 raise the same from seed which is obtainable at very reasonable 

 rates from the Eoyal Botanical Gardens at Calcutta, Mauritius 

 and Ceylon ; the seed should be received in May or June if 

 possible, and put into nursery pots or pans, each description 

 separately, because young palms look very much alike, and if 

 mixed up cannot be distinguished easily by Amateurs until 

 after the leaves begin to characterise; the soil in which the 

 palm seeds are to be sown should contain very little manure, 

 therefore take three baskets of earth from any part of the gar- 

 den free from stones and gravel, mix one basket of red earth 

 and one of river sand, to which add half a basket of horse 

 manure,* and you have a soil suitable for their growth ; after the 

 seed has been sown, water the pots or pans regularly from a can ; 

 the seed takes months to germinate, varying very much according 

 to the species, so that watering should not be discontinued 

 because some of the seed has germinated, and the others show no 

 signs of putting in an appearance. 



Palms, as a rule, grow very slowly, so to expect to propagate 

 them from the seed to be obtained from plants raised from 



