1887. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



59 



shade it a little from the bright sun in winter. 

 When so treated the foliage retains its rich 

 dark green color, and the flowers are more 

 abundant in spring. 



Not having seen this plant in any of the nurs- 

 eries excepting that of The Storrs-Harrison Co. , 

 of Painesville, Ohio, [It is kept by a munber 

 of our nurserymen. — Editor], we think it is 

 not in general cultivation. We have gromi it 

 about 15 years, during which time it has given 

 perfect satisfaction, and has had many admirers. 

 One cyme of this flower and a blossom of the 

 Tuberose makes a charming little bouquet. 



Mr. Treeclimber Talks about a Very 

 Useful Palm. 



Last month I brought to your attention a 

 most wonderful flower ; now I ^vish to speak of 

 one of the most useful plants in the world, 

 namely, the Cocoanut. Of course you all know 

 the Cocoanut of the Tropics as well as you know 

 the Apple of more temperate climes, but it 

 may not be so weU known that the former pro- 

 duct is from a Palm, Cocos nucifera, and that 

 this is sometimes met in greenhouses, where it is 

 gro«Ti along with other Palms for ornament. 

 Still it is less in its element here than are many 

 other Palms, including even some from the same 

 genus Cocus, as if it would say, just as some 



THE COCOANUT PALM. 



bustling laboring man might in a fine drawing- 

 room, " I am for use and not much on show." 



The Cocoanuts we meet in America come 

 chiefly from Brazil and the West Indies. On 

 the island of Trinidad alone 



3,tXW ACRES ARE PLANTED 



with Cocoanut Palms. In 1884 about five and a 

 half millions Cocoanuts were shipped from 

 Jamaica,, which realized nearly §100,000. In 

 many parts of the Eastern Continent they form 

 a most important product. From Ceylon it is 

 oflicially stated that the cultivation of the 

 Cocoanut Palm with its multifarious uses is the 

 most important in the Ufe of the lower natives. 



To show my young readere the great worth of 

 this plant, I have been at some pains to look up 

 the many 



DIFFERENT WATS IN WHICH IT FINDS USE. 



The kernel of the ripe nut, the part which all 

 American childien appreciate, forms a very 

 essential element in the food of vast numbers of 

 lieople in the Tropics. The children in the 

 Cocoanut regions, it is said, ai'e fond of the 

 green imt, just like many of our own 1 joys who 

 maunch down green fruit, for all the world as 

 it it tasted better than the ripe. The "milk" 

 of the fruit is iLsed for slaking the thirst and as 

 :i pleasant beverage. For their spirituous 

 liquors the natives also look to this tree ; several 

 kinds are distilled from the sap of the tree. A 

 sweet meat is prepared from the kernel of the 

 nut, while an astringent medicine useful as a 

 throat gai'gle is extracted from the root. Vine- 

 gar is made of the juice or sap of the Palm, 

 and pickles of the pith of the fresh growth. 



THE HOUSE AND HOUSEKEEPING APPLIANCES 

 of those who lean chiefly on this plant for 

 existence are by it also supplied. Beams and 

 rafters come from the Ught, tough exterior of 

 the trunk, and the thatch of the roof and the 

 window blinds from the leaves. Troughs ai-e 

 made of the tree for catching water. Nets for 

 fishing are manufactured from the fibre, as is 

 also the rope which keeps the native's cow or 

 goat from straying. Crab traps are made of 

 the stems of the leaf, and fish traps of the ribs. 

 Bird cages are made of the same material. 1 

 Mats of many different kinds are woven out of 

 the fibre, while the same article is used for stuff- 

 ing cushions, beds, etc. 



Besides the use of the shell as a vessel for 

 water, mUk and aU liquids, there is made of it 

 ladels, spoons, strainers and di'ainers, all of 

 which possess the advantage of never corroding. 



SUCH THINGS OF USB AND ORNAMENT 

 as chains, rings, whips, rattles, beads, cros.ses, 

 puzzles, toys, are made of the same material. 

 The burnt and charred shell is used for prepar- 

 ing a colored wash for the houses. The natives 

 also make the resonant part of a violin, and of 

 another instrument called tm-tuna, from the 

 shell ; for a drmn they use a section of a tree, 

 and horns are made in all sizes by rolling up 

 the leaves. Abortive Cocoanuts are used as 

 floats by beginners in swimming. 



Brooms and brushes of a most serviceable 

 kind, such as are used for sweeping roads and 

 stables, are made of the ribs of the leaf, while 

 something finer of the same kind, and 



EVEN DOWN TO TOOTH BRUSHES, 

 is made of the stems of the blossoms. The oil 

 is used as hair-oil. Soap is made from the oil, 

 which holds a larger percentage of water than 

 any other soap, and potash comes from the 

 stem of the leaves. Flesh-gloves and currying 

 brushes are made of the husk of the nuts, tar 

 and acetic acid by burning the shells under a 

 certain process. Oil-cake is \ised for feeding 

 poultry and to manure the land. 



Such a useful plant is not raised even iu the 

 Tropics to a bearing size without considerable 

 care and cost. The plants are stai-ted from the 

 seed. 



THE NUTS ARE OF COURSE THE SEED, 

 and those for tree raising are gathered of good 

 size from old trees, and are kept in a well of 

 water for three months until they germinate. 

 This is soaking seeds for a good while isn't it? 

 After that they are put into the ground in beds 

 of fifty or a hundred, and ai-e watered every 

 ! day, when they soon germinate. In three 

 months more they begin to gi-ow up, and after 

 three years or more the}' may be transplanted 

 in regular spaces of from 15 to 20 feet, watered 

 regularly every other day, and manured occas- 

 ionally. In about twelve or fifteen years they 

 come to bearing, but the yield is in proportion 

 to the care taken to water and manme ; at this 

 stage the value of the trees is from $12 to $15 

 each. 



After the Cocoanuts are formed on the tree 

 it takes a full year for them to ripen. You may 

 say, no wonder the childi-en take to eating the 

 unripe fruit. Timotht Treeclimber. 



Begonias of Winter. 



A great many of the more shrubby class 

 yield a profusion of blossoms during the dull 

 season of the year; indeed, they form just now 

 a very attractive feature in stove and green- 

 houses, as well as in the window. 



Foremost amongst those in bloom now may 

 be mentioned Beyonia fuchsioides, which, 

 treated as a pillar-plant, has been in flower for 

 months, and is likely to continue so for a long 

 time yet to come. B. insignis is also now 

 laflen with its pretty pink blossoms, and B. 

 cisrotensis, with flowers of a deeper hue, is also 

 in bloom. B. Iiiyrami, something Uke an en- 

 larged Fuchsioides, with blossoms of a paler hue 

 than those of that kind, is also conspicuous ; and 

 B. Lynchiana, better known by the name of 

 B. Eoezli, produces freely its large clusters of 



coral-red blossoms during the winter months. 

 B. Crirrifi-ei is a pretty, much-branched kind, 

 and bears clusters of pure-white flowers. This 

 one is well suited for culture in small pots, 

 though there is sometimes a difficulty in in- 

 ducing the young plants to become bushy. 



A good way to induce compactness of growth 

 in Begonias, is to give them a rest by keeping 

 them rather short of water for a time; then, 

 if cut down, they will often push out many 

 shoots from the base, and thus form bushy 

 plants. 



Beijonia semperflorens is a well-known com- 

 mon kind, varj'ing in color from white to deep 

 rosy-pink. It wiU grow and flower freely im- 

 der anything like favorable conditions, and can 

 be raised in any quantity from seeds, as well 

 as propagated by means of cuttings. B. 

 nit ilia, an old and well-kno\\-n kind, is just 

 commencing to bloom, and wiU, in all proba- 

 bility, continue to flower till spring. The 

 peculiar round-leaved B. socotrana, which 

 remains in a dormant state throughout the 

 summer, starts into growth with the com- 

 mencement of autumn, and flowers continu- 

 ously dming the winter, is a very beautiful 

 plant, and may be readily increased by plant- 

 ing the small bulblets that form around the 

 base of the stem. 



A great point in favor of Begonias for con- 

 fined culture is their almost total immunity 

 from the attacks of insect pests. They are 

 occasionally affected by aphides, but a fiuniga- 

 tion or two wUl soon clear these away. — T., in 

 London Oarden inij Illustrated. 



It Is a Right Step. 



The step taken by the New Jersey State Horticult- 

 ural Society at its recent meeting, of requesting 

 the New Jersey members of Congress to oppose 

 any further appropriation for the Seed Bureau of 

 the United States Agricultural Department while 

 it is conducted on its present basis, is a timely one, 

 that should be followed by many other societies. 

 The purpose of this bureau as originally defined 

 and carried out, was to test new plants, with a view 

 to ascertaining whether they were worthy or not, 

 and the good work it has done in the past is a suffi- 

 cient index of what might perpetually be accom- 

 plished to the great benefit of all engaged in 

 soil culture. But now the department annually 

 wastes over $100,000 in flooding the country with 

 seeds that are seldom of any real use, bringing dis- 

 credit upon the entircdepartment, and thrusting a 

 direct blow at the legitimate seed trade. Let the 

 people demand a halt to this gross perversion. 



To be Enlarged Again. 



We knew it must come. Popular Gardening con- 

 tains too Uttle space for printing all of its good 

 things. Four pages more hereafter. Same price. 



Received at this Office. 



CATALOGUES . 



H. J. Weber, GardenviUe, Mo., Trees, etc. 



C. Platz & Son, Erfurt Prussia, Seeds, etc. 



D. Landreth & Sons, Philadelphia, Pa., Seeds. 

 Pierre Sebire, Ussy, France, Nursery. 



J. K. Nevins, Montague, Mass., Nursery. 

 C. G. Van Tuoergen, Zwanenburg, Holland, Bulbs. 

 Cameron,AmburK&Co.,Chicago 111 . Letter Files. 

 Ernest Riemschneider, Altoua. Germany. Bulbs. 

 John Saul, Washington, D. C, Fruit Trees, etc. 



E. Vervaet De Vos. Swynaerde. Belgium. Plants. 

 Lenault-Huet, Ussy, France, Nurseij-. 

 Levavasseur & Son, Ussy, France, Nursery. 



MlSCfcLLANEOUS. 



"Transactions of the JIassachusetts Horticultural 

 Society for the Year 188B. Part 1," from Robert 

 Manning, Secretary, Boston. Mass. 



" Report of the Fruit Growers' Association of On- 

 tario for the Year IS85," from Secretary L. 

 Wolverton, Grinisbv, Unt. 



"Transactions of the Maine State Pomological 

 Society for the Year 188.5." forwarded by Samuel L. 

 Boardhian, Secretary. Augusta, Maine. 



" Seventh Annual Report of the Entomological 

 Society of Ontario." 



" Analysis of Commercial Fertilizers," being 

 Bulletin "No. 20 of the Agricultural College of Mich- 

 igan Agricultural College Postofflee, Mich 



" Annual report of the Ohio State Horticultural 

 Society for the year 1885-86," from Secretary George 

 W. Campbell, Delaware, O 



" Miscellaneous Essays on Economic Entomology, 

 by the State Entomologist of Illinois," from Prof. 

 S A. Forbes, Champaign, 111. 



