FOLIAGE PLANTS OTHER THAN PALMS 189 



Compared with the palms, the rubber 

 plant is a fast growing subject, but a plant 

 grown to a single stem will not become too 

 tall for the living room for a couple or three 

 years. A rubber plant six to eight feet tall 

 always has a "leggy" look, for, as a rule, the 

 bottom leaves drop off. When a rubber 

 plant gets too tall for the house, don't cut 

 off the top and throw it away, but root it, 

 making a new plant as has been described 

 on page 67. 



If you have a greenhouse or a propa- 

 gating box in which bottom heat and 

 a humid atmosphere can be maintained, 

 the stem can be cut up into short pieces — 

 one leaf to a piece. The cuttings can then 

 be put directly into the propagating box 

 or the cuttings tied to small sticks so as to 

 maintain the leaf in an upright position, and 

 the whole planted in sand in two, or two and 

 one-half inch pots and then plunged in a 

 cutting bench. In order to make the cut- 

 tings root, a steady heat and humidity in the 

 atmosphere must be maintained. 



The rubber plant is a gross feeder so there 

 is no danger of getting the soil too rich. 

 Use an ordinary potting soil such as has 



