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THE FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



found a use for their fruit. The Date 

 Palm (Phoenix dactylifera) is the 

 chief sustenance of millions. The 

 milk and pulp of the cocoanut are a 

 leading article of diet in all tropical 

 countries. The leaves are used as 

 thatch to cover huts, and the hard 

 stem is utilized for building and in 

 many other ways. 



Many palms do-well planted out in 

 the mild states of our Union. We are 

 continually told by tourists of the fine 

 chamaerops and braheas that are seen 

 in California, and that most splendid 

 palm, Latania borbonica, thrives in 

 the Channel Island, where only a few 



It would be quite interesting if some 

 statistician could trace the annual in- 

 crease in the output of the palms for 

 the past thirty years. In this country 

 at least it would (please excuse the 

 simile) be not unlike the career of the 

 bicycle: At first rare, and, when seen, 

 stared at by multitudes. Soon those 

 that could afford them! purchased one, 

 then as prices became more popular 

 the majority had one, or, for a va- 

 riety, two or three. Then, when the 

 best patterns or varieties came on the 

 market and manufacturers and grow- 

 ers turned out so cheaply the best 

 kinds, warranted not to break at the 



Kentia Belmoreana. 



degrees of frost occurs. It is this abil- 

 ity to endure a low temperature (but 

 only a limited number will stand a 

 frost) that makes them of such great 

 value to us as decorative plants, and 

 again, being natives of some of the 

 warmest parts of the globe, palms like 

 the kentia will thrive under the great 

 changes of temperature that frequently 

 occur in a living room, hot to suffoca- 

 tion if baby is cold, and down to 40 

 degrees if John lets the furnace get 

 low. This is not the way to grow 

 them, but it is their nature to survive 

 these changes and makes them our un- 

 equaled house plants. 



forks or turn brown on the tips, our . 

 errand boy takes home to his washer- 

 woman mother a Kentia Belmoreana 

 mounted on a $20 "Rolling Ranger" 

 paid for at one dollar per week, install- 

 ment plan. 



The raising of palms in this country, 

 of the useful commercial kinds, is a 

 large part of the business of a few of 

 our largest firms. Formerly many 

 thousands were imported, particularly 

 kentias, but that is fast dropping off, 

 for prodigious quantities are now 

 grown here annually. Arecas are much 

 better grown here, and so I think are 

 all useful species. We may have a cold- 



er climate to contend with in winter, a 

 matter of trifling consequence in a 

 house or acre of palms, and surely 

 with proper care and management we 

 have the right summers. We never see 

 such short, sturdy, finely developed 

 kentias or latanias imported as those 

 grown here by some of our own firms, 

 but not by all. The latanias we see 

 from Belgium are handsome In ap- 

 pearance, but drawn, long leaf stalks, 

 and are only fit to put in a palm house 

 and grow a year to accustom them to 

 the treatment that we expect our 

 palms to endure and come up smiling. 



The general florist who buys his 

 young palms from some of the home 

 .firms and wants them to retail or use 

 at once, as do all storekeepers who 

 have no greenhouse, and the very 

 great majority of greenhouse men as 

 well, will find out (if that is not al- 

 ready discovered) that there are palm 

 growers and palm growers, and a vast 

 difference there is in the quality of 

 plants they send out. In very large 

 establishments, where house after 

 house is palms, they are manufactured 

 quickly, and quality is entirely sub- 

 servient to quantity. They are stood 

 very close together, kept very warm 

 summer and winter, altogether inade- 

 quate ventilation is given, and the 

 shade is of the permanent kind, if not 

 kept on all the year, then at least nine 

 months of the twelve. The difference 

 between thesel palms and those grown 

 with plenty of room, abundance of 

 fresh air, and shade only from the di- 

 rect rays of the sun, is very marked. 

 The former are run up with long leaf 

 stalks, the growth is soft, and the color 

 is a dull green. The properly grown 

 plants, even if the temperature has 

 been high, are quite different. They 

 are shorter, stouter, giving the plant 

 the appearance of having far more 

 leaves; they are a bright shining green 

 and are altogether more satisfactory 

 to the purchaser, wherever you put 

 them. 



These remarks cover a good deal of 

 the ground relative to the culture of 

 most palms. For the commercial men 

 they must be grown without excessive 

 heat; this is particularly true of 

 arecas. They must have had plenty of 

 v.entilation whenever it was possible, 

 room to develop their handsome leaves, 

 and not made soft by a heavy shade. I 

 can only see one use for these un- 

 naturally grown tall kentias or lata- 

 nias; they make an effective appear- 

 ance at a decoration, but are so soft 

 that a few journeys to "society" soon 

 deprives them of their beauty. 



There is some difference of opinion 

 about the advisability of standing 

 palms in the broad sun. In the tropics, 

 as most all of our commercial palms 

 in a natural state rear their plumed 

 crowns to the tropical suns, there can 

 be little fear of their burning if their 

 roots are in the proper condition, and 

 I have proved time and again that if 

 their roots are not too crowded and 

 they are regularly supplied with water 

 that the kentias, latanias, chamaerops 

 and phoenix receive not the slightest 



