168 



THE FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



their growth, and then again it cleans 

 their foliage of insects, more especial- 

 ly that nuisance, the mealy bug. If 

 the house is paved with stone or ce- 

 ment, you should syringe at least 

 twice a day in summer, and frequently 

 throw water about the paths and 

 benches. If the floor is gravel or 

 earth, there is always more or less 

 moisture arising, but syringe every 

 day, and when you do syringe, don't 

 hold and direct the hose as if you 

 were watering a bed of radishes, but 

 direct your fine but strong stream up- 

 wards at the underside of the leaf. 

 Constant syringing on eucn palms as 



ing retailer? We don't believe it is a 

 good plan and would not buy such 

 plants if we were aware of it. 



Producing a large, showy palm is 

 not the only object. People who give 

 three or four dollars for a 6-inch ken- 

 tia or latania expect them to thrive in 

 the house a few weeks at least, and 

 the plaintive cry of "My palm is turn- 

 ing yellow" has robbed us of most of 

 our hair, and we" don't want to hear it. 

 They must die sometime, it's true, 

 when growing or existing in the house, 

 but let them pass gradually away, 

 fading away slowly, and then their 

 demise will be taken by all hands as 



Phoenix Rupicola. 



latanias, kentias and arecas is an- 

 other reason why the soil should be in 

 good condition to let the water pass 

 through. In winter syringe occasion- 

 ally in the morning, and when firing 

 hard damp down the houses, but less 

 moisture is needed in winter, as the. 

 plants are in less active growth. 



Soil and Potting. 



I have within a few years heard of 

 several of our leading palms being 

 planted out in spring on a bench .in 

 six inches of soil and grown there dur- 

 ing the summer and lifted in the fall. 

 You can doubtless with great heat and 

 moisture produce a latania or a kentia 

 much larger in the same space of time 

 that you would be growing it in a pot, 

 but would it be as serviceable a plant 

 in the fall? Would you not have to 

 lift it early and get it well established 

 before you sent it out to the confid- 



complacently as the departure of an 

 elderly wealthy aunt. 



Palms thrive in a small pot com- 

 pared to the size of plant, and should 

 not be given a large shift at once. 

 Growers of large quantities shift on 

 as the plants need it at any time of 

 year, but the florist who keeps only a 

 few hundred had better do his shifting 

 in the months of March and April, 

 when there is a constantly increasing 

 temperature. Always pot firmly. Up 

 to a 5 or 6-inch size this can be done 

 by squeezing the soil with your fin- 

 gers, but in large size, and particu- 

 larly if the shift is small, a blunt stick 

 will help very much to firm the soil. 

 Some writers say that roots never 

 should be cut. Perhaps there is no 

 need of it, but I have seen the roots 

 of latanias and old seaforthias chopped 

 off without doing any harm. 



Never pot too deep. The base of the 

 stem from where the roots begin is 



easily defined, and they should not be 

 potted below that. Some species, ken- 

 tia for one, raises the stem by its 

 strong roots. When shifting, lower the 

 plant to the base of stem, but not 

 lower. It is never advisable to shift 

 a plant, say from a 6 to an 8-inch, just 

 before selling it to your customer; far 

 better let it go in the smaller pot and 

 tell them it will do very well in that 

 pot till spring, but give it plenty of 

 water. 



Palms do not seem particular about 

 soil, and the mica so often seen in the 

 potting soil used about Philadelphia 

 appears to agree with them very well. 

 I would consider the ideal soil or com- 

 post for palms to be a rather stiff 

 yellow loam sod, cut and laid up in 

 summer, and between every foot of 

 the sod a layer of two inches of cow 

 manure. When this was thoroughly 

 soaked, and after a month or so, cut it 

 down and chop over, and in a few 

 weeks give it another turn. By that 

 time the manure will have about dis- 

 appeared, and the compost will grow 

 any palm. A good supply of this 

 should be under cover during winter 

 for early spring use. If you cannot 

 make these preparations, get a fresh 

 loam and add a sixth of well decayed 

 manure. Bone meal is often used with 

 palms, and if a quick growth is desired 

 it can be added to the compost at the 

 rate of one pound to a bushel. 



Insects' 



If a proper degree of moisture is 

 maintained and syringing properly 

 done, red spider and thrip is seldom 

 seen. If thrip is very persistent, then 

 vaporize with tobacco several succes- 

 sive nights. Mealy bug is sometimes 

 very troublesome and more often when 

 the plants are crowded. If not re- 

 moved by ordinary syringing, then 

 have the plants brought to some near- 

 by place, where water runs off quick- 

 ly, and by laying the plant down and 

 turning it on all sides with a sharp, 

 strong stream they can be washed 

 clean off. 



Scale is the worst enemy we have to 

 contend with, and the common brown 

 scale is much easier removed than the 

 white. I mention these two, for that 

 is sufficient here, because the remedy 

 would be the same were there twenty 

 species of these insects on our palms; 

 and there are not only twenty, but per- 

 haps twenty hundred species known 

 to entomologists. It appears they do 

 not multiply with anything like the 

 rapidity of the aphides. That is a con- 

 solation. And they breed and lay a 

 crop of eggs but once a year. So if 

 the palms are thoroughly cleaned, say 

 in August, you should see no more of 

 them for another six months. It is 

 often supposed that they are without 

 the power of locomotion, but when 

 very young in the larval state they 

 creep about till they find a comfortable 

 spot, then insert their beak into the 

 leaf or bark, and that is their resi- 

 dence for life. Entomologists say that 

 the ants which feed on the excretion 

 of the scales take the young insects 



