22 



The Florists^ Review 



NOTUtBIlB 6, 1910. 



house, completely fill the pot. The sec- 

 ond illustration shows a plant after ten 

 months in the pot, with the soil washed 

 out to let the root development be seen. 

 Of course bottom heat could be ap- 

 plied if it proved to be necessary or 

 desirable, but the merit of the natural 

 method lies, first of all, in its economy 

 and, secondly, in the hardy character of 

 the plants produced. 



Heat for tho Seedlings. 



As a matter of fact, Bassett & Wash- 

 burn have recently arranged for heat 

 in the earliest stages of the growth of 

 the plants. Heretofore the seed beds 

 were made in the lath houses, but the 

 germination was not satisfactory. Pro- 

 verbially the slowest of the palms to 

 germinate, their kentias did not give 

 them more than thirty-five per cent. A 

 majority of the seedlings came in the 

 first year, but germination continued 

 during the next two years at such a 

 rate that the duds were not thrown out 

 until three years had passed. In the 

 expectation of better results, some of 

 the material from greenhouses the firm 

 dismantled at Hinsdale, 111., was shipped 

 to Sierra Madre and reerected for the 

 seedlings. The seed beds recently 

 brought into use are of the type em- 

 ployed in the east, with pipes below and 

 boarded in. There is space under glass 

 also for the seedlings during their time 

 in 21^-inch pots. 



To raise the percentage of germina- 



to smooth the way, because it is on the 

 success of such undertakings as this 

 that the board depends, in a way, for 

 justification of its action in prohibiting 

 plant importation. 



Source of the Seeds. 



The seed thus far obtained has been 

 of decidedly poor quality. It has looked 

 as though it had been scraped up from 

 the ground beneath the trees and 

 shipped without cleaning. Each bushel 

 contains from 4,000 to 4,500 seeds. 

 There is only one place in the world 

 whence comes the supply of seeds. This 

 is the Lord Howe Island, from which 

 these palms take the name, howea, by 

 which they are known in the botanical 

 dictionaries. The modern name, kentia, 

 is for William Kent, founder of the 

 English style of landscape gardening. 

 The Lord Howe Island is located in the 

 Pacific ocean about 500 or 600 miles 

 northeast of Sydney, Australia. It is 

 only five square miles in area, but the 

 kentias in this little island grow to 

 the height of fifty to sixty feet and 

 produce the seed supply of the world. 

 These seeds are gathered by the na- 

 tives, bought by traders on the island 

 and shipped under the care of the Brit- 

 ish government, as the Lord Howe Isl- 

 and is British territory. The seeds are 

 shipped to Sydney on small steamers 

 which only call at the island once a 

 month or once in two months, so that 

 there is considerable delay from the 



Seedling Kentias Under Glass at Sierra Madre, Cal. 



tion will be important. As many as 150 

 bushels of seeds have been imported 

 and planted in a single year. Double 

 the germination and half as many seeds 

 would have suflBced. 



It is said that Bassett & Washburn 

 obtained the greater part of all the 

 kentia seeds which came to the United 

 States this year. The importations did 

 not begin to arrive until after the quar- 

 antine went into effect and the Federal 

 Horticultural Board did all that it could 



time the seeds are gathered until they 

 arrive in Sydney. They are then sold 

 to exporters, who ship them to all the 

 palm-growing countries of the world. 

 The whole proceeding usually takes 

 from three to six months before the 

 seeds are delivered in the United States. 



Genesis of the Industry. 



In his investigation of palm growing 

 in California, E. B. Washburn found 

 that the first kentia seeds that were 



planted there seem to have been started 

 by the venerable chaplain of a Catholic 

 school for girls, at that time located at 

 Riverside, Cal., but which afterwards 

 was removed to Hollywood, Cal. This 

 old priest is still alive and was called 

 on by Mr. Washburn and Roy Wilcox 

 and a highly interesting history of the 

 growing of kentias was told. This priest 

 started, some twenty or twenty-five 

 years ago, at Biverside, but found that 

 the severe changes in temperature due 

 to Riverside being located so near the 

 desert resulted in his palms being dam.- 

 aged every few years. When the school 

 was removed to Hollywood the nursery 

 was located on the top of a hill over- 

 looking the town. This priest stated 

 that at Biverside the temperature would 

 drop below freezing for several days 

 almost every winter, while at Holly- 

 wood this occurs only once in seven or 

 eight years. The old chaplain finally in- 

 duced two young men, brothers, from 

 Belgium, to take over the nursery, as it 

 was becoming too large for him to take 

 care of. This was the start of the grow- 

 ing of kentias in southern California. 



Cleanliness Essential. 



To Mr. Washburn it seemed that one 

 of the best features of growing palms 

 in southern California is that they can 

 be given plenty of space to develop in 

 these lath sheds. The plants then grow 

 symmetrically. They do not lose their 

 lower leaves and spread out more than 

 where crowded in costly greenhouse 

 space. They also are hardier and should 

 stand more handling and shifting 

 around, thus making them better for 

 decorative purposes. 



It seemed to Mr. Washburn that all 

 the faults of California palms could be 

 corrected by careful culture and he set 

 out to demonstrate that such stock can 

 be as clean and as perfectly finished as 

 any grown in a greenhouse. He found 

 that all they require is ordinary good 

 care and plenty of water. The lath 

 houses are fitted up with lawn sprinklers 

 in sections, some of the revolving type 

 and some in fixed position. With these 

 any area may so easily be watered that 

 the plants never are neglected; they 

 need it frequently in summer and scarce- 

 ly ever in winter. 



The Proof of the Pudding. 



The principal work is to keep the 

 plants clean — free from dust and free 

 from scale and mealy bug. There are 

 three kinds of scale, red, black and the 

 kentia scale, the latter taking its name 

 from its fondness for this plant as its 

 host. To keep the scale in control, a 

 spray of rosin, soap and caustic is ap- 

 plied twice each spring and fall, using 

 a force pump. At other seasons the 

 plants are gone over frequently by hand, 

 using the same mixture as a wash, ex- 

 cept that in the heat of summer spray- 

 ing with water and the hose is relied 

 on, to avoid injury to the leaves. They 

 are washed with the hose every few 

 weeks to remove dust. The mottoes at 

 Sierra Madre are: "An ounce of pre- 

 vention is worth a pound of cure" and 

 "Cleanliness is next to godliness." Ken- 

 tias given this care need no "hair cut." 



C. L. Washburn believes that the 

 feasibility of palm growing in southern 

 California already is demonstrated and 

 that its commercial success will be 

 proven soon, when their first lot of 

 6-inch stock is ready for shipment east 

 by fast freight in refrigerator cars. He 



