height of one hundred feet. The 



ter of the pistillate flowers. The pollen is said to retain its fertil- 

 izing power for one or two months, so the staminate flowers art 

 carefully preserved and used when required. Each tree is capabh 

 of yielding but a certain number of fruits, and rarely more thar 



The dat 



i has bee 



cultivat 



Near the entrance to house no. 2 will be found the group 

 of cocoanut palms. The genus Cocos, to which these belong, 



tropical South America, with one exception, this being Cocos 

 micifera, the origin of which is lost in obscurity. It is exten- 

 sively cultivated in all tropical countries for its fruit, the common 

 cocoanut. Many thousands of the trees are found in our own 

 state of Florida. It is very common in the West Indies, where 

 it sometimes grows at an elevation of 2,500 feet, although pre- 

 ferring the vicinity of the seashore, where it attains its best pro- 

 portions and produces its best fruit. It grows sometimes one 

 hundred feet tall. Quite in contrast with this is the dainty little 

 Cocos Wcddelliana, from Brazil, with its delicate leaves and slender 

 trunk. A specimen of this, not over three or four feet tall, forms 

 a part of this group, and is frequently to be seen in flower. 



Opposite to the cocoanut palm is a large plant of Livistona 

 chinensis, the Chinese fan-palm. It is this species, in small 

 plants, which is so extensively used in decorations ; it is fre- 

 quently known under the name of Latania borbonica. Near it is 

 a smaller specimen of Livistona australis, sometimes known as 

 Corypha australis, from Australia. Not far removed is another 

 species of the genus, L. Hoogendorpii, from Java, in an unusually 



