Foliage Plants for House Decoration 37 



cultivation, it has been relegated to the past mem- 

 ories. As in the case of the Phoenix, however, it 

 makes a wonderful decorative plant for the lawn in 

 the Summertime. 



Indications of Good Health and Deterioration 



All the palms may, with a little intelligent care, 

 be "grown on" year after year indefinitely. They 

 thrive better in relatively small pots than when over- 

 potted, for reasons already stated. A Kentia, for 

 instance, three feet taJI with five or six leaves should 

 be in a six- or seven-inch pot; for a very large speci- 

 men, seven feet tall with ten to twelve leaves, a ten- 

 inch pot is sufficient. The indications of good health 

 are the dark green color of the foHage and the fact 

 that the new sword-like leaf, as it pushes up from the 

 center and unfolds, is larger than the one that pre- 

 ceded it. A good, healthy plant should make two or 

 three leaves a year and if at any time the newest one . 

 unfolds itself before attaining the size of its fellows, 

 it is a sure sign that something is wrong with the 

 plant. The cause is generally the decay of the roots 

 through standing in a jardiniere of deep, stagnant 

 water and, if this condition continues, the plant will 

 lose leaf after leaf and finally die. When the whole 

 plant turns pale green in color and eventually almost 

 yellow, the cause is generally lack of water, which to 

 a plant is starvation. It has either been extremely 

 dry several times or is insufficiently watered all the 

 time. Seldom or never are any plant troubles caused 

 by worms or other insects at the roots. Palms are 

 patient under suffering and do not show the results 

 of neglect for many days and even weeks and on the 



