Palms for Porch and House Decoration david 



LUMSDEN 



The Author Has Had Exceptional Opportunity to Become Acquainted with Plants for Decorative Uses. Before Becoming Pro- 

 fessor in the Department of Floriculture at Cornell He Had Practical Experience in the Best Known Nurseries and Private 

 Gardens of England and in this Country, and so Brings to His Present Work the Strongest of Backgrounds 



This Article is the First of a Series on Plants for the Dwelling House . 



THE graceful custom of growing plants in 

 and about the dwelling house is indeed 

 a custom well worthy of emulation. What 

 can be more beautiful or more attractive 

 for house ornament than a plant distinguished 

 by its beauty of form? Such plants, however, 

 should not be thought of or scrutinized from 

 their aesthetic qualities alone, for, apart from 

 their beauty as ornaments, they have another 

 and a more important mission, that of introduc- 

 ing to us the study of plant life. Oftentimes 

 our rooms are apt to be overcrowded with bric-a- 

 brac — representations of natural objects — but in 

 the case of plants, we may, without inconven- 

 ience, enjoy the natural objects themselves. 



Plants employed for this purpose are in many 

 cases poorly selected and ill-adapted to with- 

 stand for any length of time the dry and dusty 

 air of the living room. Yet by making a careful 

 selection it is easy to keep them in health for 

 months, even years, under the average dwelling- 

 house conditions. 



For the present article the Palms are selected 

 as being the foliage plants of most grandeur for 

 the purpose. Other subjects including flowering 

 plants are to be considered later. The Palm 

 family embraces upward of one hundred genera 

 with approximately twelve hundred species 

 indigenous to the tropics, and in particular to the 

 regions of the Pacific Islands. Some plants are 

 native to America and Asia. A few, also, are 

 met with in Africa. 



Palms are decidedly tropical and graceful in 

 appearance and lend themselves admirably to 

 practically all kinds of decorations. From an 

 economic standpoint their fruits, stems and 

 leaves enter into the manufactured products of 

 Europe, Asia, ind America. 



THERE are many reasons why Palms should 

 -*■ be more generally used for home adorn- 

 ment. A few are: They are easy of culture, 



reasonably free from obnoxious 

 insect pests, and are decidedly 

 decorative and graceful in ap- 

 pearance. They may be used 

 for hall or room adornment. 

 During the summer they may 

 be used for the veranda or the 

 porch. As plants to use in a 

 shady position in the dwelling- 

 house, they will adapt them- 

 selves where flowering plants 

 could not be recommended. 



'T" V HE soil mixture that best 

 -■■ suits Palms consists of turfy 

 loam (sod taken from the meadow 

 and composted), leaf soil, and 

 sand, in proportion to two thirds 

 loam and one third of leaf soil 

 with sufficient sand added to 

 keep the compost " open." Palms 

 thrive best in comparatively 

 small pots. Give a liberal sup- 

 ply of water to the roots in sum- 

 mer, and during the winter 

 months never allow the soil to 

 become dry. April and May are 

 the best months for repotting. 



J3ALMS are subject to scale 

 *■ insects, thrips, and red spi- 

 der, all of which insects however 

 may be readily eradicated by 

 sponging over the foliage with a 

 solution of whale-oil soap. The 

 solution is made by dissolving 

 one-half pound of soap in five 

 gallons of water. Allow the so- 

 lution to remain on the leaves for 

 about one hour when the plants 

 may be sprayed or sponged over 

 with clear water. If whale-oil 



Living plants certainly "enliven" the home. Because 



leaved plants) fit 



they prefer filtered light to direct sun the various Palms (and other thick- 

 so well in porch and piazza decoration 



Do you know of a better, more practical porch screen plant than the Needle 

 Palms? The Fan Needle-palm is surprisingly hardy even withstanding a touch of 

 frost, although that is not recommended 



soap is not available, a simple solution of ordinary 

 laundry so apone pound, water five gallons, may 

 be used. The potash soap is the best. It should 

 contain not more than thirty per cent, of water. 



If the plants are free from insect pests an 

 occasional sponging or spraying over the leaves 

 with water will benefit them. The spraying re- 

 moves particles of dust from the foliage and 

 keeps open the stomata or breathing pores in 

 the leaves. The plants may also be placed out- 

 side during summer showers. This will assist 

 in removing the dust from the foliage. But 

 observe: Palms must not be allowed to remain 

 outside in the full sunshine, as the foliage will 

 then be injured. 



The Selected Best 



A LTHOUGH the family is so numerous 

 ■^*- yet only a comparative few are really 

 reliable for house conditions. These are here 

 enumerated. 



Phoenix — Theophrastus gave this name to 

 the Date Palm perhaps thinking of Phoenicia 

 where the Greeks were supposed to have first 

 seen it. All the Phoenix are pinnate leaved: 



The Date Palm is Phoenix dactylifera. The inhabitants of 

 Arabia and upper Egypt use the fruit extensively as an article of 

 diet. The hard stones are ground up and used as food for their 

 camels, and from the leaves they manufacture bags and baskets. 

 The midribs are frequently used as fences for their gardens, while 

 the trunk of the plant is made use of in constructing small buildings. 

 The threads of the integuments between the leaves are made into 

 ropes. A juice is sometimes extracted from the tree by incisions 

 and manufactured into a palatable wine. This species of Phoenix 

 is now rarely used as a house plant, it having been superseded by 

 the more slender and graceful P. canariensis. 



Canary Island Date Palm (Phoenix canariensis), is one of the 

 hardiest and most useful of the genus, resembling P. dactylifera, but 



