94 THE BOOK OF THE GREENHOUSE 



pots are rather troublesome to split so that the halves 

 may fit together again nicely. The above methods are 

 used to obtain grown plants at orrce, but young stock 

 may be raised by cutting into short lengths and splitting 

 the old stems. The cuttings thus made may be laid flat 

 in pans of soil or cocoanut fibre and slightly buried, and 

 in a few weeks roots will form and buds will grow that 

 eventually form plants. From the fleshy nodes or 

 "toes" of the root stock, too, young plants can be 

 obtained by adopting the same method except as re- 

 gards splitting. Cordylines may, also, be raised from 

 seeds quite easily, if the latter are obtainable in good 

 condition. The seedlings make handsome little plants, 

 useful for many purposes. C. australis is one of the 

 easiest to obtain in this way, as seeds of this often ripen 

 on big plants that grow outside in the warmer parts of 

 England. 



Fatsia japonica. — This plant is perhaps better known 

 as Aralia Sieboldi. Its large, glossy, palmate leaves are 

 always admired in a good specimen. Being almost hardy, 

 this is a suitable plant for the cool greenhouse. It 

 grows well in any ordinary mixture of soil suitable for 

 greenhouse plants and is not fastidious in its require- 

 ments, but should always be kept in vigorous health by 

 careful attention to watering, which must be ample 

 during the summer, and to keeping the leaves clean by 

 sponging frequently. To propagate the variegated 

 forms of this plant, portions of the stem of an old plant 

 must be cut up into short lengths and inserted as 

 cuttings, keeping them in a rather close atmosphere 

 until rooted. The green form is best raised from seeds 

 sown in the ordinary way and placed in an intermediate 

 temperature to germinate. Many people fail to raise 

 seedlings owing to the fact that the seeds they get have 

 lost their germinating power, as they do after a very 

 few months of storing. Seeds ripen with us in April 



