362 



THE PALM STOVE. 



In the most ancient periods of the world, when the genera of plants were 

 beginning to be formed, palms scarcely existed ; they were preceded in 

 the creation by the more ancient ferns, Cycadeoe, grasses, and Equisetacecs. 

 Some of their remains have, however, been found in variegated sandstone, 

 and in limestone of the third order, part of which belong to unknown 

 species, and part to species still in existence. But in the times succeeding 

 the deluge, they appear, from written evidence of historians and poets, to 

 have followed the footsteps of man, to whom their fruit yielded food, 

 drink, and oil ; their stems, houses, arms, utensils, flowers, and wine ; and 

 their leaves, cordages, and roofs for habitations. In cultivation, their 

 soil should be shghtly saline ; they are propagated by seeds more readily 

 than by truncheons of the stem ; when cultivated, they undergo no altera- 

 tion, except in producing more fleshy or stemless fruit : it is extremely 

 difficult to transplant them beyond their own country ; natm'ally, their 

 migration is absolutely opposed by the barriers of the ocean." 



" The culture of palms," as Mr. Loudon justly observes, " is less a 

 matter of nicety than expense. They require a powerful moist heat, a 

 ^arge mass of rich earth in the pot, tub, or bed, and ample space for the 

 leaves. As they are of remarkably slow growth, a stove devoted to their 

 culture does not require to exceed the common height at first ; but, to 

 •admit the tree palms to display their character, it would require to have 

 the roof elevated by degrees to sixtj^ eighty, or a hundred feet. It is 

 much to be wished that some spirited man of wealth w^ould, in these 

 times of peace and leisure, distinguish himself by palm culture, of which 

 Messrs. Loddiges have, much to their honour, set the first example. It 

 is a common opinion that their growth is so slow, that little eff'ect would 

 be produced during a lifetime ; but this, every gardener who has supplied 

 his palms with abundance of space for their roots, and adequate heat in 

 their atmosphere, can witness against." 



The largest and finest gi'own species of palms in Europe are at the 

 Earl of Tankerville's, at Walton-on-Thames, and the extraordinary pro- 

 gress that these have made vdthin these last five or six years, since the 

 stove was enlarged for them, is astonishing, and confirms the opinion 

 above quoted. These palms have long ago extended their roots beyond 

 the hmits of tubs or boxes, and have established themselves in what 

 was originally the tan -pit, in which they were plunged ; how far their 

 roots may have extended beyond the limits of that bed it is impossible 

 to say. 



The following are a part of that collection : — Zamia pungenSj sixty years 

 old, is four feet three inches and a half in circumference in the stem, tlie 



