300 



PALMS. 



are costly in tlie beginning; bnt there is a great difference 

 between growing subjects wbicb at the end of several years 

 will be more valuable than when you obtained tbem^ and 

 propagating those which multiply so fast with yourself and 

 your neighbours that they soon become of only nominal 

 value. In consequence of the value to which Palms are 

 sure to attain in the future for the decoration of large con- 

 servatories, stoveSj and any plants that became too big for 

 small inexpensive greenhouses or stoves, could be sold or 

 exchanged to those wanting large subjects. This may meet 

 the objection of those who regard them as only suited for 

 houses like the great Palm stove at Kew. They may be 

 grown by everybody in possession of a snug pit, greenhouse^ 

 stove, conservatory, or fernery, and it will be found even- 

 tually that not a few of them — thanks to their leathery texture 

 — will flourish in the dwelling-house without protection. 

 Everybody possessing such structures and in the habit of buy- 

 ing plants, should secure some few examples, as few others will 

 furnish such lasting satisfaction to the buyer ; and there are 

 certainly no plants in existence more worthy of becoming 

 the fashion. To make them abundant in a country abound- 

 ing with things grown for their colour alone, will be to 

 ennoble its gardening. 



It is tempting to trace them through the warmer zones — 

 to speak of their almost innumerable uses, one species yield- 

 ing Palm oil, another Cabbages ; of their striking diversity of 

 size, from a little Oreodoxa with a stem no thicker than one 

 of our grasses, to Jubsea, whose stem is nearly four feet in 

 diameter ; of the species that spread their leaves on the 

 ground, and there rest stemless and content, to those that 

 shoot up as straight as the columns of a cathedral, to a 

 height of between two and three hundi^ed feet, waving their 

 plumes far above forest vegetation as vast as our own woods. 

 Apart from its beauty, the family is perhaps the most useful 

 of all to man ; but we, deriving our food directly or 

 indirectly from the grasses, frequently forget their great 

 interest in this respect. 



This is far from being the case with the owner of a cot- 

 tage on the banks of the Rio Negro. The rafters of his 



