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THE FLORAL IVORLD 



GROWING PALMS FROM SEED. 



Most amateurs admire a choice 

 palm, but many are debarred from 

 the pleasure to be derived from one 

 by the price asked for fair specimens, 

 and some time is required to grow 

 them from seed. But if you have 

 some patience they are well worth 

 waiting for. 



For your first attempt select the 

 Filiiera palm. It is not the handsom- 

 est, but is the most easily grown. The 

 seeds will require from six to eight 

 weeks to germinate and should be 

 sown during the hot summer months. 

 Select a moderately rich soil for the 

 seeds. When they have germinated, 

 transplant into fair-sized pots as often 

 as needed. At eighteen months the 

 plants will begin to develop character 

 leaves, at two years they will be two 

 and one-half feet high with several 

 fully developed leaves, and will then 

 be very pretty and valued much more 

 than one of the same size purchased. 



Always supply good drainage and 

 do not plant too deep. They should 

 always be given a warm temperature 

 and a moist soil. 



After you have grown a Filifera, try 

 a Lantania Borbonica. then a Seafor- 

 thia, Kentia, Phoenix, Chamerops Ex- 

 celsa, in the order named. 



Pennsylvania. Frank Walter. 



THE RUBBER PLANT. 



Some little time ago I read a good 

 article by one of Washington's most 

 prominent florists, on the way to treat 

 a rubber plant. He said that every 

 spring the plant should be shifted to 

 a larger pot, filled with fresh soil, and 

 during the summer be kept on a pi- 

 azza, or in the shade of a tree. In 

 winter it should have light, but not 

 much direct sun. Once a week the 

 pot should be placed in a tub of 

 water and allowed to remain over 

 night, or until thoroughly soaked, 



then drained, and not watered again 

 until the surface looked somewhat 

 dry. At the expiration of a week re- 

 peat the soaking. The leaves must 

 be kept clean by frequent wiping with 

 a damp cloth. 



To make the plant sprout at any 

 desired point, put a small sponge kept 

 wet where a leaf joins the main stem. 

 To make two plants from one, make 

 a cut partly through on each side of 

 the stem near the top, bind with flor- 

 ists' moss kept wet. Detach the slip 

 when rooted and bind a little moss on. 

 the stem of the old plant until the 

 wound is healed. 



New Jersey. Mrs. J. T. Taylor. 



THE CAMELLIA JAPONICA. 



Perhaps the readers of The Floral 

 World (the most interesting little 

 magazine in the country) would like 

 to hear of the great success I had 

 with camellias last winter. A year 

 ago last February I purchased two 

 thrifty plants, patting them firmly in 

 a soil of one part sandy peat, three 

 parts loam and another part leaf 

 mould, first filling the crock one-third 

 full of "potsherd." After a good bath 

 they were kept shaded until growth 

 began. The camellia thrives in a 

 cool, moist atmosphere with frequent 

 syringing and leaf-washing. Never 

 allow a drop of water on a leaf in the 

 sunshine. In spring the pots were 

 plunged in a bed where there was 

 shade in the middle of the day. They 

 were never allowed to become dry. 

 By September buds had formed, but I 

 only allowed one bud to a shoot, wish- 

 ing the flowers to be as large as pos- 

 sible. The first one bloomed in De- 

 cember. It was white and perfectly 

 double, the size of an American Beau- 

 ty rose. The second, a red, reached 

 its perfection in February. The plant 

 had nine flowers, but not as large as 

 the first. 



Pa. Mrs. John Bernard Raser. 



