460 



PALMS FOR HOUSE-CULTURE. 



two bushels each. Two trees in the same row twenty 

 feet away gave no fruit. 



"This was conclusive evidence that the Wild Goose is 

 enormously productive when its blossoms are fertilized 

 by the Robinson. The latter has since proven as pro- 

 ductive when alone as when clustered with other va- 

 rieties. With these facts before me, I knew that I had 

 two varieties on which I could depend for fruit. I have 

 collected all the best-known plums, and now have 75 na- 

 tive varieties growing in my orchard. Forty of these 

 have been bearing for two years. Many of them have 

 borne fruit four seasons. The Robinson has produced 

 eight crops without a failure. 



"The 24 varieties that you sent me in the spring of 

 1886, all lived and nearly all have fruited. It would 

 surprise you to see the growth they have made, and the 

 amount of fruit they have borne in the last four years. 

 A tree of the Newman, two years old when set in 1886, is 

 now five inches in diameter and 15 feet in height, and 

 produced last season three bushels of nice large plums, 

 which ripened late in September." I append some notes 

 on varieties : 



]Vte7- Lar^c A'cd. — Fruit spherical in form, color 

 dark red. It is larger than Wild Goose, better in quality, 

 and the strongest grower of the northern type. 



ll'ol/. — This is one of the hardiest and most produc- 

 tive of trees. The fruit is freestone and superior in 

 quality. It has been greatly admired and relished by 

 all who have seen and tasted it, as grown here. 



U'yanr — One of the best of all our natives of the 

 northern type. It is a freestone, and is scarcely surpassed 

 in quality. Trees bear profusely two years after setting. 



Furfle Yosemitc. — For the last two years has 

 borne full crops of large, beautiful fruit of fine quality. 

 It ripens a few days later than De Soto. 



Yelloiv Yosemitc, — Is of a deep yellow color. It 

 ripens with the purple variety or a few days later, and is 

 equal to it in every particular. 



Mariana. — Is the best plum for July ; it is four days 

 earlier than Wild Goose, lasts a week later, is as large, 

 and better in quality. The first lot of grafts made of 

 this plum I took up at one year old, and sixteen of them 

 had sent out strong roots from the scion. I cut the 

 stalks off and planted the young trees with their natural 

 roots in my orchard. So far they have not suckered, and 

 the Mariana you sent me, now of six years standing, is 

 also free from suckers. These plums grow freely from 

 cuttings of the wood, and are valuable stocks on which 

 to graft other varieties. 



Afaquokfta. — Is a very large oblong freestone plum 

 with a fine, peculiar flavor. It ripens the last of August. 



RoUingstoyje. — Is large, round, and dark red in color. 

 Ripens before the Maquoketa. I have found no "Golden 

 Drop" better than the luscious Rollingstone, Wolf, Wyant 

 and Maquoketa. 



One of the native plums will produce more fruit the 

 third year from planting than an English variety will 

 the tenth year. There is nothing in the fruit kingdom 

 that can stand more frost and freezing unharmed than 

 these improved native American plums. Last May when 

 my trees were in full bloom, the ground froze one-fourth 

 of an inch in depth. The trees were covered with frost, 

 and I felt sure the fruit was all ruined. Yet the Robin- 

 son, Wolf, Newman, Wyant, Maquoketa, Rollingstone, 

 Wier Large Red, and the Yosemites, gave an immense 

 crop of fruit. Last season I sold 70 bushels of these 

 native plums — smooth and nice. Not more than one speci- 

 men in 500 was damaged by the curculio, while the Lom- 

 bards, Richlands and Damsons were stung and all rotted. 



California. D. B. Wier. 



PALMS FOR HOUSE-CULTURE. 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF TREATMENT. 



ALMS as house-plants have been fre- 

 quently commented on by the various 

 horticultural journals during the last 

 five or six years. This is doubtless 

 largely due to abetter understanding of 

 the many good qualities of these plants 

 for house-decoration, chief among 

 which are their elegance of form, their lasting qualities, 

 and also the fact that a number of species may be readily 

 procured that are not specially difficult to manage. 



For general excellence as a window-plant there is 

 nothing superior in the palm family to the Chinese i'a.n- 

 -p3.\m { Lata nia Borbonica or Lii'istonia Ckinensis ), 

 for it combines graceful habit and comparative hardiness 

 with reasonable rapidity of growth. This is probably 

 the most widely known palm in cultivation, and like 

 many others in this family goes through some changes in 

 characteristics between its first growth and that of ma- 

 turity. Young plants of the latania make only simple 



leaves, that is, with unbroken outline, but after forming 

 four or five such leaves the growth gradually assumes 

 different characteristics, the frond becoming fan-shaped 

 and being subdivided into a number of segments. About 

 the same time a row of sharp, recurved spines will be 

 noticed on each side of the leaf-stem. The habit of the 

 plant is rather spreading, while the leaves range in size 

 from about one foot in diameter when the plant is in 

 a six-inch pot, to perhaps five or six feet across when 

 full size has been attained. They are dark green and 

 have a glossy surface. This plant also succeeds admir- 

 ably for outdoor decoration during the summer ; but in 

 common with most palms with which we have to deal it 

 keeps in better condition when placed in a partly 

 shaded location. 



The next genus to which attention is invited is kentia. 

 Two notably handsome varieties of this palm are well 

 adapted for house-culture — A'. Bcbnorcana and K. 

 Forsteriana. The kentias are somewhat peculiar from 



