December 31, 1891. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
557 
and if growing in a high temperature a few hours’ sojourn in a 
cooler one will tend to strengthen them and their fl iwers, and they 
will be less likely to suffer injury from the drying effects of heat 
and gas. Some plants, however, with the best preparation soon 
suffer from the lack of moisture in the atmosphere, and it is only 
when the foliage becomes thoroughly matured that they are able to 
resist for a time such unfavourable influences. Stove plants, in¬ 
cluding Ferns, foliage plants, and flowering plants, are the kinds 
which require some preparatory attention before using them for 
table decoration, especially at night. 
Few plants for table decoration should be grown in larger pots 
than 6 inches in diameter. Large pots are very objectionable on 
dinner tables. For side tables or drawing-room tables, one or two 
plants of larger size and in larger pots are admissible, and often 
produce good effects ; but the pots should, if possible, be hidden 
from view in some suitable and ornamental receptacle. 
Stove and greenhouse plants, hardy British and exotic Ferns, 
furnish a great variety of suitable plants adapted for table decora¬ 
tion, and in the following notes I will endeavour to point out some 
of the most popular plants from among them that are most gene¬ 
rally used. 
Crotons. 
Beginning with Crotons, those beautiful stove plants, which 
take a prominent place for table decoration with those who have 
the means for growing them. Crotons generally look well under 
gaslight growing in the smallest possible pots according to the 
size of the plants, and well furnished with healthy foliage from the 
base upwards. They should when small be used as single-stemmed 
plants, for then each plant displays the individual leaves in a 
natural manner, and the appearance of crushing and crowding, 
always to be condemned in table decoration, is avoided. There are 
numerous varieties of Crotons, nearly all good, and brightly and 
distinctly coloured. A few of the best are Lord Wolseley, 
aigburthensis, Warreni, Newmanni, angustifolius, and majesticus. 
Crotons are real stove plants ; they enjoy the humid atmo¬ 
sphere, the strong heat, and revel in plenty of light and sufficient 
moisture at the roots. These conditions given them they grow 
freely, and it will be an easy matter to keep up a stock of healthy 
young plants, which may always be drawn upon for furnishing 
tables. Good loam, peat, and sand make an excellent compost for 
these plants. They should be potted firmly ; an average tempera¬ 
ture of 66° to 70° will grow them well, but they positively enjoy 
higher temperatures when the atmosphere is correspondingly moist, 
and the roots never suffer. 
Aralias. 
Aralias are elegant and graceful table plants. The stove 
Aralias have beautifully divided and finely cut leaves, requiring 
similar treatment to the Crotons. Four and five-inch pots are the 
most suitable sizes to grow both Aralias and Crotons in for tables. 
Aralia Reginae and A. Veitchi are two of the best. Aralia Sieboldi, 
a greenhouse plant, is more common and more hardy than the 
preceding one, and it is on that account more popular. It is more 
robust also in appearance, and possesses larger and less finely 
divided leaves. When small, and the foliage is bright, clean, and 
uninjured, it makes a very good table plant, being better adapted 
for occupying positions on tables for a longer period than the 
majority of plants. The main feature in their management is the 
supply of water to the roots and keeping the leaves clean. Neglect 
of these precautions soon causes the leaves to become limp and 
spoils the appearance of the plants. There is a variegated form of 
this Aralia resembling in every respect except in the colour of the 
leaves to the ordinary variety. It is, however, much scarcer and 
dearer than the plain-leaved form, and has to be imported from the 
Continent. 
The ordinary form is easily raised from seed sown in a little 
heat in spring, and large plants may have their heads rooted in 
summer by notching the stems below healthy leaves, splitting a 
4-inch pot in two and fixing it round the notched stem with copper 
wire and filling up with turfy material having plenty of sand in it, 
keeping all moist and daily syringed until the top is rooted and the 
young roots begin to protrude both top and bottom of the pot, 
when it is time to gradually sever the stem immediately below the 
base of the pot. A. leptophylla is also invaluable for tables. 
Dracaenas. 
Dracaenas make excellent table plants. There are both stove 
and greenhouse varieties, the former have generally deep and 
richly coloured leaves. Splendid plants may be grown in 5 and 
6-inch pots quite large enough for tables, indeed smaller plants in 
less pots are often wanted. It is a good plan to prPk out on the 
surface of the soil at the last potting, or at any previous shift they 
may receive, small pieces of Selaginella Kraussiana, which will 
rapidly grow and cover the surface of the soil, also hang down and 
cover partly the sides of the pot in time. Table plants are vastly 
improved by treating them in this manner ; the natural living 
greenery on the surface of the soil almost becomes as attractive as 
the plant it embellishes. The stove Dracaenas require peat, loam, 
and sand, to grow in plenty of water and heat, as well as a light 
position to make the colours of the leaves intense. The leaves are 
easily kept clean by sponging occasionally. Good table varieties 
are D. terminalis, D. gracilis, and D. Guilfoylei. 
The greenhouse varieties though having less ornamental leaves 
yet make very useful and acceptable table plants in similar sized 
pots to the stove varieties. They are very useful for other pur¬ 
poses besides table decoration. These Dracaenas are all green¬ 
leaved, some broad, some long and drooping, some erect and 
horizontal, some with gracefully narrow leaves. The best of them 
are D. rubra, D. australis, and D. Yeitchi. 
They are mostly rapid growers and soon become too large to be 
effective table plants. Happily this can soon be remedied, as 
they are the easiest plants to shorten, and root afresh from the 
stems. When it is desired to shorten a tall plant it may be done 
in a similar way to that recommended for the Aralia. Another 
equally effective way is to tie moss round the notched stem instead 
of fixing the stem within a pot. Perhaps it may be of interest and 
use to describe in detail the process of preparing the stem for the 
emission of roots, the same method being followed whether the 
rooting is to take place in soil or moss. The part of the stem most 
suitable for notching is that part among or immediately below the 
lower leaves. The stem must be cleared of leaves an inch or two 
above and below where the notching has to be done. First of all, 
the stem must be cut clean about half way through, making the cut 
transversely. About half an inch below that cut the knife must be 
placed and worked slantingly upwards, so that it meets the bottom 
of the transverse cut, letting at liberty a wedge-shaped portion of the 
stem. On the opposite side of the stem, but a little below, a similar 
nick must be made, taking care not to make either of them too 
deep or some difficulty will be experienced in preventing the head 
breaking off. Moss should then be tied round with matting, 
placing over a fair thickness of the moss, and during the operation 
securing, if necessary, the stem to a stick to prevent the possibility 
of its breaking off. The moss must be kept thoroughly moist, and 
the plant should stand in a warm house until rooted. When suffi¬ 
cient roots have been made the stem below the mossed portion 
must be severed, and the plant is ready for potting, and is at once 
a well-furnished specimen. Moderately small heads of Dracaenas 
may also be rooted in bottles of water. 
Cyperus. 
Cyperus alternifolius in a young state growing in pots of from 
3 to 5 inches diameter makes a very effective table plant. It is a 
stove plant, but will do in a greenhouse in summer. It requires 
plenty of water, and should never be taken into a room when the 
soil approaches dryness. Being a tropical Sedge plant it thrives 
wonderfully with the pot immersed in water, but plants intended 
for indoor use are probably best cultivated like other plants in the 
stove intended for the same purpose. A large plant, however, 
plunged in the water tank will furnish abundance of young 
plantlets, which are freely produced on the old heads of foliage. 
To facilitate the quick rooting and enlarging of the young plantlets 
the stem containing them may be cut off and allowed to float on 
the water, into which the roots will strike and fresh strong leaf 
stems begin to extend upwards. When large enough they may be 
taken off and planted in small pots or thickly together in pans, 
affording them plenty of heat and moisture. Plants quite large 
enough for tables can be grown in 5-inch pots. Any kind of free 
and open soil will grow them well. 
Caladiums. 
Caladiums of many varieties, with their handsomely veined, 
coloured, and variegated leaves are very select and choice table 
plants, though only for temporary purposes. B ;ing stove plants 
they rely upon the heat and moisture of that structure for their 
vigour and attractiveness, and should not therefore be expected to 
remain in good condition for any extended period. They are 
tuberous-rooted plants, and lose their foliage in the autunm, 
remaining at rest all the winter, and can only be employed for any 
purpose during the summer time. They are most effective for 
tables when grown in pots not larger than 6 inches. Some are 
very strong growers, and produce large leaves; others are of 
medium size, but all are beautiful. One little Caladium, growing 
only a few inches high, with short and slender stems, and small 
leaves distinctly marked with green and white. Ths is C. argyrites, 
and it makes quite a model little table plant. Abundance of heat 
