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FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
six or eight months. The upper third 
should be filled in when the planting 
is done. It should consist of a mixture 
of well rotted stable manure and sur¬ 
face soil. If there is no stable manure 
at hand, cotton seed meal may be used 
advantageously, but this must be ap¬ 
plied several months before planting as 
it would be injurious in a fresh state. 
It must be well mixed with the soil, 
but in every case planting must be de¬ 
ferred until this material has become 
well decomposed. After the hole has 
been brought into a good condition, 
plant your palm in the center, spread 
out the roots with the hand, fill in the 
-soil and tread it down with your feet; 
then apply water to settle the soil. A 
mulch of leaves, pine needles, or grass is 
the next procedure. Place it thickly 
around the plant. Later, when the roots 
have taken hold of the soil and a vigor- 
ous growth has followed, a mulch of 
stable manure is necessary. When this 
rots it should be dug in around the plant. 
Never burn old rotten wood, leaves or 
weeds, but dig them in around your 
plants. In order to keep up a vigorous 
and rapid growth and to obtain grand 
and imposing specimens, fertilizer and 
water are the most important factors. 
The far-famed specimens of beautiful 
palms in the Riviera every spring receive 
a one-horse cart of stable manure each 
In our soil two applications of fertilizer 
should be given—one in May or June, 
consisting of a thick mulch of stable man¬ 
ure or cotton-seed meal. In October 
this should be dug in and an application 
of commercial fertilizer, rich in potash 
and phosphoric acid, should follow. This 
will harden the plants sufficiently to with¬ 
stand our occasional cold spells. When 
setting out small specimens from pots 
just received from the nursery it is not 
necessary to prepare large holes. In 
this case it will suffice to dig holes 3 feet 
deep and 3 feet in diameter. 
In dry weather all newly planted palms 
must be well watered. Applications of 
manure water now and then also prove 
exceedingly beneficial. 
Our open air palms are rarely troubled 
with insects. Some time scale insects 
infests the leaves, but they are easily 
eradicated by spraying with soap water 
to which some kerosene oil has been ad¬ 
ded—about a cup of kerosene to a large 
bucket of water. The underside of the 
leaves particularly must be sprayed. 
Small palms are easily protected from 
frost, but banking with soil is of little 
use if we fail to protect the heart. This 
is best done by placing evergreen boughs 
over the center of the plant, followed by 
old bags, Spanish moss, paper and straw 
or hay. This material must be removed 
as soon as the cold wave has passed. I 
usually place over the center of my large 
tender palms bunches of excelsior and 
dry pine needles, followed by green pine 
branches and Spanish moss. Of late 
years I have never protected the tender 
Phoenix species or Da'e Palms, and they 
have not suffered in the lea r \ 
II. 
The following four genera ol rather 
tall-growing and hardy palms are the 
most important for our Florida gardens. 
Cocos, or Cococmut Palms. 
Phoenix, or Date Palms. 
Sabal, or Cabbage Palmettos. 
