162 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
nations of the earth there is consumed, 
in the aggregate, a larger measure of 
wine from the palm than of the juice of 
the grape.” Mr. Hart describes a spe¬ 
cimen twelve years old in his grounds 
with a clean trunk of 7 feet, and with 
a very large and dense leaf-crown. 
In my grounds, there are two speci¬ 
mens fifteen years of age with immense 
leaf-crowns and a trunk 6 or 7 feet 
high. They grow on very dry and poor 
soil. In good, moist ground they would 
be at least double that size. The most 
beautiful specimen I have seen was near 
the office of Jessamine Gardens, in Pas¬ 
co County. The leaves were deep bluish- 
green. There are tall wild Date Palms 
in the Royal Palm Nurseries at Oneco 
and at Mr. Mead’s and Mr. Hart’s 
places. This extremely magnificent palm 
should find a place in every garden in 
Florida. 
Phoenix Canariensis, Hort. (Ph. te¬ 
nuis. Verscli., Ph. Jubae, Webb). This 
is a most glorious palm, and no garden 
is complete without it. It is the noblest 
of all Date Palms and one of the most 
majestic palms in cultivation. No other 
palm thrives so well in this State, and 
none other is so massive and full of gran¬ 
deur. On high, dry land it suffers very 
much from drouth, but if the ground is 
made deep and rich and kept moist, it 
will even here form fine specimens, but 
it takes much longer than on naturally 
rich and moist soils. In all the large 
gardens of the State the Canary Island 
Date is cultivated and there are every¬ 
where magnificent specimens. It makes 
a fine and imposing avenue tree and sin¬ 
gle specimens with their huge crowns of 
spreading leaves, often 30 feet in diame¬ 
ter, are often seen. It is also fine in 
groups. In Orlando may be seen large 
and massive specimens in company of 
large masses of bananas and clumps of 
bamboo, and this combination is extreme¬ 
ly effective. In order to grow this state¬ 
ly palm well, a deep, rich soil, much water 
and regular applications of stable manure 
and commercial fertilizer are necessary* 
On dry land, mulching is a very import¬ 
ant point, particularly when the plants 
are young. Frequent applications of 
manure strong in nitrogen, and irrigation 
will help them along wonderfully. As 
in most Date Palms, the strong spines 
along the leaf-stems nearest the trunk are 
dreadful weapons, therefore, great cau¬ 
tion in handling them is necessary. All 
the old leaves should be cut off with a 
sharp pruning knife or a clipper as near 
to the trunk as possible. 
The Canary Island Date is a hardy palm, 
the hardiest of the genus. I have seen 
large specimens in St. Augustine, Jack¬ 
sonville, Pensacola, Mobile and New 
Orleans, where the mercury quite often 
drops to 15 degrees Fahrenheit, and now 
and then even to 10 degress Fahrenheit. 
The leaves are bright, deep, glossy green 
—a very peculiar tint and difficult to de¬ 
scribe—and the midrib has a somewhat 
yellowish cast. The outer ones are 
gracefully arched, while the central ones 
stand upright. The crown often con¬ 
sists of over 100 leaves, each one being 
from 12‘to 15 feet long. Planted to¬ 
gether with other palms, tall, tufted bam¬ 
boos and magnolias, it creates wonderful 
scenic effects. Young plants are very 
cheap and no garden, large or small, 
should be without one or more specimens. 
In New Orleans I saw a specimen in a 
