WINDOW GARDENIXa. 
261 
and produce abundantly, and the latter is a dark bronze of medium size, com- 
bined with an erect habit. If grown well it is very fine for the table. 
Cultivation and Care of Palms for the House and Conservatory. 
A few years ago the opinion was general, that palms were not only difficult in 
CuUivation, but on account of their size, requiring a large space, only suitable for 
a big greenhouse and not at all for parlor decoration. Palms in the mind of peo- 
ple were imagined to be of im- 
mense size. For instance ; the In- 
dian Palmyra and Talipot palms, 
the slender high growing Cocos of 
the islands in the Indian Ocean 
and the Pacific Ocean, the grace- 
ful Sugar and Areca palms, or 
the Palma Real, in Cuba. So it 
happened that after some descrip- 
tions of our celebiated travelers, 
the cultivation of palms was 
nearly left untiied. "Kings 
among the gra.sses," as Alex, 
von Humboldt relates in his 
"Views about Nature" how in 
South America the slender tops 
of several species reach above the 
highest trees of the forest. Ad 
miration for glorious growth of 
the greater number of palms for- 
bade the introduction into our 
small gardens and parlors, while 
the form of palms of pinnatisect 
fronds with fan or umbrella- 
shaped fronds, like Corypha and 
Chamaerops, Trinax, Main-itia 
and Sabal species called to great 
interest and induced to a study Fig. 12. segouia, grown on bracket. 
of the physiognomy of them. Consequently numerous kinds of species came 
into trade and were civilized in our greenhouses. If we take in consideration 
how very few kinds of palms (in Linnaeas time) were known (about 
40 species), and how the lively period of culture of palms begins about 25 years 
ago, and how during this time nearly 400 species M'ere cultivated in European 
Gardens, we comprehend cleaily that palms are not diflScult to cultivate, many 
of them even fit for small arrangement. Induced by Alexander von Humboldt, 
it was tried first to stud}* their finding places and distribution in the primitive 
forests, in the Littorals and on the plateaus of the Andes, and according to thia 
