788 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
August 12, 1898. 
PALMS AS DRAWING ROOM 
ORNAMENTS. 
Palms are so specially adapted for house decoration 
that we have come to look upon them less as plants 
than as drawing-room ornaments, as part of the 
furniture, in fact. They are fixtures, and may be 
made to last almost as long as the chairs and tables 
themselves, and would probably do so were it not 
that after a time we are apt to get tired of them and 
to turn them out in favour of something else, or 
because we are moving and do not care to take them 
with us. I was once shown a fine specimen of my 
favourite Chusan Palm (Chamaerops Fortunei) which 
had stood in the same room for seven years. It had 
been repotted three times, but besides being watered 
regularly no special care had been taken of it. It 
was in perfect condition and had formed a noble 
crown of leaves ; such a plant as that was indeed 
worth seeing. 
This used to be considered the hardiest of all 
Palms, but now there are about a dozen others 
which run it very close — all the Australian species, 
Corypha australis, Areca sapida, the Kentias, and 
the Seaforthias, not to mention the only European 
Palm, Chamaerops humilis. During the summer 
months there is no Palm I have yet tried which will 
not stand well in a room, so if wanted only till the 
end of the season it is safe to simply choose the 
most ornamental, but if they are meant to last for 
years their relative strength becomes important. 
Many tropical Palms reserved hitherto for the 
plant stove might well be brought into play for 
house decoration, being far hardier than is generally 
supposed. The way would be to test them by 
keeping them through the winter in order to see 
which are worth repeating, for in this way the range 
of available drawing-room favourites might be con¬ 
siderably extended. I once tried an experiment of 
this kind with results of great use to myself at the 
time, though as it was some years ago I should be 
afraid of making mistakes were I to go into parti¬ 
culars. Of course I avoided all the cool house 
Palms as already tried, limiting my choice to those 
which the nurseryman from whose stove I purchased 
them said he could not rely upon to do well in a 
room, otherwise the trial would have been valueless. 
None died outright, but a few became so shabby as 
not to be worth keeping. 
I have an impression that the two which suffered 
most from the very cool treatment they received 
were two Indian Palms, Arenga saccharifera and 
Caryota urens. The larger plants pulled through 
better than the smaller ones. I remember that at 
the end of the winter most of them looked so firm 
and healthy that I was never afraid of 
buying these kinds again whenever I wanted them. 
Palms are so tenacious of life that it takes a good 
deal to kill them ; when they die it is either owing 
to an accident or from some cause easily explained. 
I once lost a Palm in a way that struck me at the 
time as being rather singular. I had not had it 
more than twenty-four hours in the house before I 
detected the first symptoms of death, the half 
expanded leaf becoming limp and the rest of the 
leaves shrivelling up. On turning it out of its pot I 
found that the earth round its roots was completely 
dry, so dry that it fell away in a shower of grey 
powder. It was standing in a saucer of water when 
I bought it, so it had not occurred to me to do more 
than sprinkle it. It was a good sized plant in a 
7-inch pot very tightly potted and the moisture had 
not worked its way up more than half an inch. The 
plant was thoroughly choked, and was simply dying 
from want of water, the change from a cold shop 
window to an exceptionally warm drawing-room no 
doubt hastening the end. 
Though Palms are so strong, when they once 
begin to go there is no stopping them. Like many 
other plants, they require to be kept very wet in 
summer and only gently moist in winter. Great care 
should be taken in the selection of them in the first 
instance, as half the failures we see arise from the 
neglect of this precaution. In taking them from the 
greenhouse of a reliable nurserymen we may feel 
safe, and this is by far the best way to buy them. 
Those who persist in patronising small greengrocers 
and men who hawk them about on barrows, on the 
other hand must keep their eyes open. 
Perhaps of all Palms the most generally popular 
is Latania borbonica, though unluckily it is one of the 
most difficult to keep quite up to the mark. Those 
broad bright green leaves, which present so striking an 
appearance in the plant-cart, if closely examined will 
be found to have a false edge, being carefully snipped 
all round with a pair of scissors. These fine fan 
leaves have a tendency to turn bro\yn at the tips, but 
that is no excuse for tampering with them in this 
way. 
Again, second rate florists who do not understand 
Palms are apt to think that directly a leaf begins to 
fade it should be at once removed, but that is a great 
mistake, for while the sap is in the stem to cut it off 
injures the plant, besides spoiling its outline and 
diminishing its size, and the unsightly stump 
is a far greater disfigurement than a partially 
withered leaf It should be allowed to die oft by de¬ 
grees, and ought not to be removed till sufficiently 
# dry to be twisted off with the thumb and finger. 
But the worst thing of all about these market 
plants is that they have often been grown in bottom 
heat, which gets them on quickly but weakens them, 
and if not sufficiently cooled down unfits them for 
the atmosphere of a room. Whenever I have lost a 
Palm it has generally been from this cause. Well- 
grown Palms don’t die. This grand Chinese fan 
Palm (Latania borbonica), should not be bought too 
young, as the leaves are not in character till the 
plant is large enough to be put into a 7-in. pot. Small 
plants in 5-in. pots are not decorative, the leaves 
being still in an undeveloped state. The same remark 
applies to my greatest favourite of all, the date Palm 
(Phoenix dactylifera), which is not ornamental in a 
very young state, having a decidedly scratchy look, 
its leaves taking even larger before they come true, 
not till there are at least fifteen leaflets on each side 
of the stem. This plant has to be scrutinised with 
equal care to see that no leaves have been shortened 
or cut off. 
How I came to devote so much time and attention 
to Palms was that a long time ago I had a stove in 
which I grew nothing else, and this gave me a taste 
for them. Years afterwards, in another house I had 
a sitting room so inherently ugly that no efforts in 
the way of furniture seemed to do it any good, so I 
bethought me of my old favourites the Palms, and 
resolved to work them in as a redeeming feature, in 
orde'r that there might be at least something pleasant 
for the eye to rest upon. The only window looked 
out upon a builder's yard, so I crowded out this un¬ 
promising back view wiLh a green hedge, consisting 
of a double row of the most graceful Palms I could 
find, and when friends came to see me their first 
greeting was no longer “ What an ugly room ! ” but 
“ What beautiful plants ! ”— G. L. 
- .**«. - 
BIG GOOSEBERRIES. 
I have observed the notes in your two last issues in 
reference to the above, and if you would like to 
have a little further evidence I will state what has 
occurred in our neighbourhood. On the 1st of 
August, at the Wilmslow show, the variety Lord 
Derby won the premier prize for the heaviest berry 
with a weight of 22 dwts. 17 gr. Next in weight 
was London, 29 dwts. 26 gr A neighbour who 
takes great interest in these Gooseberries has this 
season had some very fine fruit. His heaviest was 
London, which weighed 29 dwts. 4 gr.; next in 
weight was Surprise, at 28 dwts. One of the hand¬ 
somest fruits, either for a plate or a single berry, is 
Catherine, which, when ripe, is a fine clear yellow. 
This I would as soon have as any of them, though 
the following kinds were growing close by, as well 
as those mentioned above, and others :—Leveller, 
Transparent, Ringer, Antagonist, etc. 
Perhaps it might also be stated that these Goose¬ 
berries are grown in quite a different way to what is 
usually the case in ordinary culture. For one thing, 
there are very few shoots allowed to the bush. They 
are allowed to thinly diverge out from the main 
stem, and the fruit is carefully thinned out. Then 
the other main item is that the bushes are growing 
in the best medium that is thought possible—turfy 
loam, manure, sand, etc. Then the bushes are 
dressed in the winter so as to prevent red spider. 
Under such conditions, with care, good fruit would 
be the natural result. 
I his treatment is different to what the Gooseberry 
usually has to be subjected to under ordinary kitchen 
garden treatment. But under this head, if the 
ordinary popular kind, the Warrington, was subjected 
to a better regime of culture it would be a step in 
the right direction. This kind, when quite ripe, is a 
very good dessert fruit. The tendency is to over¬ 
bear, as this season, where the fruit has not been 
thinned, I counted on a spray or single branch 
three dozen berries, which, as a result, were small. 
Where the fruits were well thinned out, and the 
bushes had been manured last winter, the produce 
was very good. I may also observe that on one of 
the Red Warrington bushes there has developed a 
branch which for several seasons has borne white 
fruit.— Robt. Machellav, Cheadle, Cheshire. (Have you 
tried to fix the sport ?— Ed.] 
--- 
SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY 
The fortieth annual meeting of the Royal Scottish 
Arboricultural Society was held at No. 5, St. Andrew 
Square, Edinburgh, on Monday, Professor Bayley 
Balfour presiding. The Secretary, Mr. W. J. 
Moffat, intimated that the membership was now 
over 600, including eighty-five new members. After 
the office-bearers had been elected, the chairman 
delivered his presidential address. He said the 
society was in a prosperous condition, and the 
record of membership had again been beaten this 
year. Referring at considerable length to the order 
of the Board of Agriculture prohibiting the use of 
home-grown timber in Government contracts, he 
said the Council had instituted an inquiry into the 
matter, and the protest made to the board had had 
the effect of the prohibition being removed from 
Scotland, so far at least as concerned the work under 
the Board of Agriculture, an eloquent tribute to the 
society as representing the interests of arboricul¬ 
turists in Scotland. The attendance at the classes 
at the Botanic Gardens had been excellent, and the 
examinations satisfactory all round, and he depre¬ 
cated the statement made by the chairman of the 
Forestry Committee of the Highland and Agricul¬ 
tural Society to the effect that the lectures at the 
gardens were in opposition to the University course. 
He regretted that the society had not yet been able 
to set apart an Endowment Fund, and proceeded to 
speak in favour of the establishment of an agri- 
horti-arboricultural institution in Edinburgh, by 
which present methods and the funds supplied for 
technical instruction could be better utilised. He 
considered that the difficulties in such a course were 
not insurmountable, and threw out the suggestion 
that the Town Council should make an addition to 
the Royal Veterinary College for such teaching. 
Dr. Cleghorn moved th at the council be instructed 
to promote by every means in their power the en- 
downment of a Forestry Chair in Edinburgh 
University, and to hand over for that purpose the 
contributions, now amounting to £ 2,200. Mr. Duff 
seconded, and the resolution was agreed to. It was 
remitted to the council, with powers, to consider the 
arrangements for next year’s excursion, which it was 
proposed should be to Ireland. 
Silver Medals were awarded to the following 
members for essays and papers sent in : Messrs. W. 
A. Mackenzie, Strabane, Brodick; D. Robertson, 
Novar; A. T. Williamson, 7, Kew Terrace, Edin¬ 
burgh ; Mr. Hutchinson, Carlowrie ; Arch. Mitchell, 
Dunraven Castle, Glamorganshire; R. M. Milne, 
Edinburgh; Alex. Murray, Murthly, Perthshire. 
Bronze Medals were given to Mr. John Smith, 
Ramsey, Hunts ; Mr. Wm. Inglis, Brodick Castle, 
Arran ; and Mr. Alexander Campbell, Scone. The 
Gold Medal was awarded to Mr. D. F'. Mackenzie, 
Mortonhall. The meeting terminated with the 
usual votes of thanks. 
The annual excursion of the society started from 
Princes Street Station, direct for Windsor, in the 
afternoon. Some 140 members sent in their names, 
amongst them being Sir A. Muir Mackenzie, of Del- 
vine, Professor Bayley Balfour, Professor Boulger, 
Colonel Bailey, R.A., Major Macleod, Messrs. Mal¬ 
colm Dunn, John Methven, John Watson, Robert 
Wallace, Alex. Thomson, Trinity, etc. 
-- 
THE LATE MR. W. THOMSON. 
The portrait which we give on the opposite page of 
Mr. William Thomson, Junr., of Clovenfords, whose 
death on the 30th ult. was recorded in our last issue, 
will be of melancholy interest to his many friends 
among the readers of this journal. An able, active 
man and genial warm-hearted friend, his passing 
away in the prime of life has caused many a pang of 
sorrow, and great sympathy is expressed in all 
quarters for his family. 
