Page:The Amateur's Greenhouse and Conservatory.djvu/221

Rh pine-apple, and indeed belong to the same natural order. A warm greenhouse will suit them better than a stove. H. Ghiesbreghti is a fine conservatory plant, with spiny recurved leaves of a rich green colour tipped with purple.

.&mdash;Are less cared for by amateurs than they deserve to be, for if prudently selected and favoured with a little commonplace attention they contribute in a material degree to the dignity and variety of the conservatory. The most useful of the family for greenhouse culture are Chamoerops humilis, C. Fortunei, C. palmetto, Areca sapida, Latania Bourbonica, Juba spectabilis, Phoenix dactylifera, and Rhapis flabelliformis. Palms are raised from seed and suckers, and stove heat is absolutely essential in either mode of propagating. To secure a nice collection it will be prudent to purchase plants of small size, and as they are remarkably cheap considering how choice they are, every conservatory that is kept safe against frost in winter may have the advantage of their elegant tropical leafage. Palms are generally starved in small gardens, and hence they make but little growth. But if annually shaken out and repotted in a mixture of tough fibrous peat and sharp grit, or fibrous yellow loam and silver sand, they will grow luxuriantly and acquire a splendid brightness of leafage. The best time to repot them is the month of May, and as a rule they may be put into the same pots after some portion of the old soil has been removed from the roots and the pots have been well scrubbed to receive them. Palms enjoy partial shade in summer and plenty of water. In winter the water supply must be moderate but they should never go dust dry. When planted out in turfy peat in a cool fern house the hardier kinds of palms make a charming addition to the elegant leafage that prevails.

.&mdash;The “New Zealand Flax,” P. tenax, is a well known plant which bears our winters without harm, in the milder parts of South Devon and Cornwall, but elsewhere is a cool conservatory plant. There is a variegated variety of it, and another with narrow leaves, called P. Colensoi var., which, with the common green-leaved form, constitute a group of three noble habited and rather peculiar looking plants. They may be well grown in pots, but do much better planted out either in peat or loam provided it is gritty or stony in texture and well drained. They should have plenty of water all the summer, and very little in winter. The easiest way to multiply them is by dividing the stool by a sharp cut