Newark evening star and Newark advertiser., 1915-12-31
Best Plants for
House Culture

What is home without flowers?
How can anyone be content to pass
the long winter months in rooms
where there are neither blossoms nor
plants to brighten the dull days with
their bright colors and green leaves?
Yet the busy housewife is justified in
selecting only those plants which may
be grown with a minimum of care
and attention. The list is none too
long.
To be thoroughly satisfactory,
plant must be able to withstand the
dry atmosphere and comparatively
high temperatures found in most
living rooms, where steam, hot-air or
similar means are used. 1t must be
able also to stand certain amount
of dust, and so constituted that, when
the owner goes away for a day and
forgets to water It,, the resulting dry
ness will not shrivel the leaves to a
crisp before morning. And, lastly, If
the gas jets or the furnace leak a lit
tie, the wholly satisfactory plant
must not be affected. These condi-
tions are very hard indeed to fill.
The following are some of the best
plants which will thrive in the house
II they have a reasonable amount of
care.
Plants for Foliage Effects.
There is a great diversity in the
plants which one may buy to produce
foliage effects in the home, and one
should be governed accordingly. For
use in hallweys, and in other places
where there are cold draughts. moth
ing is so good as the aspidistra. For
the ordinary living-room 1t is hard to
say lust which Is the best plant TO
buy in the class, for there is really
quite an array. The aspidistra is the
hardest house plant there is, but 1t is
not a particularly graceful plant, as
1t is rather stiff; still 1t will thrive
where others will die. The rubber
plant is one of the most popular
house plants, because of its lasting
qualities. Its straight, formal habit
makes 1t attractive, and with rea-
sonable amount of care 1t will live
for years in the house. Within the
last few years there has been on the
market a rubber plant that has I'D
dle-shaped leaves (Ficus pandurata).
There is only one member OF the
confer family that can be grown IN
the house with any degree OF assur-
ance-the Norfolk Island pine (Arau-
caria excelsa). This little tree Is ex-
ceedingly attractive; the branches are
produced in whorls, the leaves are
dark green. One that has made
slow growth is more beautiful than
one that has made a rapid growth,
for the whorls of branches are closer
on the slow growing trees.
A Plant with Leaves Like Swords.
Next comes the screw pine the
cheapest type of which is Pandanus
utilis. This has a medium green leaf
that is beset with spines on both
edges and on the midrib underneath.
The leaves are like long two-edged
swords, and 1t gets its name OF screw
pine from the fact that the leaves
come from the central stem in spirals.
More beautiful than this is Veitchi
screw pine. This has white stripes
running longitudinally in the leaves,
and the green Is much darker than IN
the utilis. 1t costs a little more, Dut
it is lust as easily grown as the other.
Both of these plants will stand the
conditions of the house very well in
deed, although not so well, perhaps,
as the rubber plant.
The so-called sago palm seems to be
one of the plants which most WINDOW
gardeners want to grow. though many
have little success. Yet II Is not
hard plant to grow, ana II is INTEREST
ing to watch as its leaves unfold.
You can buy plants from the florist
or dormant roots from the scotsman
The roots cost about fifteen cents
pound, and they come in pieces from
two to fifty pounds in weight. The
window gardener will have a little
difficulty in starting the dormant
stems unless he has wardian case.
This is a little glass box in which a
high degree of humidity may be main
tained. The dormant roots are planted
In as small a pot as possible and put
in the wardian case, where they are
shaded from the direct rays OF the
sun during the middle of the day.
After the roots have started they
should be taken out and grown in q
cooler, drier atmosphere.
The Cycas makes one whorl OF
leaves a year, which is put out In the
summertime. and as the leaves come
out they unroll from the ends like a
fern frond. When of full size the
leaves are almost erect, but they
gradually droop during the course of
the year until the following summer.