The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1915-03-05
A Few Good Plants for
the Dining-Room Table
THE first requirements of plants

Shtth6 tuC 10 that
they be small-not over six or eight
inches in height-except in rare in
stances, when plants 10 to IL inches
may be used. When the centerpiece
Is too high, it becomes an uncomfort-
able obstacle to observation and con-
versation.
Ferns are best for table decoration
because they are small, long lived in
the case of several varieties, and
cheap, as a rule; at most greenhouses
one can buy them grown in two or
three-inch pots for 10 cents apiece.
The best, or at least the hardest,
OF the small ferns, are the pteris.
There are several of them, and the
oddly shaped, and, in some cases,
peculiarly marked, fronds make them
very attractive.
The sO-called umbrella palm also
makes an excellent centerpiece until
1t grows too tall, but a small plant
will not, as a rule, grow so fast but
that it can be used all Winter.
Slow Growers.
Pandanas Vietchii, Asparagus
plumosus, var. nanus, the silk oak
(Grevillea rodusta), Cocos Wedel-
Llama, and Phoenix Roebellini,
are excellent plants for use as
the main plant. Although they will
all eventually grow large, their
growth is slow, so that, with few ex-
ceptions, the trying conditions found
in the ordinary house will cause the
death of the plants long before they
become too large for use. Around
these larger plants there should be
smaller ones, to cover the soil, and
for this purpose the small ferns al
ready mentioned are excellent. The
small fern allies, too, like selaginella
and lycopodium. may be employed in
the same way.
Whatever the plants, however,
they must have good care If they are
to prove satisfactory for more than
few days. Only recently | over
heard woman complaining to her
florist that the plants in her fern
dish, which she was using as CEN
tapiece, were not good plants.
A few questions only were needed
to elucidate the fact that, as the
woman had bought the plants to
decorate the dining-room table with,
she had kept them on the table con-
stantly, which, Of course, was great
mistake Ferns, palms and other
plants must have light; therefore,
when the table is cleared, the best
plan is to put the plants in North
or other window, where they will re-
ceiye an abundance of light, but not
the direct rays of the sun, except, pos
sibly in the early morning and late
afternoon. Watering must also be
carefully attended to.
The dishes used for table center
pieces are so small that, under ordi-
nary circumstances, the soil dries out
rapidly If special dish, large
enough to allow the packing of damp
moss around the pot containing the
ferns is used, more uniform con-
dition OF moisture can be maintained,
but the dish will be so large as to
look clumsy. A better way would
be to have a moss-filled dish or box
in a north window in which the dish
may be set during the time 1t is not
on the table.
Hardening Plants.
One reason why centerpieces and
other plants bought in greenhouses
often fail to give satisfaction is that
the plants have not been hardened
off to meet the conditions found In
the ordinary house. To circumvent
this, get the fern-dish filled with such
plants as you like that will succeed
in the house under ordinary condi'
tions, and then ask the florist tc
keep it for you week or two until
the soft growth, II there is any, has
been hardened off, so that the plants
will not wilt or the leaves turn
brown shortly after they are taken
home.
Ornamental centerpieces for table
ferns are to be found in great va.
riety both as respects material and
size. Brass fern-dishes are particu
larly attractive and may be secured
for as small a sum as one dollar
China dishes, attractively ornament
ed, are used, to a large extent, ant
cost from 25 cents up. Sometimes
it is possible to find dainty, small
iardinieres imported from Japan
which make very attractive center
pieces when containing single small
ferns. These jardinieres come botf
in q deep green and dark red, ant