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OENAMENTAL GEASSES. 



ANY enthusiastic collectors of garden curiosities attri- 

 bute the general neglect of the grasses to the excessive 

 devotion of amateur cultivators to plants which produce 

 gaudy flowers — the geraniums, verbenas, and other 

 " bedding plants" monopolizing, it is said, so much 

 attention that subjects less attractive to the eye, though not less 

 intrinsically beautiful and interesting, are utterly neglected in the 

 selection of plants for decorative x3urposes. We must confess that 

 we do not think the increased and increasing passion for the culti- 

 vation of plants which contribute to our gardens brilliant displays 

 of colour during the summer season has anything at all to do with 

 the supposed injustice done to the grasses, for concurrently with the 

 passion for bedding plants, there has grown up also a passion for 

 ferns, which, except in a few instances, exhibit but various tones of 

 one colour, and are principally attractive because of the endless 

 variety of their elegant forms. It is no doubt the truth that 

 generally speaking grasses are not qualified to take the highest 

 place in the scale of relative beauty among garden plants ; but it is 

 true also that they have at least a place, and deserve to be much 

 more observed and cultivated than they are at present. To the 

 amateur gardener, whose sole object in cultivating a garden is to 

 derive from it as much physical and intellectual recreation as 

 possible, the grasses offer themselves as admirably adapted for 

 various decorative purposes, both while growing and subsequently 

 when dried for the decoration of the table, or for the formation of 

 vignettes. Some few of the family have indeed acquired a popularity 

 second to none of the favourite plants of the present day ; every- 

 where among the lovers of the picturesque the queenly Pampas 

 grass (^Gynerluin argentemn) is esteemed as one of the grandest of 

 garden decorations, and the universal distribution of this magni- 

 ficent grass prepares the way at least for a more general appreciation 

 of the beauties of other grasses ; and we trust the day is approaching 

 when collections of grasses will be met with in gardens as frequently 

 as we now meet with collections of ferns. Many of the nobler 

 forms are adapted to almost any position in a garden; the Pampas 

 grass is as appropriate in the centre of a lawn as it is on a knoll 

 among rustic scenes, or on a terrace where every detail must be in 

 accordance with the demands of high art. For example, the common 

 Ribbon grass, or Painted Lady (Fhalaris ariindinacea variegata), is 

 known in our gardens as one of the most ornamental plants for the 

 summits of banks and rockeries, and also suitable for the margins 

 of beds, and to form lines of glittering silvery foliage in borders 

 planted on the " ribbon" principle. The Tussack grass makes grand 

 clumps of fountain-like foliage, suitable for the margins of wilderness 

 walks, and among mixtures of plants in the borders. Clumps of 

 the Sugar grass {Rolcus saccharatus) ^ the Italian Panick (Panicum 

 Italicum), the Feather grass {Stii^a pennata), and others, have a 

 remarkably graceful appearance, and contribute much to the enjoy- 



