472 THE GARDENER. [Oct. 



dark-red spots on a pale-green ground. The habit is compact and very- 

 neat, which renders it most suitable for being grown in baskets and 

 suspended from the roofs of houses. 



HARDY ANT> HALF-HARDY PLANTS FOR TABLE 

 AND ROOM DECORATIOnsr. 



In general, hardy plants are not very much favoured in rooms. It is, per- 

 haps, natural we should prefer the plants of warmer climates indoors, 

 and those that are hardy out of doors ; but we are not always natural 

 in our tastes, and there is no reason why we should rudely shut the 

 door in the face of any member of the ornamental classes of plants, be 

 it hardy or tender. Those that can afford to surround themselves with 

 the more costly natives of tropical and temperate lands, may fairly 

 indulge themselves in that way to their hearts' content. Their enjoy- 

 ments do not, or need not, however, limit those of the less wealthy. 

 Hardy and half-hardy plants are fortunately cheaper than those requir- 

 ing more expensive appliances and management in their culture. They 

 are not less numerous, nor less varied in character, and perhaps not 

 less beautiful, if the false idea of commonness that attaches to them is 

 not allowed to have undue weight. But there is no need for putting 

 the one class of plants in comparison with the other. Each has its own 

 fitness to meet the varied wants, tastes, and means of men ; and perhaps 

 the latter consideration, or length of purse, will, as it always should, 

 determine our tastes, and their limits. If I cannot afford to pay the 

 piper, I need not forswear music, so long as the whistle and the Jew's- 

 harp remain; and if I can pick a little enjoyment out of those humble, 

 not to say vulgar instruments, why should I long after the unques- 

 tionably more classic but to me unattainable bagpipes ? And so, if my 

 accommodation for plants extends only to a cold frame or two, my 

 time and thoughts will be better employed in filling them with, and 

 cultivating well, such plants as will accommodate themselves to such 

 quarters, than in dreaming of stoves, conservatories, and tropical plants. 

 There is no better ornament for a sitting-room or dinner-table than a 

 well-cultivated plant of pleasing aspect. The essential points in a good 

 plant for this purpose are a graceful or striking form, softness of colours, 

 and general freshness. These points are all combined in many hardy 

 and half-hardy plants. Many may lack the refinement of appearance 

 that characterises some of the Ferns, Palms, &c., employed to decorate 

 the drawing-rooms of the wealthy and the fashionable ; but there are 

 not a few that, with good management, may prove sources of pleasure 

 to those whose tastes are not prone to soar above ordinary things. 

 The two subjects selected below, to be followed by similar selections 



