WTNDOW GARDENING. 



249 



" Those we employ for this purpose, now are mostly of a fleeting character, 

 and such as cannot be preserved in health for any length of time in living rooms. 

 But if in addition to the best of these we select handsome leaved plants of a 

 leathery texture, accustomed to withstand the fierce heats of hot countries, we 

 shall find that the dry and dusty air of the living room is not at all injurious to 

 them, and that it is quite easy to keep them in health for months, and even for 

 years, in the same apartments. 



" Many plants that in England are considered as Exotics, are sold in Paris in 

 abundance for the deco- 

 ration of apartments. 

 The demand for use in 

 private houses gives rise 

 to a large and special 

 branch of trade in many 

 of the nurseries, and I 

 know one Versailles cul- 

 tivator who annually 

 raises and sells 5,000 or 

 6,000 plants of the 

 bright-leaved Dracaena 

 terminalis alone, and by 

 far the greater part for 

 room docoration. " 



Although English 

 plants are much better 

 grown than the Paris- 

 ian, yet those of the 

 latter appear the best ; 

 the difference being 

 caused by exceedingly 

 tasteful and frequently 

 pecuhar arrangement, 

 as well as by employing 

 effective and graceful 

 kinds What the Paris- 

 ians do as regards ar- Fig. 3.— GymnostacUyum Verschaflfeltii. 



rangement may be best gleaned if we describe the decorations for one of the 

 balls of the Hotel de Ville : 



" Entering the Salle St. Jean, the eye was immediately attracted by a luxuri- 

 ant mass of vegetation at one end, while on the right and immediately round a 

 mirrored recess was a very tasteful and telling display, made as follows : In 

 front of the large and high mirror stretched a bank of moss, common moss 

 underneath, and the surface nicely formed of fresh green Lycopodium denticula 



