50 



" Another thing that struck me was the great nse made of 

 green m ever^tliing, and the inujiense effect thus produc-. 

 ed. A stand of flowers would really have very few plants 

 indeed. There would be green and moss — and perhaps 

 two plants in flower. Setting off one gem is far more the 

 fashion than collecting a crowed that detract from each 

 other's beauty. Eacli flower is thus allowed to be distinct. 

 And then things are on a large scale. I have passed under 

 a flower yase often in going to dinner — a tall yase on a 

 side-table, with really gigantic flowers — Sunflowers and 

 Dahlias, with great Roses and Gladioli, and with such 

 large green leaves, and the flowers cut with such long 

 stalks, that each seemed well detached — and the strange 

 selection was Oriental, and beautiful in its strangeness. 

 Of course all things of this kind must suit the rooms they 

 are in ; but in immense lofty rooms, and with the large 

 massive style of most of the French furniture, nothing can 

 be in better taste than some of these brilliant vases. Then 

 the beautiful feathery grasses are very much used in Paris ; 

 and nothing can be more graceful, on a large scale, than 

 are these white plumes." 



PROTECTION OF PLANTS. 



In our variable climate it is necessary to protect many 

 of the herbaceous plants before winter sets in, esi^ecially 

 in the vicinity of Boston and other places upon the sea 

 coast. Farther back in the country, where the ground is 

 covered with snow from December to April, it is not so 

 important, as tlie snow is the best protection they can 

 have. Many Alpine, Siberian, and other plants from high 



