ROCKYILLE. 357 



" While the buttresses are thus decorated," writes 

 a describer, " the open spaces of the aisles are chiefly 

 occupied by large plants with fine foliage, mostly 

 planted, or seeming to be so, in little mounds of rock- 

 work. The following are some of the most striking 

 that thus placed singly cannot fail to command atten- 

 tion : A noble plant of Latania Borbonica, with its 

 beautifully plaited fan-like leaves ; a noble plant of 

 Dicksonia antarctica, 10 J feet in height to top of 

 fronds, fine, dark, clear stem 3 feet in circumference, 

 and the fronds forming a circle 12 feet in diameter ; 

 Dicksonia squarrosa, true, 11 J feet in height, with 

 noble fronds, and feathered with offsets all up the 

 stem ; Alsopliila australica, 10 feet in height, with an 

 elegant crown of healthy fronds; Alsopliila excelsa, 

 11 feet in height, with noble foliage. Then there 

 were fine large plants of Cyatliea dealbata, Cya- 

 tliea medullaris, Alsopliila Macartliice, Rliopala De 

 Jonghi, and the beautiful Aralia leptophylla and 

 papyri/era: also good plants of the singular-leaved 

 Damfnaras from New Caledonia ; Draccena nutans ; 

 Imatopliyllum miniatum, 12 feet in circumference ; a 

 Chinese colt's-foot, Farfugium grande, 20 feet in cir- 

 cumference ; and a noble specimen of the India-rubber 

 plant, which, with its thick, leathery leaves, contrasted 

 strongly with the feathery foliage by which it was 

 surrounded.* . . , . 



" The north end of the house is a solid wall, and 

 in front of it is a fine massive, irregular specimen of 



* These last-named plants are not ferns. 



