232 THE PARKS AND GARDENS OF PARIS. [Chap. XV. 



and grandeur of unity in composition, attained with difficulty- 

 even in large parks, is here impossible. The object to be sought, 

 then, is contrast in the foliage and habit of the plants employed. 

 Two species of massive foliage, for example, should not stand side 

 by side, such as a Musa and a Eavenala, or a Coccoloba pubescens 

 and a Theophrasta. But a large tuft of a Strelitzia beneath the 

 shade of a Cocos plumosa is very effective, and a fine contrast is 

 presented to the eye by backing up the grand foliage and yellow 

 spikes of Hedychium Gardnerianum with clumps of Ferns, 

 Bamboos, or feathery Conifers. The rigid foliage of Ehododendrons 

 and Camellias should be excluded, these beautiful plants being re- 

 served for a separate house, where they will better display their 

 charms in a collection. 



In dense masses of foliage, like those adjoining the rockery in 

 our plan, the arrangement should be in gradual rising ranks, 

 thick, heavy foliage forming the basis, surmounted by lighter and 

 more graceful forms of Palms and Tree-ferns, whose slender-plumed 

 columns break through the sombre undergrowth. The use of 

 ordinary flowering-plants should be limited to the borders and 

 special beds for them, with the exception of here and there one on 

 the rockwork. We mean such plants as are grown in pots in 

 special houses and taken to the winter-garden for temporary 

 decoration, as — Primulas, Cyclamens, Tulips, Hyacinths, Heaths, 

 Crocuses, etc. 



The side-walls, or sashes, should be provided with wire trellis- 

 work or wooden lattice-work against a dead wall, to support 

 climbing-plants all round the house. For covering the surface of 

 the soil nothing is better than Selaginella denticulata ; and this 

 should be planted or re-planted in autumn, or in spring, as the 

 dry heat of summer is unfavourable to it. Small fragments, about 

 three inches long, planted four or five inches apart, will soon 

 cover the ground. Above all a good system of shading must be 

 ensured to protect the plants from the direct rays of the sun in 

 summer. The paths may be formed of gravel, and they are best 

 edged with half-plunged portions of rugged stone. The con- 

 struction of the rockery should be of the simplest kind, composed 

 of a few stones naturally disposed and projecting slightly from the 

 earth so as to be discovered rather than seen. Monumental rock- 

 work should be avoided, and, above all, reject the so-called pretty 



