Chap. XV.] WINTER GARDENS. 245 



Those we employ for this purpose now are mostly such as cannot 

 be preserved in health for any length of time in living-rooms. If 

 in addition to the best of these we select handsome-leaved plants 

 of a leathery texture, accustomed to withstand the temperature 

 of hot countries, we shall find that the dry and dusty air of a 

 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 apartment. The variety of form and grace of outline which 

 many of these plants possess, is very great. Many of them are 

 exotics, rarely seen in England out of stoves, while about Paris 

 they are sold in abundance for the decoration of apartments. The 

 widely-spread taste for plants in rooms explains the prevalence of 

 these graceful plants in Paris gardens and flowershops. The 

 number of Dracaenas cultivated in and around Paris is enormous, 

 one Versailles nurseryman annually raising from 5000 to 6000 

 plants of the bright-leaved Dracaena terminalis alone, by far the 

 greater part being for room-decoration. Among the newer species 

 of Draci»nas — not alluding to the coloured-leaved kinds — are 

 some that combine grace with stateliness as few other plants do. 

 They are useful for the centres of massive groups of plants in 

 their larger forms, while the smaller species may be advantageously 

 associated with the Maidenhair Fern and small flowering-plants. 

 They are of the greatest utility in these decorations, and are 

 largely used in all parts. Young Palms are also cultivated to a 

 surprising extent about Paris, and so are all graceful-leaved plants 

 from the Cycads to the common trailing Ivy, — used a good deal 

 to make living screens of. 



The following few notes on the principal plants which serve 

 for window and room decoration in Paris are by M. A. Chantin, 

 a cultivator of plants for these purposes on a large scale, and the 

 possessor of a very rich collection of Palms and other exotics. 

 Of these the Palms are without doubt the most important, and 

 are most generally used, because of their hardy character and 

 moderate price. Among the very best are the Fan-palms — 

 Chamserops humilis and excelsa. Corypha australis, although 

 now but little known as a house-plant, is destined in a short time 

 , to occupy a foremost place in the decoration of apartments. It 

 is conspicuous for its peculiar beauty, and the number of its 

 leaves, and is, I believe, the most hardy and enduring of all the 



