8 Subtropical Gardening. 



Acacia lophantha. — This elegant plant, though not hardy, is 

 one of those which all may enjoy, from the freedom with which it 

 grows in the open air in summer. It will prove more useful for the 

 flower garden than it has ever been for the houses, and being easily 

 raised is entitled to a place here among the very best. The elegance 

 of its leaves and its quick growth in the open air make it quite 

 a boon to the flower gardener who wishes to establish graceful 

 verdure amongst the brighter ornaments of his parterre. It will 

 furnish the grace of a fern, while close and erect in habit, thus 

 enabling us to closely associate it with flowering plants without in 

 the least shading them — except from ugliness. Of course I speak 

 of its use in the young and single stemmed condition, the way in 

 which it should be used. By confining it to a single stem and 

 using it in a young state, you get the fullest size and beauty of which 

 the leaves are capable. Allow it to become old and branched and 

 it may be useful, but by no means so much so as when young and 

 without side branches. It may be raised from seed as easily as a 

 common bedding plant. By sowing it early in the year it may be 

 had fit for use by the first of June ; but plants a year old or so, stiff, 

 strong, and well hardened off, for planting out at the end of May 

 are the best. It would be desirable to raise an annual stock of this 

 plant, as it is almost as useful for room decoration as for the garden. 



Caladium esculentum. — This species has proved tlie best for 

 out-door work of a large genus with very fine foliage. It is only in 

 the midland and southern counties of Great Britain that it can be ad- 

 vantageously grown, so far as I have observed ; but its grand outlines 

 and aspect when well developed make it worthy of all attention, 

 and of a prominent position wherever the climate is warm enough 

 for its growth. It does very well about London, and may have been 

 noticed in considerable masses in the London parks during the past 

 year, and it served to illustrate the disadvantages of that mode of 

 planting to some extent. When seen in wide masses the effect is 

 by no means so fine as when in a compact group or circle. The 

 dead level line presented by their tops — which, unlike that of the 



