SCB-TEOPICAL GARDENING. 43 



In thus urging the claims of sub-tropical gardening 

 ■upon our readers, we would by no means advocate the 

 ibanishment of flowering plants from the parterre or 

 pleasure grounds, but we believe that ornamental-leaved 

 ^plants of noble or graceful habit, either used with them, 

 or made to alternate with them, would produce an in- 

 finitely superior effect to that which is obtained from 

 mere beds of colour, with little or no relief or support 

 .from surrounding objects. It is very easy to explain 

 fthe antipathy which some people have towards the sub- 

 tropical style, for in several instances which have come 

 under our immediate notice, a trial has resulted in the 

 ^destruction of choice and valuable specimens. The loss 

 in these cases, however, proves nothing but the want of 

 forethought and practical knowledge on the part of the 

 €sperunentors, and the results do not warrant the con- 

 demnation of sub-tropical gardening, as a system, for 

 the more favoured positions in these islands. No well- 

 informed amateur or gardener would think of plant- 

 ing his Pelargoniums, Verbenas, Calceolarias, and other 

 things, usually denominated "bedding plants," until they 

 had been subjected to a gradual process of hardening 

 or inuring to the open air. How reprehensible then 

 was it, when the style of gardening now under con- 

 sideration was first brought into notice in this country, 

 for any of those who professed themselves to be enamoured 

 of it, to at once commence putting it in practice, by re- 

 moving from the stoves to the open air, large Palms, 

 Dracaenas, and other ornaanental-leaved plants from tropical 

 -countries, without the slightest preparation. That this 

 should lead to the speedy disfigurement and ultimate 

 'death of the plants is not to be wondered at, when it 

 is j^emembered that, even supposing the kinds selected 



