SUB-TSOPICAL GAEDENING. 45 



leaved Plants will prove a thoroughly profitable invest- 

 ment. 



Others have remarked to us, " that it is all very well to 

 recommend the use of fine-foliaged plants in the flower 

 garden during summer, but to carry it out, such an 

 •enormous quantity of glass is required that it never can 

 become general;" and as we have taken up the cudgels 

 thus far in defence of this system, we must endeavour 

 still to use them, forcibly. In answer to this last objection, 

 we say that we firmly believe it will become general, 

 and that it is fast, though quietly, taking hold upon the 

 gardening community throughout the length and breadth 

 •of the land. And we add, that its adoption is not found 

 to render necessary more plant houses or frames than were 

 required under the previous system. Indeed, it is but 

 reasonable to conclude, that as a curtailment of one set 

 of plants is made, their places can be taken by the newly 

 adopted ones. Many of the latter, however, be it remem- 

 bered, will survive in the open air with a slight protection, 

 except, perhaps, in exceptionally severe winters. Then 

 such plants as Agaves and Yuccas may be stored in a shed 

 or coach-house, where, if kept perfectly dry they will 

 winter well, but unless too large, we should recommend 

 their being taken into the dwelling-house, and distributed 

 in various suitable positions, as likewise may some of the 

 Palms, Cordylines, &c., &c. ; they will thus form beau- 

 tiful objects of attraction, and prevent the plant houses 

 being over-crowded. At the same time, this is a use of 

 ornamental-leaved plants which we particularly wish to 

 recommend to our readers, and which has induced us to 

 devote some space to remarks upon " in-door gardeniug," 

 for the more we see of our continental neighbours, the 

 more we are persuaded that this is a custom too much 



