48 OENAMENTAL FOLIAGE PLANTS, 



important as in the case of "bedding plants," and we 

 conceive the principle which has been adopted m the 

 London Parks is undoubtedly correct. The main 

 feature of this system is to provide drainage of the 

 most ample and complete kind ; indeed, wherever prac- 

 ticable, the beds for the tender plants are elevated 

 with bricks some distance above the ground level, but 

 the bricks are hidden by a covering of soil. They are, 

 however, elevated not simply as a matter of drainage, 

 but as a storehouse for the sun's rays, which are given 

 out slowly in the form of bottom-heat, when the plants 

 have not the benefit of the sunshine. It is quite possible 

 indeed, that in many cases this elevation of the beds may 

 not be practicable, or compatible with the surroundings, 

 and therefore we do not insist upon it as an essential, but 

 the drainage is absolutely necessary to success. Therefore 

 the soil should be taken out to some depth wherever it is 

 intended to place a tender plant, and the whole filled up, to 

 within a foot or eighteen inches of the surface, with broken 

 bricks or other good drainage material, and upon this 

 the prepared soil may be placed. The soil should con- 

 sist of about three parts good loam, one part leaf mould, 

 one part peat, and one of sand. After the plants are 

 placed in position, we advise the surface to be covered 

 with good decomposed leaf mould, and if place and plant 

 are suitable, cover the ground with Selaginella, Trades- 

 cantia, or some other dwarf-growing thing that suggests 

 itself as being adapted for the purpose. In the case of 

 large Cycads, Palms, or such things, we by no means advise 

 them to be planted out, but plunged in the pots or tubs in 

 which they are growing. These plants form beautifiil 

 objects when plunged as single specimens upon the lawn, 

 and also when grouped with other plants, and the situations 



