SUBTROPICAL PLANTS FOR THE PLOWER GARDEN. 187 



subjects that stand out in summer without the least injury, 

 and may be transferred to the conservatory in autumn, there 

 to produce as fine an effect all through the cold months as 

 they do in the flower garden in summer, are the best for 

 those with limited means. 



Agave Americana and its variegated varieties are plants 

 peculiarly suited for this kind of decoration, being useful 

 for placing out of doors in summer in vases, tubs, or pots 

 plunged in the ground, and also for the conservatory in 

 winter. They are so well known and so long cultivated in 

 this country that nothing need be said of their requirements 

 or cultivation. 



Aralia papyrifera (the Chinese Rice-paper Plant). — This, 

 though a native of the hot island of Formosa, flourishes 

 vigorously around Paris in the summer months, and is one 

 of the most 

 valuable plants 

 in its way. It 

 is useful for the 

 greenhouse in 

 winter and the 

 flower garden 

 in summer. It 

 is handsome in 

 leaf and free in 



Fig. 62. 



growth, though 



to do well it 



must be protec- 



tedfrom cutting 



breezes, like all 



thelarge-leaved 



things. In some 



of the warmer 



parts of Prance 



the Peach does very well as a field tree— a low one, however. 



The wind is so strong that it would be destroyed if allowed 



to rise in the natural way, and so they train it as a dwarf 



bush, spreading wide. Tall subtropical plants have with 



us somewhat of the same disadvantage. 



Aralia papyrifera. 



If this Aralia be 



