272 THE PLANT DECORATION 01? APARTMENTS. 



Fig. 110. 



course, has a greater effect in popularizing the use of plants 

 in houses ; for how can you make beautiful arrangements in 

 this way if you ignore the higher beauties of plant form ? 

 The fashion as carried out in such instances as the above 

 carries its influences through every grade of society. Thus 



you see people with 

 a graceful Yucca 

 or young Palm, or 

 New Zealand Flax, 

 in their windows 

 and rooms, who, if 

 in England, would 

 not in all probabi- 

 lity have had an 

 idea of the exist- 

 ence of such things. 

 The extent to which 

 the floral embellish- 

 ment of the H6tel 

 de Ville is carried, 

 may be judged 

 from the great 

 numbers of plants 

 grown at Passy for 

 that purpose — the 

 New Zealand Flax 

 which is so very 

 useful for indoor or 

 outdoor decoration 

 being grown to the 

 extent of upwards 

 of 10,000 plants, and Palms and all plants with fine leaves 

 in great quantity. 



The following few notes on the principal plants which 

 serve for window and room decoration in Paris are by 

 M. A. Chantin, a cultivator of plants for these purposes 

 on a large scale, and the possessor of a very rich collection 

 of Palms and other exotics distinguished by beauty of leaf 

 or habit. Among these, the Palms, without doubt, occupy 



Begonia dfedalea. 



