THE PARC MONCEAU. 



57 



by them, so that many of the finer leaves made during the 

 season were lost before September,, their great stumps 

 showing how vigorous they had been. It is usually and 

 from the same cause denuded of leaves about the base ; C. 

 esculentum retaining them. The leaf-stalks of bataviense 

 are of a dark hue, by which it is easily distinguished from 

 esculentum with its pale green leaf-stalks. The stems of 

 bataviense are al^o much larger than those of the escu- 

 lentum, a few of those growing here being ten inches in 

 diameter. 



Of the Ficuses grown here, the best is yet the old 

 F. elastica ; but Chauvieri is also good, and Porteana has 

 done well this season, though the Parisian summers are 

 usually too cold for it ; its leaves were fifteen inches long. 

 Yucca aloifolia is hardy here. A fine old plant of it, ten 

 feet high, and with a considerable portion of the stem 

 naked, was in perfect health. Every winter the stem is 

 protected as far as the leaves, and the snow prevented 

 from remaining on these. Melia Azederach is also hardy 

 here — at least, it has stood out during the past winter; 

 and as its large compound leaves would prove so useful in 

 the flower-garden, it should be tried out in favourable 

 parts of England. Andropogon formosum does well here, 

 and a group of Dasylirions are plunged in the grass. The 

 Erythrinas are a fine feature, the old E. crista-galli being 

 considered the best on the whole ; but E. ruberrima is 

 very fine from its hue of scarlet and crimson. Bocconia 

 frutescens is five and a half feet high, with leaves two and 

 a half feet long ; and an Encephalartos is fine as an isolated 

 specimen. Agave americana is left in the garden during 

 winter and protected, but with more trouble and cost than 

 would be incurred by taking it indoors. A mode of train- 

 ing various flowering climbers up the stems of trees is 

 worthy of special notice. Clematises, honeysuckles, various 

 kinds of ivy, everlasting peas, and many other kinds of 

 climbing plants may be used in this way with good ef- 

 fect. There is one plant grown here in quantity, which is 

 rarely seen in England, but which should be in every 

 English garden — Funkia subcordata, a dwarf, hardy 



