THE LUXEMBOURG GARDEN. 



79 



grooving and flowering shoots^ very few subjects look more 

 pleasing in the flower garden. The mixture of Phloxes, 

 Gladioli; (Enothera speciosa, Fuchsias, Pelargoniums, large 

 yellow Achillea, &c., to be seen here every summer and 

 autumn, is quite attractive, and much more varied than is 

 now often the case. They also have the subtropical 

 system, and rather more tastefully than elsewhere. Thus 

 in one part may be seen a graceful mixture of a variety of 

 fine-leaved plants with an edging of Fuchsias, instead of 

 the ponderous mass of 500 plants of one variety of Canna, 

 which you sometimes meet with in other places about Paris. 

 M. Riviere is fond of having mixed beds of ferns in the 

 open air, isolated specimens of tree ferns, Woodwardias 

 elevated on moss-covered stands, &c. and their efi'ect is 

 usually very good. The planting of the vases too is good. 

 Instead of using only flat-headed subjects, as many do with 

 us, they place in the centre of each a medium- sized plant of 

 the New Zealand flax, with its long and boldly graceful 

 leaves, and then set geraniums, &c., around, finishing ofi" 

 with the ivy-leaved geranium, the Tropseolum, &c., for 

 drooping over the margin. 



The efiect of the fountain of Jacques Debrosse and its 

 surroundings is the most satisfactory of the sort I have ever 

 seen. The frontispiece, engraved from a photograph, almost 

 does away with the necessity for a written description of it. 



Stretching from the foot of the fountain there is a long 

 water-basin, a walk on each side of that bordered with 

 Plane trees, which meeting overhead make a long leafy 

 arch, so that the effect of the fountain group at the end, 

 representing Polyphemus discovering Acis and Galatea, is 

 very fine. It is of course heightened by the leafy canopy 

 of Planes, but very much more so by the way in which the 

 Ivy and Yirginian creeper are made to form gTaceful 

 wreaths from tree to tree. Between the trees the Irish 

 ivy is planted, and then trained up in rich graceful wreaths, 

 so as to join the stems at about eight feet from the ground. 

 At about a foot or so above the iyj another and almost 

 straight wreath of Yirginian creeper is placed, and the 

 effect of these two simple wreaths from tree to tree is 



