THE PLANT DECORATION OF APARTMENTS. 265 



this cliapter. Many of tliem are exotics tliat in this country 

 are rarely seen out of stoves^ while about Paris they are sold in 

 abundance for the decoration of apartments. The demand 

 for use in private houses gives rise to a large and special 

 branch of trade in many of the nurseries, and I know one 

 Versailles cultivator who annually raises and sells 5000 or 6000 



Fig. 103. 



Gymnostaclijum Verscliaffelti. 



plants of the bright-leaved Dracaena terminalis (Fig. 103) 

 alone, and by far the greater part for room decoration. 



As compared with the plant decorations of one of the balls 

 at the Hotel de Ville, anything seen in the British Isles is 

 poor indeed ; while the way plants are arranged at the 

 Linnean and Royal Societies and other important places, on 



