ORNAMENTAL STOVE AND GREENHOUSE PLANTS, 373 



house. The Aralias now furnish us with greater variety, being 

 also of an enduring character. 



With such a wealth of ornamental foliage plants as we now 

 possess there is hardly any place or purpose to which either one 

 or another may not be adapted. There is, I think, room yet 

 for a more extended use of foliage plants of small proportions. 

 Good examples of many useful plants can be had for various 

 purposes in thumb -pots even, but better in those of 3 or 

 4 inches diameter. These can be turned to a good account, 

 either in small vases or for dinner- table plants. A great deal 

 more use may be made of such plants for the latter purpose 

 than is generally done, and of considerably lesser size than the 

 stereotyped examples usually seen at flower shows. Many 

 dwarf-growing plants with ornamental foliage, and Ferns also, 

 can be thus employed in thumb-pots, but better still those in 

 shallow ones now used for Orchids. Strawberry pans, or a size 

 smaller, when well furnished with such dwarf-growing plants as 

 Fittonia argyroneura slii&F.F *ear -cei,Panicum variegatum, Cyrto- 

 deira metallica, and Selaginella ccesia, could be effectively em- 

 ployed in various ways. On the other hand, plants for the dinner- 

 table could, I think, be used much taller than they generally 

 are, when they are of light and elegant growth ; such, for in- 

 stance, as Cocos Weddelliana, Chamcedorea glaticifolia, Euterpe 

 edulis, and others. Plants up to 3 feet in height may be 

 employed effectively upon large tables, yet they need not be in 

 pots exceeding or 5 inches diameter. Shifted into a larger 

 pot, these same plants will afterwards be found of service for 

 larger vases in other positions where their height will add to 

 their effect. There is also room for considerable improvement in 

 the arrangement of plants in the houses in which they are 

 usually grown. Too often they are overcrowded, with damage to 

 the foliage, whilst the effect is lessened. In some cases plants 

 are attempted to be grown in houses which are not suited to 

 them, nor calculated to display them to advantage. The stages 

 and beds are oftentimes too high in both stoves and greenhouses. 

 The effect is far better when the plants can be looked down 

 upon, particularly in large houses where a greater variety 

 could be got together. Far more use should be made of creeping 

 and dwarf-growing plants for a finish to the front, just as one 

 sees done in a well-arranged and finished group at a flower 



