152 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



"Very rapid and perfect drainage, combined with an equally rapid and con- 

 tinuous supply of water, are therefore essential to thoroughly healthy development. 

 On rockwork this may he easily accomplished, by allowing water to escape from a 

 pipe at or near the highest point, in a very slender stream, or ' fast drop,' which 

 will keep a large ' district ' below both more humid and cooler than when similar 

 effects are aimed at by ordinary watering. Some species — such, for instance, as 

 Eritrichium nanum, Androsace lanuginosa, Cerastium alpinum — [This beautiful 

 little woolly Cerastium not only lives in the open air in large towns, but, in spite 

 of the smut and all the rest of it, lives so well as to be perfectly covered with 

 flowers, even after a very hard winter and harder spring] — and those plants 

 generally which have silky or cottony foliage, evidently dislike having their leaves 

 wet by artificial means, especially in winter ; as in a wild state they are either 

 buried during that season in dry snow, or subjected to frosts which destroy every 

 particle of moisture. These must either be planted where an overhanging ledge 

 protects from snow and rain, or be grown in pots which can be placed under a glass 

 frame admitting full ventilation in winter. Not that these plants are tender. They 

 are nearly as ' hardy ' as the rocks themselves, but their winter alpine atmosphere 

 is dry till the spring thaw sets in." 



Here we would remark, as supplementary to Messrs. Backhouse's excellent 

 remarks, that Alpine plants of every kind will undoubtedly do well in pots, if well 

 exposed and watered ; but in pots and about frames, etc., they are liable to get too 

 much of that " lifeless" atmosphere so fatal to them, independent of the vicissitudes 

 which potted plants are generally liable to. A good " rockwork," with the right 

 sort of fissure "nests" and situations for choice Alpine plants, we have not yet 

 seen except at York; indeed, rockwork is often spoiled by its makers, from igno- 

 rance of what a rockwork for plants ought to be, than any other kind of garden 

 work. The usual aim seems to be to show us "burrs " and rocks, and all the rest 

 of it, instead of beautiful plants elevated in this way to secure drainage, and other 

 conditions natural to them. Why, half the bits of "rockwork" around London 

 are so constructed, that even our native plants, that take possession of every other 

 spot, do not become established on them. But there is another way of growing 

 Alpines which we have proved to be as gocd as any, and that is, by giving them 

 the soil and moisture they require, in a slightly raised bed or beds in any isolated 

 spot in the garden — on the turf, if possible. Suppose, for instance, you receive 

 fifty choice Alpines, and have no suitable rockwork, the next best thing to do is to 

 excavate a bed in some fully-exposed spot (cutoff from flower-garden, if convenient), 

 secure thorough draining, and then fill up with fine sandy peat and a little good 

 sandy loam through it ; if for a general stock (the whole very sandy, mind), place 

 a few rough stakes or slabs around this bed, cropping naturally from the earth, so 

 as to raise your bed a little over the grass — say from six to sixteen inches— and 

 through the centre a few rough-looking stones, if you can get them, the whole to 

 resemble a bit of level stony ground. Do this nicely — it may be done in a day by 

 a couple of men — and then plant your Alpines ; if they are of the right sort, you 

 will ere long he making preparations for a larger collection. Such things as 

 Gentiana verna, Dianthus alpiuus, and Myosoiis alpestris, will flourish freely in 

 such a situation — all that need be done after the planting being to water thoroughly 

 in dry weather, no matter when that occurs, and the labour will not be much, as our 

 rains are so frequent ; but it must be borne in mind that these Alpines will require 

 more water than any other out-door subjects. On another point let the catalogue 

 speak again — 



" Besides the question of moisture and atmosphere, that of soil is generally 

 important. Hundreds of rare Alpines have been sacrificed to the idea that earth 

 is essential for vitality. We find that, with many species, the less of this they 

 have, the better their chance, especially at first, when not established. Grit (coarse 

 sandstone crushed into every imaginable shape and size, from sand upwards) is the 

 ' life and soul ' of a large range of Alpines. When merely tinged with a little 

 peat, cocoa-refuse, or loam, as the case requires, and kept moist artificially by 

 filtration from above, this material exactly suits them, and imparts a vigour that 

 surprises the cultivator. Even river sand, unmixed with anything, often answers 

 perfectly when the moisture is regular." 



This, we think, is more applicable to newly-introduced and extremely rare 

 Alpines than to the really useful and showy kinds. Artificial "filtration from 



