^32 



GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



covered with a iiianile of dry snow. Alj)iiies are never 

 killed by cold \\inters but by wet ones. The ill effects 

 of wet in Winter may be prevented by covering them with 

 sheets of glass. Some have erected glass houses over 

 their more delicate alpines, so constructed that they can 

 be taken apart and stored away during the Summer. 



One of the secrets of success with many species is to 

 give them an annual top>-dressing or "earthing up'' of • 

 gritty compost. Some of them are constantly being sub- 

 jected to the same kind of treatment by Nature, for in 

 Spring the melting snow carries down earth, grit and 

 stones on to them. Species like Dapluic. .'llyssitiii saxatile 

 and Ibcris, to mention well known ])lant.s — whicli are true 

 alpines, although not generally known as such, especially 

 require this treatment. It is within the experience of 

 most people that these plants become in a few years 

 "leggy," if they do not actually die out. This is caused 

 by their habit of growing out of the soil, which habit they 

 have no doubt acquired in consequence of having been 

 accustomed to the natural top-dressing given tliem by the 

 melting of their own mountain snows. They have learned 

 that if they did not rise up they would be buried under 

 the annual deposit, and they have not yet been long- 

 enough in cultivation to learn to adapt themselves to the 

 change in environment. 



Perhaps the most interesting and instructive method 

 of working up a collection of alpines is to go to the 

 mountauis and collect them, as there would be in this 

 course the distinct advantage of seeing them in their 

 natural habitat. Seed should be collected as well, for 

 there are many species which do not take kindly to re- 

 moval. One important point which will be realized by 

 anyone taking a mountain trip is that various distinct 

 situations exist where some plants do better than they do 

 in others, and also that some species grow under certain 

 conditions and in no others. For these reasons, in form- 

 ing a rock garden, it should be so laid out as to present 

 varying situations, and if water be available it will be a 

 distinct advantage to cause it to emerge from a position 

 on a bank in the form of a natural spring and trickle over 

 the rocks so as to create bogg)' places like those which 

 frefiuently exist in the mountains and by this means the 

 range of plants which may be successfully grown is 

 greatly extended. 



It must be borne in mind that the word "alpine'' is not 

 confined to plants native of "The Alps,'' as alpine con- 

 ditions exist all over the world, from mountains which 

 arise out of tropical plains, on towards regions of per- 

 petual ice ; before the latter is reached alpine plants will 

 be found at the sea level. I->om New luigland to the 

 Pacific coast this country has many ali)ine situations and 

 the Mt. Rainier district is especially rich in alpine flora, 

 and most of the .\merican alpines are untouched, and for 

 the most part unknown, by American gardeners. A num- 

 ber of American rock plants have been used for years by 

 British rock gardeners, and seeds of these and other 

 species can be obtained from specialists in that countrx . 



While, as before stated, a rock garden may be caused 

 to afford conditions which distinctly differ so that the 

 garden can accommodate a wide range of species, we 

 mu.-.t not think of jjlanting in it low and herbaceous sub- 

 jects which have their proper place in a border of herba- 

 ceous perennials, as plants of the latter kind are not 

 appropriate to a rock garden. The fact that an al])ine 

 plant is sometimes grown in a herbaceous border, nnist 

 not blind us to another fact that the herbaceous border and 

 the rockery rejjresent two distinct i)hases of hardy flower 

 gardening anfl attempts to combine the two always end 

 in failure. 



P.esides a rock garden proper, there are many oilier 

 situations which can be beautified by the use of true rock 

 plants, among which may be mentioned, steps, uncemented 



walls, embankments which are faced with loose stone, and 

 such like i)ositions. \\'here possible it is always well to 

 have a good thickness of suitable soil at the back of stones 

 in the above situations, and it is better to have the placing 

 of the stones and of the plants go on simultaneously. 

 {Continued in the September nitiiiber.) 



IRIS AMONG THE ANCIENTS 



(Continued from Page 229) 

 number of varieties must have been produced in cultiva- 

 tion. 



If Holland and England have played a preponderant 

 role in perfecting bulbous Irises French horticulture can 

 claim the honor of having been the first to effect upon 

 a large scale the creation of numenais and magnificent 

 varieties of "Garden Irises." 



In l'J22 De Kure, who died in 1842, inaugurated the 

 era of raising rhizomatous Irises from seed. Fle made 

 his experiments at that time out in the country and in 

 his garden at 13 Hautefeuille St., Paris. He obtained 

 a beautiful collection of new varieties of which one, more 

 remarkable than the others and much appreciated at the 

 time, was called Iris buriensis 



Toward 1839 Jacques, of Neuilly (Seine), also sowed 

 seed of the Iris and possessed an important collection of 

 new varieties of his originating. 



From 1836 Lemon the Younger, a professional horti- 

 culturist, 3 Denoyez St., Belleville, commenced to make 

 sowings, continued them during following. years and had. 

 in 1839, 150 varieties, of which 100 were choice. 



Then P'ele, horticulturist, Paris, after he had united 

 the most beautiful known varieties, effected in his turn 

 some soivings and augmented the number of beautiful 

 varieties to which preceding horticulturists had accus- 

 tomed the public. 



( )n the other hand Loiseleur-Deslongchamps, in his 

 garden, by consequence of natural sowings of the seed 

 of /. sqnalens and Z'ariegata, had obtained some beautiful 

 varieties. 



The names of De Bure, Jacques, Lemon and Pele 

 ought to be remembered ; they are the first great French 

 growers of Iris from seed. 



To obtain new varieties the horticulturists of the first 

 jiart of the nineteenth century sowed seed from species 

 that jjroduced it with sufficient regularity. Their "Gar- 

 den Irises" descended from /. ivriegata ( See the illus- 

 tration), plieata, sambueina, sqnalens, szcertii, pallida, 

 flatrseens. urida. etc., all of the pogoniris section or the 

 rSearded Iris. It is in error that toward 1837 or 1838 

 there was attributed a jxirt to /. gcrnuDiira in the pro- 

 duction of new varieties. This species fruits rarely and 

 in 1840 Lemim declared that he had not been able to ob- 

 tain seed from it since he had been handling Iris seed. 

 Isole, /. germaniea, almost never gives seed ; it has since 

 ben observed to form seed when it is associated with 

 other species. 



The numerous varieties obtained, remarkable for the 

 delicacy of their shades and the richness of their colnr- 

 ing. have come from the seed of different species; more- 

 over, so far as we have been able to judge, it seems that 

 the first men who sowed the seed of the Iris did not give 

 themselves to hybridizing, at least not in the greater part 

 of their career. — Tr. from Rei'iic Hortieole b\- 1'". 1'.. M. 



] would rather atteni|ii .•ind fail a ihdusand times at 

 something in which 1 li:id ]iul my heart than to win with 

 a single bound at .something that held only sdiue triii- 

 jHirarv thrill. I'.ig, Ixild things! They are the only i;i- 

 spiriis. In them may we delve and sweat and thrive, 

 for though we may tempiir;ii ily f;iil — we can never lose. 

 — George Matthew .Xdanis. 



