CULTIVATION 159 



tect them during the winter from moisture 

 or from drought in the summer. 



But since, in this country, similar conditions 

 cannot be reproduced, it is neither possible to 

 have a spot free from drought in summer and 

 excess of moisture in winter, nor to persuade 

 the plants themselves to retire to rest for at 

 least half the year : all that remains is to try 

 to learn the peculiar weakness of each and to 

 provide to the best of our ability what may 

 suit their several needs. 



Yet another lesson is to be learnt from the 

 study of alpines in their own land, where they 

 are found growing so close together as to form 

 a regular turf, and carpeting the ground so 

 thickly that they leave no bare spaces. It is 

 that the rock garden at home should show 

 nothing but plants, and rocks half hidden by 

 them, and, if this is done, the plants will not 

 be so liable to suffer from drought. As one 

 might expect, there will be some difficulty in 

 accomplishing this, especially in the beginning, 

 when plants must have room to grow, and 

 when they are also most liable to suffer 

 from bare spaces and the attendant danger 



