1 INTRODUCTION. 



convenience' sake the bed should not exceed 4 feet wide ; 

 the bottom should be well drained, and the most effec- 

 tive means for excluding worms from the plunging 

 material and pots must be adopted. A depth of 6 or 8 

 inches of sifted cinders, the fine being rejected, will be 

 found very effective for this purpose, and a heavy roller 

 passed over it after it is laid in will aid still further in 

 the same object. The sides of the bed may be formed 

 of slate, bricks on end, or boards, but they must be 

 carried down a little below the bottoming of cinders, 

 else the enemy will find out the breach and avail him- 

 self of it. In plunging the pots, it will be found an 

 advantage in the after-management if the same advice 

 is followed in the open-air bed as is given above respect- 

 ing species requiring peculiar treatment in the pit. 



The potting of alpine plants is best done in spring 

 when growth is starting, if in the operation any break- 

 ing down of the ball is to be involved ; but if it is simple 

 shifting from a smaller to a larger pot, it may be done 

 any time while growth is active, not however so safely 

 when the plants are at rest, except in the case of the 

 more vigorous species. Pots of the ordinary form, if 

 well drained, will be found suitable for the majority of 

 alpine plants ; but many — as for instance, Saxifraga 

 oppositifolia — are best grown in pans not so shallow as 

 the ordinary seed-pan, but having the diameter of large 

 pots, along with less depth. These pans give greater 

 scope for the natural extension of such species, and 

 therefore a more desirable exhibition of its character 

 than can be obtained in an ordinary pot. Those species 

 that are liable to damping should be held high in the 

 soil, and the surface, up to the collar of the plant, be 



