INTRODUCTION. 
bear, offers many problems of the very greatest interest, but 
of little immediate concern to the average cultivator. Such 
plants as Primula viscosa or Saponaria pumilio it will always be 
easiest to treat, at least at first, as irreconcilable or unreconciled 
lime-haters ; while others, such as Flannel Flower, are amphi- 
bious, and yet others (the large majority), like Potentilla nitida, 
Phytewma comosum, and Primula Allionii, may safely be 
regarded as positively longing for almost any amount of lime, 
even if, in the garden, they sometimes appear to be doing 
without it. 
These points are dealt with in the following pages as occasion 
offers, or knowledge and experience afford. ‘With absolute rules 
for success in cultivation no book can claim to deal, the gift of pro- 
phecy having perished from among us. We can only give, repeat, 
reiterate, insist upon, the great fundamental laws of light, rich 
soil, perfect drainage, and open situation. The degree of success 
after this depends on the climatic conditions, the soil conditions, 
the care of the cultivator, and last, but by no means least, the 
idiosyncrasy of each plant. This last point is far too little recog- 
nised as a dominant factor in joy. As in a family of babies or 
kittens, one or two are usually unexplicably pre-eminent in 
size and strength, so in a family of seedlings there will be found 
exceptions in amplitude and force of development, showing 
already characteristics of vigour which will persist through life, 
and make them, in maturity, the easy delight of their owner; 
while his neighbour, in a similar soil and garden, is wrestling © 
miserably with the sad changelings that have resulted from the 
inferior children of the batch. For this intervention of mere 
chance there is no remedy ; but just as I urge on all cultivators 
the advisability of always choosing and collecting their plants in 
flower, so as to secure the forms that best please them, so, in 
doing this, let me further press them to look out for broadness 
of leaf. Not only is this usually a symptom of fine form, but it 
is also a pretty certain indication of a robust idiosyncrasy as well. 
This being said and allowed for, the rest depends on cultivation 
and experiment. The plant must be inducted properly into its 
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