Vi. PREFACE. 
the aspect and soils of their rockery. These 
lists will enable anyone to make a choice at 
once, and, if the directions are _ carefully 
carried out, they need not despair of becoming 
successful cultivators. 
There are many beautiful and rare Alpines 
well worth a place on the rockery which it 
is hopeless to attempt to grow without a 
knowledge of their requirements as to soils 
and position, but, given that knowledge, they 
may be confidently expected to succeed. 
There is ove thing I would like to impress 
very strongly on my _ readers—every Alpine 
should be planted firmly, and the soil or stone 
must be pressed close to _ the plant. 
Hundreds of plants die every year through 
neglect of this essential condition. 
Many gardeners, as I have found from 
experience, are afraid to press the roots 
firmly lest the plant should be broken. This 
is the reason I have so often insisted on this 
point in the following pages. 
W. A. CLARK, F.R.H.S. 
THE NURSERIES, 
YORK. 
December, 1900. 
