ALPINE PLANTS IN SMALL GARDENS 47 
Whenever planting is done it is advisable to water 
copiously in order to settle the soil about the roots. In 
autumn the one watering should suffice, but after spring 
planting it will be necessary to watch progress, for March 
winds sometimes have a very parching effect on newly 
planted alpines, and it may be necessary to give an 
occasional soaking during a spell of dry weather. Slug 
hunting will be a task that may frequently employ a 
spare half hour, and later in summer it may be necessary to 
do a little pruning or cutting back of plants that are growing 
too rampantly or getting untidy. Seed pods should be kept 
picked off, except, of course, in cases where it is desired to 
save seed for the purpose of increasing stock. With a good 
many plants, such as the alpine Poppies, some of the 
Primulas, Meconopsis, and the dainty little Androsace 
coronopifolia, it is necessary that seed should be saved, for 
the plants will frequently so exhaust themselves with 
blooming that they will not survive a hard winter. Insome 
cases it will suffice to sprinkle the seed over odd vacant 
spaces in our alpine bed as soon as it is ripe, but it may 
with choice kinds be desirable to sow the seed in a pan or 
box of jsoil, transplanting the seedlings when large enough 
to handle. 
Some species come true from seed, but garden varieties 
of such things as Primulas, Dianthus, Campanulas, etc., 
are prone to considerable variation. As to the disadvantage 
of this variation it may be considered either trifling or 
serious according to the character of the plant and the taste 
of the owner. Because a seedling from a dark blue flower 
happens to come paler in tint than its parent does not 
