P resident'' s Address. 85 



or into a prepared bed in a cold frame ; these seedlings will last 

 much longer than plants raised from cuttings, and you have always 

 the chance of varieties, besides having many plants to spare for your 

 friends. 



I am much troubled with a growth of Marchantia on the top of 

 my seed pots, owing to the low and damp situation of my garden ; 

 this should be attended to at once, whenever it shows itself, and 

 carefully picked off, otherwise it will smother the plants, and the 

 whole seed be lost. After it has grown for a short time, it cannot 

 be removed without at the same time removing the seed. 



The following plants were found in a Swiss excursion with a 

 friend of similar tastes; — Androsace ohtusifolia, Saxifraga andro- 

 sacea, both little alpines from the Gemmi, whieh are difficult to culti- 

 vate ; Campanula cenisia and Saxifraga hiflora grew on wet sticky 

 soil at the edge of melting snow ; Androsace glacialis, all on the 

 Riffleberg, require more the treatment of the bog garden. I 

 have never succeeded in keeping any of them more than a year. 

 The Saxifraga hiflora of nui-sery catalogues is a variety of S. 

 oppositifulia, with two flowers to a head instead of one, which is 

 usual in the type. The true S. hiflora has a looser habit, and 

 the petals are narrower, besides being of a crimson colour, instead 

 of rosy purple, as in all the varieties of S. oppositifolia. I see 

 Mr Lindsay at the Botanic Garden has a stock of Androsace 

 glacialis from Switzerland, and I hope that he has been successful 

 in growing it ; it is a most vigorous plant on its native hiUs. 

 Campamda cenisia has a habit somewhat like C. Raineri, but 

 not so compact, and the flower is somewhat similar though 

 smaller, it requires the damp soil of the bog garden to grow it 

 successfully. Eritrichium nanum has perplexed cultivators much, 

 and nearly every one who has tried to grow it has failed. This, 

 I think, is perhaps owing to the difficulty of getting the plant 

 taken up with good roots, as it always grows in the crevices of 

 rocks, and the roots penetrate to a great depth in search of 

 moisture. Independent of this the j^lant requires great skill to 

 keep it alive in this country. It forms a dwarf tuft above 

 ground and has bright blue Myosotis-\\kc flowers ; the leaves are 

 woolly, and care should be taken not to wet them when watering in 

 summer, and during the winter the plant should be kept quite dry. 

 Geutiana havarica, a strictly bog plant, will not grow in the 

 ordinary rockery unless special means are taken to keep the plant 

 moist. I have seen it well grown in a flower pot planted among 

 sphagnum and a little peat, and the pot sunk in another filled witli 

 sphagnum and kept wtdl watered during the growing season, but its 

 roid homo is in the bog garrlon. I saw a plant thriving and 



