SAXIFRAGES 295 



though many of them will grow well enough in the 

 ordinary conditions of the gardens, they will not take 

 on the air of a garden plant. Very few of them, there- 

 fore, are plants for the border. They belong either 

 to the wild outskirts of the garden or to rock work; 

 and most of them belong to rockwork. 



It is easy enough to talk in general terms of saxi- 

 frages, but the most learned expert must have some 

 fears when he comes to particulars; and that not 

 merely because of the multitude of species and varie- 

 ties, nor because there is much dispute about the 

 cultivation of most of them, but simply because of 

 their names. There is no lack of names among saxi- 

 frages, indeed there are too many; and the difficulty 

 is to apportion them. Saxifrages, especially certain 

 divisions of them, are extremely variable, and hy- 

 bridize almost as readily as Columbines. Nursery- 

 men and others have taken a delight in giving new 

 names to all the minute variations they can distinguish 

 and to innumerable and often indistinct hybrids; 

 and these names have been given recklessly and with- 

 out reference to any universally acknowledged au- 

 thority. The consequence is that some saxifrages 

 have several different names, while others share the 

 same name between them. Any one who wants to 

 get an idea of the anarchy which prevails in this matter 

 should read the chapters on saxifrages in Mr. Reginald 

 Farrer's book "My Rock Garden." Mr. Farrer is 

 an expert indeed, and has perhaps the largest collec- 

 tion of saxifrages in the world. Yet their names 



