38 ALPINE FLOWERS [PART I. 



happens that the only way to eradicate it effectually is to pull 

 up the stone, causing a considerable upheaval. To obviate this, 

 I find it generally more convenient to sink the stones about an 

 inch only, and they can then be lifted and put back with very 

 little disturbance. 



" There are many disappointments in growing alpines, as in 

 everything else, but they afford a constant and daily interest, 

 and given a breezy open situation and a deep light soil, there 

 should be many more successes than failures." 



WALL GARDENS OF ROCK AND ALPINE FLOWERS. 



Many plants that in gardens have carefully prepared soil 

 grow naturally on the barest and most arid surfaces. Most of 

 those who are blessed with gardens have usually a little wall 

 surface at their disposal; and all such may know that some 

 plants will grow thereon better than in the best soil. A mossy 

 wall affords a home for some dwarf rock plants which no 

 specially-prepared situation could rival ; and even on well-pre- 

 served walls we can establish some little plants, which year 

 after year will repay for the slight trouble of planting or sowing 

 them. Now, numbers of alpine plants perish if planted in the 

 ordinary soil of our gardens, and even do so where much pains 

 is taken to attend to their wants. This often results from over- 

 moisture at the root in winter, the plant being injured by our 

 green winters inducing it to grow in the bitter winter and spring, 

 when it ought to be at rest. By placing many of- these rock 

 plants where their roots enjoy a dry spot, they remain in perfect 

 health. Many plants from mountains a little further south 

 than our own, and from alpine regions, find on walls and ruins 

 that stony firmness of " soil " and dryness in winter which make 

 them at home in our climate. There are many alpine plants 

 now cultivated with difficulty in frames, that any beginner 

 may grow on walls. 



Nor must it be supposed that a moist district is necessary, 

 for the illustrations on pages 39 and 42 are engraved from 



