PART I.] CULTURAL 87 



is some reason to believe that plants we often fail with in 

 cultivation, as some of the beautiful wild Columbines, are not 

 truly perennial, but in their native countries renewed from seed. 

 And, apart from the seeds offered in seed-lists, travellers may 

 often gather the seeds of alpine plants, and send them easily 

 by postsoften where it would be difficult or impossible to 

 send living plants. So that all who have rock-gardens to 

 clothe with good plants, must not forget the seed-bed. 



ALPINE PLANTS FROM SEED IN THE OPEN GROUND. 



Many alpine plants may be raised from seed, and in every 

 place where there is a good collection, it is well to sow the 

 seeds of as many rare or new kinds as are worth raising. A 

 good deal will depend on the appliances of the garden as to 

 the precise way in which they are to be raised ; but whether 

 there be greenhouses on the premises or not even a glass hand- 

 light, alpine plants and choice perennials may be raised there 

 in abundance. Supposing we are supplied with a good selec- 

 tion of seeds in early spring, and have room to spare in frames 

 and pits, some time might be gained by sowing in pans or pots, 

 and by placing them in those frames, or by making a very 

 gentle hotbed in a frame or pit, covering it with 4 inches 

 or so of very light earth, and sowing the seeds on that. If 

 this mode be adopted, they may be sown in March ; and, thus 

 treated, many will flower the first year. 



In gardens without any glass, they may be raised in the 

 open air. The best time to sow is in April, choosing mild 

 open weather, when the ground is more likely to be in the 

 rather dry and friable condition so desirable for seed-sowing. 

 But it should be borne in mind that they may be sown at 

 any convenient time from April till August, as it is not till 

 the year after they are sown that they display their full beauty, 

 or perhaps flower at all; and, therefore, should a packet or 

 more of choice seed come to hand during the summer months, 

 it is always better to sow it at once than to keep it till the 



