23o THE ALPINE FLORA 



lutea and acaulis, varieties of Primula auricula 1 , together 

 with several other alpine species. But it was not until the 

 second half of the last century that these cultures won 

 their proper place as enfranchised members of the horti- 

 cultural world, and that business houses were opened 

 which specialised in the acclimatisation and sale of alpine 

 plants. 1 n England such firms are numerous and successful . 

 Holland and Germany can show two or three ; in Switzer- 

 land the house of Froebel at Zurich and the Floraire gar- 

 den of acclimatisation at Chene-Bourg near Geneva have 

 now for many years had a world-wide clienteles. More 

 and more, in proportion to the growing passion for 

 mountaineering, the number increases of those who culti- 

 vate the children of the mountains in the rockeries or 

 borders of their gardens, and a literature, which has arisen 

 on these plants and their culture, forms no inconsiderable 

 part of our horticultural and botanical bibliography. 



The gardens in which none of these mountain people 

 find a home are the exception. Artificial rockeries have 

 been built since the eighteenth century in England for 

 their reception ; on the continent the honour of being 

 the first to introduce them into cultivation is due beyond 

 all doubt to an illustrious native of Geneva, a fellow- 

 townsman of mine, our famous botanist Edmond Bois- 

 sier. 1 do not deny that before his time Necker de Saus- 

 sure tried towards the close of the eighteenth century to 

 establish alpines in the botanical garden then situated at 

 Calabri 3 ; but he met with only indifferent success. De 

 Candolle, when founding the botanic garden of the Bas- 

 tions, reserved a shady border for the alpine specimens 



1 Paxton's Botanical Dictionary. 



2 The catalogues of plants and seeds offered by our garden at 

 Floraire will be forwarded free of cost on application. 



3 Bulletin no. 2 of the Association for the protection of plants. 

 (Geneva, 1884.) 



