250 THE ALPINE FLORA 



Phyteuma hemisphzricum, Ranunculus alpestris, Jlnemone 

 sulfurea, Arnica montana, Trifolium alpinum, Gentiana 

 bavarica, brachyphylla, verna, alpina, Soldanella, and a 

 complete collection of Primulas. 



At Lancaster itself we find another English triumph of 

 another kind over adverse situation. Imagine the most 

 delicate alpines thriving within two miles of the sea! The 

 nobly shaded slopes command a glorious view. Beneath 

 a wood that is almost Swiss in character, among an 

 undergrowth that suggests the virgin forest, our mountain 

 ferns flourish with a luxuriance that exalts them to the 

 macroflora. Needless to say that the excess of aerial 

 moisture thus indicated does not make things easy at 

 Bailbrigg, but Mr. Storey has solved the difficulty by 

 buttressing the terraces below his house with retaining 

 walls of local stone and has transformed these walls into 

 an alpine garden of the highest excellence *. 



But of gardens in the United Kingdon, which 1 have 

 had the pleasure of visiting, the most astonishing, whether 

 one regard it from the completeness of contents or excel- 

 lence of management, is the Botanical Garden at Edin- 

 burgh under the direction of Professor Balfour. I am not 

 going too far in saying that it is perhaps the richest 

 collection of rock-plants in the whole world, the true 

 method also of cultivation being so well understood that 

 1 myself have been able to take lessons there. The 

 choicest alpine jewels may be seen growing in perfect 

 health which we are not able to preserve at Floraire, 

 though we endeavour to cultivate for sale at home or 

 abroad the whole range of mountain perennials. One may 

 pick out in particular Diapensia lapponica, which 1 have 

 given up attempting to acclimatise except by seed and have 

 never kept more than a year, J^ubus chamxmorus, Primula 



1 See Gardeners Chronicle July 9. 1910. p. i3. 



