^^ 



so MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



is the freshest and most amusing to deal with. In this way, 

 one is constantly improving the different varieties by only saving 

 seeds from the best specimens of a given kind. 



At present and until the public demands more of the dealers, 

 seeds of many of even the most easily grown varieties must be 

 imported. Fortunately this is easy, not at all like importing 

 Paris gowns, and Mr. Correvon has all the varieties in cultivation 

 for sale at very low prices. There are about six thousand different 

 kinds of plants mentioned in his general catalogue, and nine-tenths 

 of these have been raised from seed at Geneva and are therefore 

 acclimated to low altitudes. It has been our custom to import 

 and sow about fifty varieties each winter, getting them into the 

 ground as soon as possible after New Years. We sow the larger 

 varieties in cold frames and the smaller and more difficult ones 

 in pans or pots, plunged in earth in the cold frames. After sowing, 

 the seeds are covered with snow, as Mr. Correvon says it helps 

 them to germinate. He recommends soil composed of one-third 

 peat, one-third loam, and one-third sand, granitic or lime rubble, 

 according to the variety. 



One of the keenest pleasures of the alpine gardener is to visit 

 this frame in the spring and see the hundreds of little new treasures 

 at his disposal. Many, of course, have not come up in such a short 

 time and must be kept over sometimes for another year before they 

 germinate. In that case it is best to remove them to a half-shady 

 place, for if the tiny plants should appear, they might be burnt up 

 during one scorching day in July. 



Freshly gathered seed germinates very much more quickly and 

 surely than old seed, so it is best to sow the seed we save ourselves 

 as soon as possible. This also results in the plants making a good 

 show of flowers the following season. After collecting seed from 

 the early-blooming alpines, we usually make a first showing in June, 

 then in July other varieties will have ripened their seed, and we 

 sow again. Some are sown in the open ground, the sturdier kinds 

 like the mountain pinks, Lychnis flos-cuculi and columbines; others, 

 smaller and more delicate ones, are sown in the cold frame. The 

 ripening seed looks untidy, and there is one owner of a beautiful 

 rock garden who never allows any seed to ripen. But, until one 

 has enough of a given variety, it seems so much more reasonable 



