886 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



PART III. 



6533. In botanical collections, some peculiarities of culture may be required for parasites, ferns, mosses, 

 fungi, and marine vegetables. The only hardy herbaceous parasite is the cuscuta, or didder, a twining 

 plant found in hedges, and on hops, furze, thistles, and many weeds, with thread-like reddish stems, a 

 few small membranaceous scales, and balls of white or purplish flowers, which appear in July and Au- 

 gust They propagate themselves by seed, which germinates in the soil, and at first draws its nourish- 

 ment from thence ; but the original root withers away as soon as the young stem has twined round any 

 other plant. In cultivating the cuscuta, it is easy to imitate nature by sowing the seeds at the root of a 

 thistle or whin. 



6534. In raising ferns' and mosses from seed, these being very small, should be sown on the surface of 

 peat-earth, ground to the finest powder: the seed need not be covered, but the pots should be placed 

 in the shade, or in a vault ; and a moist close atmosphere produced by covering with a bell-glass, rendered 

 semi-opaque by a wash of mud. When they come up, they may be transplanted into pots of the smallest 

 size, and placed in situations formed in imitation of their natural sites. The more hardy fenis and 

 mosses, and also some of the fungi, will come up very well, if the entire plants, covered with ripe seed, 

 are strewed over a bed or border of peat-soil, completely shaded from the sun. The parent vegetables in 

 rotting will afford shelter and congenial nourishment to their infant offspring. 



6535. Seeds of the fungi, hepaticce, algae, and lichenes, may be sown in pots of fine earth, like the 

 mosses ; but.many require to be sown on pieces of decaying bark or wood, or on stones or pieces of lime, 

 or on walls, &c. Portions of these, or of whatever substances are requisite, should be procured and neatly 

 fitted to pots of six or eight inches' diameter ; the seed should be sown immediately when gathered, one 

 sort in a pot, and the pots set in a vault ; some kept damp and close by means of other pots whelmed over 

 them ; and others allowed more air, according to their natures. If it is wished to multiply specimens, 

 it may be done after they come up, by dividing the masses on which they grow. 



6536. The culture of hardy marine productions, or submersed algce, may be attempted by forming a 

 cistern or basin of salt-water with shelves or terraces within, in the manner of the common aquarium. 

 (fig. 618.) Their pots or receptacles, in the form of rough cones or square blocks, may be formed from 

 basalt or compact limestone, and a specimen of the sea-weed, in which the seeds are supposed to be ripe, 

 attached to each receptacle ; or some of the receptacles may be placed in the sea near the fuci, which it is 

 desired to introduce to the marine aquarium ; and when the young fuci appear, the stones may be re- 

 moved to the cistern, and placed on a higher or lower terrace, according to the depth of water supposed 

 to be requisite. It has not been proved, that the motion and alternate immersion and exposure to air 

 produced by the tides is essential to the growth of marine vegetables ; but if it is, these circumstances can 

 be imitated by pumping the marine aquarium dry once a-day into a cistern above its level, and then al- 

 lowing the water to return gradually ; or the same thing might be effected without the labor of pumping, 

 by two moderate-sized cisterns fixed like scales on the ends of a moving beam, for weights, &c. The 

 lichenes of fresh-water are of easy cultivation. 



6537. Alpines. A very general assemblage of plants is formed by gardeners under the title of alpines. 

 These ought properly to consist only of such plants as grow on high mountains ; but the gardener adds to 

 them all very dwarf small plants that are difficult to preserve in a state of cultivation. Some of these, in- 

 stead of being alpine, are arenarious, sea-side, or bog plants. Alpine plants are universally very low, 

 bushy, and evergreen. In their native sites, they are covered by snow great part of the year, and conse- 

 quently never experience either violent cold, violent heat, or intense light. The atmosphere which sur- 

 rounds them is of light or thin air, almost always highly charged with vapor, and the soil in which they 

 grow is generally soft, black, and peat-like, forming a thin stratum on rock, or filling up the chinks of 

 rocks or stones, and always moist Art imitates these circumstances, by putting such plants in small 

 pots of peat or bog-earth, well drained by gravel, or scarcely drained at all, or mixed with stones, or with 

 sand, according to the habitation to be imitated. The pots are kept, during winter, under glass in 

 frames, in a situation exposed only to the morning sun ; and in summer they are removed to a full 

 northern exposure, or screens placed so as to produce this effect in their winter situation. Care is taken 

 to water three or four times a-day during summer, and to keep the ground around the pots constantly 

 moist; and in winter to protect by mats, in addition to the glass, when the cold is likely to be greater 

 than 25* or 30. Perhaps an improvement in the management of alpine plants would be to set the pots, 

 in the summer season, on a grating or frame of cast-iron, placed a few inches' distance above a cistern or 

 pond of water, by which means a constant evaporation would take place, and a moist cool atmosphere 

 be produced In winter they might remain in the same situation, protected by frames ; or they might be 

 removed to their usual site ; or the pots might be arranged in beds, and a pipe, finely pierced with holes, 

 in Loddige's manner, might pass along the centre of each bed, at such a distance above it as that the 

 shower would just cover the bed. A shower might thus be applied at pleasure, and the plants kept moist 

 by prolonged and gentle rains, instead of being deluged by sudden and heavy rains from the watering-pot. 

 Whatever plan be adopted, it is essential that the site be open to the morning sun only during winter, and 

 to only one or two hours' sun during summer, and that it should not be shaded by trees. Professor 

 Thouin arranged a bank for alpine plants in the Paris garden, and has given an account of it, accompanied 

 by some very judicious reasoning, in the Annalcs dc Musee, (see a translation in Hort. Trans, vol. i. App.) ; 

 but experience shows, that plants of this description never thrive long on beds or banks of any kind; 

 those planted by Professor Thouin never did much good, and in the course of two years, as we were in- 

 formed on the spot, many of them died off, and the rest became too luxuriant for the situation. Potting 

 is by far the best mode, as each individual plant may then be examined at the root as well as the top, and 

 its soil or situation changed at pleasure. From the rarity of this class of plants, the difficulty of keeping 

 them, their vivid green, neat shapes, small size, and many of them flowering early in spring, they are 

 much prized, and collections made in most flower-gardens of note ; we shall, therefore, give a list of the 

 leading species of alpines, most of which will be found in a former table (6489.), as plants for the front 

 row of the border : 



