OF OUR ENTHUSIASM FOR "ALPINES" 7 



to Alpines is being spoken of as a fashion, a rage, 

 and a craze ; and we know that there is no smoke 

 without fire. Certainly, the same language has 

 been used towards the enthusiasm shown for 

 Orchids. But Orchids have nought to fear from 

 that degree of popularisation which impinges upon 

 vulgarisation. The prices they command and the 

 expense attendant upon their culture afford them 

 important protection — a protection which Alpines 

 do not possess to anything like the same extent. 



Of course, the fate in store for Alpines in 

 England is not of so inevitable a nature as that 

 awaiting Japanese gardening ; for in this latter 

 " craze " there is an element scarcely present in 

 Alpine gardening. We can more or less fathom 

 the spirit of Alpine gardening and are therefore 

 quite able to construct something that shall be 

 more or less intelligent and true ; but can we say 

 as much for ourselves with regard to Japanese 

 gardening? I think not. I think that largely it 

 is, and must remain, a sealed book to us. Japanese 

 gardening, as Miss Du Cane very truly points out 

 in her Preface to " The Flowers and Gardens of 

 Japan," is " tlie most complicated form of garden- 

 ing in the world." Who in England will master 

 the " seven schools " and absorb all the philosophy 



