THE CULTIVATION OF ALPINE PLANTS 19 



Although many Alpines may be sown in a suitably prepared bed 

 in a sheltered position out of doors, some of the rarest and best 

 kinds should be sown in pots or boxes in the following manner. 

 The pots should be well drained and filled either with a mixture of 

 sifted loam and sand, or with sifted sandy heath soil. The best 

 preventative against weeds is either to bake the soil or soak it in 

 the prepared pots with absolutely boiling water, which will destroy 

 the seeds and spores of weeds and kill all insects at the same time. 

 After the boiling water is used the pots must be left for a day or 

 two before sowing the seed. The seeds should be sown on a firm 

 level surface and have a very light and shallow covering, and some 

 of the very small ones might be lightly covered only with triturated 

 moss. The pots or boxes should then be gently watered with an 

 extremely fine rose, placed in a frame or cool greenhouse, well shaded 

 and kept at a uniform moisture. As soon as the seedlings appear 

 they should be gradually hardened and exposed to the air, but not 

 allowed to grow too lengthy, or nothing can be done with them. 

 It is astonishing how rapidly some seedlings become too tall to be 

 manageable in this delicate stage if proper care be not exercised. 

 A few hours' sun might draw them up to such an extent that they 

 cannot be watered without being beaten down like a field of mowing 

 grass is after a heavy storm, which would make the subsequent 

 operation of pricking out into larger pots or boxes one of great 

 difficulty. This pricking out is a tedious business. The young 

 seedlings are put in rows an inch or two apart, according to their 

 size, kept again at a fairly uniform moisture, and more or less 

 shaded from the hot sun, until large enough to be planted in the 

 open. More usually, however, they are planted singly or a few 

 together in pots, and placed in a frame and kept rather moist. 

 In the winter they may be more freely exposed to the air and kept 

 dry and clean. When the weather permits in spring, they can be 

 transplanted into the open and treated like the old plants. It is 

 important that every Alpine plant should be planted firmly, and the 

 soil or stones should be pressed well round the plant. 



Alpine plants are also propagated by cuttings, by division of 

 the rootstock or by layers. This is best done in spring, before 

 growth begins, or in the autumn after it is completed. Most rock, 

 Alpine, and sub-alpine plants and nearly all the Saxifrages, Semper- 

 vivums, Primulas, and Androsaces can be easily increased by 

 division. 



Saxifrages are among the easiest of all Alpine plants to grow, 

 and many will thrive under ordinary conditions in an English 

 garden. Special care should be taken that all, except a few water- 

 loving species, such as Saxifraga Hirculus, S. aizoides, and 5. 

 stellaris should be in rather dry, sunny places and not under trees 

 where water drips. However, such species as 5. rotundifolia and 

 S. cuneifolia like to be in the shade of trees and especially among 



