n8 



to stay. A native of the European mountain- 

 ranges, it is one of the jewels of the rock-garden. 

 But it is apt to prove capricious, and suddenly 

 disappoint one by being winter-killed. Peat is 

 usually prescribed for it. The finest specimens 

 I have ever seen grew almost neglected, in rath- 

 er poor, sandy soil, half-hidden by quack-grass. 

 Gardeners should keep a memorandum, to strike 

 a potful of cuttings every June, taken from as 

 near the root of the plant as possible ; cuttings 

 grow slower, but make better plants than layers. 

 D. rupestris, allied to cneorum, and the white 

 blagyana, I have vainly attempted to establish. 

 The former is undoubtedly hardy with winter 

 protection, a microscopic plant having withstood 

 two winters, and then dying off in summer. 



The English nursery-men should be prose- 

 cuted for plant-infanticide. The miserable little 

 sticks they send out are most of them too feeble 

 to withstand a short journey, and, even with 

 greenhouse coddling, are too weak and preco- 

 cious to revive. The charges are certainly not 

 at fault, for these would warrant adult plants 

 instead of weaklings. Perhaps this stricture 

 should not be confined to England, but apply 

 equally to the Continent and America. 



Of plants that grow in low-spreading masses r 

 several species of the Phlox, a genus exclusively 



