68 ALPINE FLOWERS [PART I. 



ALPINE GARDENING IN ADVERSE CONDITIONS. 



Among the best cultivators of alpine flowers, and under 

 conditions less favourable than what are usual in many parts of 

 the country owing to heavy soil and heavy rainfall, is Mr 

 Wolley-Dod ; and his advice is so good for amateurs in similar 

 conditions that it is here given from a paper read before the 

 Horticultural Society. Among alpine and rock plants, embrac- 

 ing so much and such infinite variety, some variety of teaching 

 is better than any one formula, however good. Many parts of 

 the country about our coasts, and on the mountains of the cold 

 north of England, are so favourable to alpine plants that little 

 trouble gives us good results; but readers who live in quite 

 different conditions, in the West Midlands and other districts, 

 will like to know how difficulties are met in such conditions. 



" There are some favoured gardens where natural rock exists, 

 or where the conditions of the soil with regard to quality or drain- 

 age are such that choice and delicate mountain plants may be 

 grown on the ground level in ordinary borders. Such gardens exist 

 in several districts in England, and are common in Scotland and 

 Wales ; few rules are necessary there, where plants have only 

 to be planted and kept clear of weeds in order to thrive. But 

 most of us who wish to grow choice alpine plants in our gardens 

 have to make the best of conditions naturally unfavourable, and 

 in doing this we can be helped by the experience of those who 

 have made it their special study. We need not say much of 

 climate and atmospheric conditions, because they are beyond 

 our control. It may be remarked, however, that high elevation 

 above the sea-level is a great advantage in the neighbourhood 

 of towns, because the impurities in the air are more readily 

 dispersed, and do not collect or settle as in lowland valleys. 

 Good natural drainage is also a great advantage, because 

 although we can drain the spot in which our alpines grow, and 

 even our whole garden, still if the soil of the district is wet 

 and retentive, the local damp seems to affect mountain plants 

 unfavourably. Local differences of climate caused by soil and 



