72 ALPINE FLOWERS [PART I. 



Trees which only shelter from high winds are so far serviceable, 

 and so are walls and high banks. There are few alpines for 

 which a storm-swept surface is good, but trees are objectionable 

 where they lessen the light, which is an important element in 

 the welfare of most mountain plants. The shade and shelter 

 afforded by the stones and form of the structure itself are the 

 best kind of shade and shelter. 



" SOIL. 



" We now come to the subject of soil, which is very important, 

 though I attach less importance to it than others do who have 

 written on the subject. I hold that where atmospheric and 

 mechanical conditions are favourable, the chemical combination 

 of the soil is of secondary consideration. It is true that in 

 Nature we find that the flora of a limestone mountain differs in 

 many particulars from that of a granite mountain, and on the 

 same mountain some plants will thrive in heavy retentive soil, 

 whilst others will be found exclusively in peat or sand. But for 

 one who is beginning to cultivate alpines to have to divide them 

 into lime-lovers and lime-haters, lovers of sand and lovers of 

 stiff soil, is an unnecessary aggravation of difficulties. So large 

 a proportion of ornamental plants is contented with the soil 

 which most cultivators provide for all alike even though in 

 Nature they seem to have predilections that where an amateur 

 has only one rockery, it would be too perplexing to study the 

 partiality of every plant, and to remember every spot where 

 lime-lovers or their opposites had been growing. While saying 

 this, I confess that I have some rockeries where both soil and 

 rock are adapted exclusively for lime plants ; others from which 

 lime is kept away, and where both soil and rock are granitic ; 

 but the great majority of plants thrive equally well on both. I 

 know few better collections of alpine plants than one which I 

 recently saw at Guildford, growing on a bank of almost pure 

 chalk. I cannot say that I noticed any inveterate lime-haters 

 there ; but conditions of drainage and atmosphere were the 

 chief cause of success. With regard to soil then, we must take 



