PART I.] CULTURAL 73 



care that it does not retain stagnant moisture, and yet it must 

 not dry up too readily. Plants must be able to penetrate it 

 easily with their roots, the lengths of some of which must be 

 seen to be believed. Good loam, with a little humus in the 

 form of leaf-mould or peat, and half or three quarters of the 

 bulk composed of stone riddlings from the nearest stone quarry, 

 and varying in size from that of rapeseed to that of horse beans, 

 make up a soil with which most alpines are quite contented. 

 The red alluvial clay of Cheshire, burnt hard in a kiln, and 

 broken up or riddled to the above size, is an excellent material 

 mixed with a little soil and a little hard stone. Where you are 

 convinced that lime is useful, it may be added as pure lime, not 

 planting in it till thoroughly slaked by mixture with the soil. 

 Eough surface-dressing is a thing in which all alpines delight, as 

 it keeps the top of the soil sweet and moist, and prevents their 

 leaves being fouled. Use for this purpose the same riddled 

 stone as described above, which is better than gravel, as round 

 pebbles are easily washed off the slope by rain or in watering. 



" PLANTING. 



" It is better not to be in a hurry to see the stones covered. 

 It would be easy to cover them with growth in a single season, 

 but it would be demoralising to the cultivator. We must not 

 degrade choice alpines by putting them to keep company with 

 Periwinkles, Woodruff, large St John's Wort, dead Nettles, 

 Creeping Jenny, fast-running Sedums, and Saxifrages, which do 

 duty for alpines on raised structures of roots or stones in the 

 shady, neglected corners of many a garden. Indeed, there are 

 some plants, of which Coronilla Varia is one, which, when once 

 established amongst large stones, cannot be eradicated by any 

 means short of pulling the whole structure to pieces. Any 

 plant which runs under a large stone and reappears on the 

 other side should be treated with caution. As a rule, nothing 

 should be planted which cannot be easily and entirely era- 

 dicated in a few minutes. If a rockery is large, there is no 

 reason for limiting the area to be assigned to each plant, 



