Gardening for Amateurs 



595 



makes an excellent substitute ; only a small 

 quantity is required at first, but when the 

 plants attain to some size it may with 

 advantage be used up to one-fifth part of 

 the compost. 



Of plants that give better results in soil 

 free from lime, Ramondia, Haberlea Rhodo- 

 pensis, Oxalis enneaphylla, Aquilegia glandu- 

 losa, Dianthus glacialis and D. callizonus, 

 Gaultheria nummularifolia, all Meconopsis 

 except cambrica, Lithospermum prostratum, 

 Daphne blagayana, and Gentiana verna may 



a bed of ashes as before. A light damping 

 overhead with a fine spray every morning 

 and evening will afford sufficient moisture 

 for the first few days, after which they may 

 have water as required, using a fine rose to 

 the water-pot. Air must be kept continually 

 circulating among the pots, and towards the 

 middle of June the movable ashes should be 

 pushed right off, replacing them only in the 

 event of heavy rains, and after this date an 

 east or west aspect will best meet their 

 requirements. 



i'itoto: R. A. Matby. 



One of the hardy Cyclamen (Coum album). 



be cited. For these a mixture of peat, loam, 

 leaf -soil, and sandstone grit is necessary to 

 start, and when they attain some size small 

 chips of sandstone may be freely added. In 

 transplanting seedlings of the choicer Alpines, 

 a slightly rougher compost is used than that 

 employed for seed-sowing, and small pots 

 known as " thimbles " are large enough for 

 them at this stage. The pots are drained 

 a third of their depth as before, and covered 

 with moss, and then filled with soil, into 

 which the seedlings are dibbled singly. 



After transplanting, the tiny plants are 

 returned to the cool frame and plunged in 



Planting the Seedlings. By the first 

 autumn those plants marked by an asterisk 

 in the list may be lifted and planted where 

 they are intended to flower, this work being 

 carried out as early in September as prac- 

 ticable, so that they may have every oppor- 

 tunity to become well rooted before winter ; 

 in the case of plants used in dry walls the 

 work is scarcely so pressing, as these move 

 readily any time throughout winter provided 

 the ground is not in a frozen condition. In 

 all permanent planting thoroughly loosen 

 the soil, and if exhausted by a previous crop 

 renew it with the composts already recom- 



