128 GARDENS PAST AND PRESENT 



Here let me plead the merits of seed-raising, not 

 so much for the first furnishing as the keeping up 

 of the rock garden ; for Alpines, alas, are more 

 or less shortlived. Many of us, too, are sorely 

 tempted to annex for our own gardens some of the 

 captivating campanulas and rock pinks, primulas 

 and anemones, with which we meet on Swiss moun- 

 tains, in Tyrol, or elsewhere; but even should 

 we succeed in carefully extracting the long roots 

 without detriment, the chances are against their 

 reaching their destination alive, or, even so, that 

 they will long survive the transfer. To collect 

 seed is another matter; it will wait quite content 

 until we can get home to sow it, and as it often 

 happens that flowers are over, and seed is ripening, 

 before most people can get away to the moun- 

 tains, it is at least possible to secure many a pre- 

 cious pod and capsule. Some empty seed-pockets 

 should form part of the equipment of every 

 gardener-tourist. It is quite feasible, besides, to 

 get seeds of the most desirable Alpine plants from 

 the Jardin d'Acclimatation of Geneva. By rearing 

 seedlings in our English climate there is more like- 

 lihood of their becoming inured to a new environ- 

 ment. I can speak from experience, having raised 

 many, if not most, of the Alpines I have grown 

 from seed, of the fascination of this plan, though 

 it takes both time and patience. Of course, there 

 are disappointments. Seed will not always ger- 

 minate, even when most carefully harvested and 

 sown as soon as ripe, which is a safe general rule 

 to follow. There is, besides, many a slip between 

 cup and lip. But with all the risks and chances 



