Introduction. 



" The cultivation of Alpine Plants has for some years 

 past been mainly confined to gardens strictly botanical ; 

 a taste for their possession is, however, now on the 

 increase, and collections are to be found in some of 

 the private gardens of Great Britain and Ireland/' 

 This is the opening sentence of the introduction to a 

 book on Alpine Plants written by Mr. David Wooster 

 — at one time joint editor of Loudon's ''Encyclopaedia 

 of Gardening and Plants," — published about forty years 

 ago. It is quoted to show the extraordinary advance 

 the rock garden and the growing of Alpine plants has 

 made since that day. It was Mr. Wooster' s desire 

 to stimulate an interest in these beautiful flowers, 

 which at the period when carpet bedding was so much 

 the craze, had been so largely neglected, — and the 

 effect of his volume with the hundred illustrations 

 beautifully drawn and painted must have influenced 

 many a gardener to turn his attention to Alpine 

 plants. There were others who had a like desire, 

 chief amongst them being Mr. William Robinson, 

 whose books, especially " The English Flower Garden," 

 have done so much to revolutionise our ideas on the 

 arrangement of a garden ; and now the rock garden 

 has as enthusiastic workers as any other branch of 

 horticulture ; and at the great flower shows the 

 display of Alpine plants is one of the chief attractions. 



