590 Cultivation of Plants. 



raking or forking, but deep digging is unnecessary, and often 

 destructive. To improve or renovate the soil, a surface dressing 

 of leaf-mould or rotten dung may be applied if desirable ; but 

 the better plan is, if the borders have been properly prepared, 

 to leave them alone for a few years, and then partially or wholly 

 renew them, and transplant the whole of the occupants. Liquid 

 manure should always be sparingly used, and reduced to a weak 

 consistency, and only when such subjects as Dahlias and Holly- 

 hocks are introduced is it desirable to resort to it at all for a 

 tolerably fertile soil. 



The successful cultivation of strictly alpine plants is a task 

 of much greater difficulty, undertaken only by those who have 

 the needful time and convenience. Many of them require the 

 greatest skill and experience of their natural conditions ; and 

 some defy all attempts to keep them alive beyond a season or 

 two. Artificial rockeries are erected with appliances to ensure 

 good drainage and a cool moist atmosphere during the warmer 

 months. And even then it is usual to grow the more sus- 

 ceptible species in pots, and plunge them, so that they may be 

 transferred to a cool pit during the inclement season, when 

 they are liable to damp off from excessive moisture. Never- 

 theless, there are many of the more vigorous alpine species 

 that will flourish well in any ordinary free soil. It is chiefly the 

 diminutive species, and especially those clothed with hairs, that 

 are the least amenable to the artificial conditions inseparable 

 from culture, and these peculiarities are alluded to in the 

 descriptive portion of this work. 



5. Culture of Bulbous and Tuberous-Tooted Plants* 



Althoiigh many of the species belonging to this class will 

 flourish under the same treatment recommended for herbaceous 

 plants in general, a great majority of them need rather more 

 attention, and will not give satisfactory results unless their 

 special requirements are studied. Amongst the least exacting- 

 are the Snowdrop, Spring Crocuses, White and Orange Lilies, 

 Day Lily, Winter Aconite, Snowflake, Ornithogalum umbel- 

 latum, Muscari botryoides, Gladiolus communis, and the com- 

 mon Narcissuses and Jonquils ; but even these prefer a free, 

 tolerably rich soil. 



The various modes of treatment adopted for plants with 

 fleshy roots or rootstocks depend upon their hardiness, and 

 the nature of their rootstocks. We will take the principal 



