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a very specific meaning. It applies primarily to plants of the 
Alps, that is, to plants of mountains, for the origin of the word 
Alp is Celtic, and means mountain, and thus it comes that the 
term is used for plants which are dwellers in high altitudes of 
mountains. Their greatest interest is in their adaptability to a 
long severe winter and a short summer, so that consequently, 
they develop a close dense habit of growth with small compact 
leaves, compact stems, and brilliant flowers. Above all, each 
has a thick mass of strong far-striking roots, that pierce the 
scanty soil between the rock crevices, and thus secure to the 
plant a supply of food which carries it through to fructification, 
or else fills the storehouses that carry it through the long trying 
winter. Then again because of the close mats of foliage de- 
veloped, evaporation is reduced to a minimum, and, as this 
foliage is retained throughout the year, these alpines are really 
evergreen. Thus they make provision for a short summer, and 
along winter. They thrust their roots far down into the crevices, 
where the rains and the melting snows have accumulated stores 
of moisture. 
In their alpine homes, they have the protection of the dry 
snows, and do not suffer from the heavy winter rains that prevail 
in our climate. With us they will not receive that degree of 
intense light that prevails in their eyries during the brief sum- 
mer, and yet our longer periods of light, compensate somewhat 
for alpine intensity. 
Rock gardens may, and often do, contain a great variety of 
plants, annuals, biennials, bulbous and herbaceous forms; and 
even small shrubs may be introduced into the background and 
higher portions. 
If one has glacially worn rocks, a moraine garden may well be 
placed at its base where the drift would naturally remain. In 
this mass of gravel and pebbles, one can grow with great success 
a variety of plants that need such cool moist situations. One 
need not hesitate about starting an alpine garden, for alpines. 
if given an opportunity, have a capacity for adapting themselves 
to circumstances, a capacity that has been latent in each species 
for many generations. As we endeavor to give to each the near- 
