Sir.EIilAX HQVTLL. Ill 



Imudled convenioiitl}'. As a rule, all stages and platforms 

 are too Iiigh ; and tliis may well Ije thought of in the ih'st 

 instancBj for it is better to look do\\-n on flowers and see 

 their faees^ than look up to tliem and see less of their 

 faces than of their stems. All the plants in such a house 

 should be grown in pots, and when tlieir flowering is over 

 they should be put outside on a bed of r(]al-ashes ^^'ith 

 a north aspect, and they should have careful attention. 

 It is not necessary to supply such houses with any kind of 

 artificial lieat. 



In the alpine house, with earth pilatfovms and am})lo 

 ventilation, we can have a display every spring of the most 

 cxf£uisitel\' beautiful Mowers the earth produces. We can 

 have dralms more lovely than cushions of gold; reti(;n- 

 lated irises that make figured velvet look ridiculous ; saxi- 

 frages that steal smnv from the mountains and make 

 poetry of it that warms one at the very time, perhaps, 

 when the snow that has not been stolen chills one to the 

 core; primulas all dusted with the efflorescence of the 

 granite they delight in; and epimedinms that mock all art 

 in the colouring- of tlieir simple but delicious leafage. ISut 

 these, you will say, are things we know so little of that 

 your words fall upon our ears like water on a duck's back. 

 Very well, you know of the hardy alpine cyclamens, the 

 dog's-tooth violets, the grape hyacinths, the hoop petticoat 

 narciss, the American cowslips, and a thousand more such 

 things that appear like spring l:>ntterflies that have turned 

 out of bed before the world was warm enough, and are 

 more charming in their half undress than ever they can be 

 iu their finished leafage, when the eye is diverted from 

 them by the multitude of out-door flowers. All these can 

 be well grown and perfectly enjoyed in an alpine honse, the 



