36 ALPINE FLOWERS. Part I. 



and much knowledge of these subjects, that the most unpractised 

 may grow in such positions as I describe. 



The reader will do well not to ask if what I advise is practised 

 in gardens growing collections of alpines, but to put the- matter 

 to the test of experiment. The idea of growing such splendid 

 alpine plants as the true Saxifraga longifolia of the Pyrenees 

 on the straight surface of a wall, has never even entered into the 

 heads of the managers of our largest gardens, and probably 

 some of them would laugh at it ; but I affirm that it is in the 

 power of any person to succeed with them, and the trial can be 

 made at a merely nominal cost. 



Generally, the best way to establish them is by seed. The 

 Cheddar Pink, for example, grows on walls at Oxford much 

 better than I have ever known it do on rockwork or on the level 

 ground, in which last position indeed it soon dies. A few seeds of 

 this plant, sown in a mossy or earthy chink, or even covered with a 

 dust of fine soil, would soon take root and grow into neat little 

 specimens, living, moreover, for years in that dwarf and perfectly 

 healthful state so agreeable to the eye. So it is with most of the 

 plants enumerated ; the seedling roots vigorously into the chinks, 

 and gets a hold which it rarely relaxes. But of some things 

 seeds are not to be had, and therefore it will be often necessary 

 to use plants. In all cases young plants should be selected, and, 

 as they will have been used to growing in fertile ground, or good 

 soil in pots, and have all their little feeding roots compactly 

 gathered up near the surface, they must be placed in a chink 

 with a little moist soil, which will enable them to exist until they 

 have struck root into the interstices of the wall. In this way 

 I have seen several interesting species of ferns established, and 

 also the silvery Saxifrages, and can assure the reader that the 

 appearance of the starry rosettes of these little rock-plants (the 

 kinds with incrusted leaves, like .S". longifolia, and S. lingulatd) 

 growing flat against the wall will prove strikingly beautiful. 

 All the best kinds for our purpose, those that can be readily 

 obtained and established without trouble, are marked with an 

 asterisk in the list of selections which will be found farther on, 

 and should be chosen by the doubters and beginners in this 

 culture. 



While many have old ruins and walls on which to grow alpine 

 plants, others will have no means of enjoying them this way ; but 

 all may succeed perfectly with the plan suggested in Fig. 32 



