190 ALPINE FLOWERS, Part II. 



position, and therefore to attempt its culture in shallow pans, 

 orchid fashion, as I have seen some do, is quite useless. 

 Doubtless a few good plants may be highly desir3.ble in pots, if 

 these are tolerably large and deep, and afford good room for root 

 development ; but the truest and most satisfactory way is to 

 establish it as a free-growing hardy perennial in the open garden. 

 Good strong roots should be procured ; hardy orchids are often 

 dried to death, or just prepared for rotting when put into the 

 ground. I have grown the plant very well in free sandy soil 

 mulched with cocoa-fibre, and in a partially shaded spot ; but it 

 does not usually thrive near London if not accommodated 

 with a shady nook and deep moist soil. Doubtless in the 

 north and west, and in most moist neighbourhoods, it will 

 be found to succeed with pretty full exposure, or in fact as a 

 border-plant ; but to grow it well I would not recommend that 

 course for gardeners generally. There are few gardens that do 

 not afford some shady nook near the houses, where a deep hole 

 might be dug, and filled with rich peat or spongy free loam, mixed 

 with plenty of decayed vegetable matter. In such a position it 

 would luxuriate, and also in any shady place where a deep and 

 somewhat unctuous soil exists. The best plants I have ever seen 

 were at Glasnevin, behind one of the ranges of plant-houses there, 

 planted close against the wall in deep rich soil — a mixture of 

 free, rich, very moist loam and peat. Wherever there is any kind 

 of a bold or diversified rockwork, there should be no difficulty in 

 succeeding with this fine plant. It should be placed on the lower 

 flanks, and in different positions and aspects, mostly sheltered 

 ones ; and if it does not in all cases at'tain the stature of the 

 Glasnevin plants, it will command admiration as the finest of 

 hardy orchids. 



C. pubescens is also in cultivation, but rare in this country. It 

 is, however, not sufficiently distinct in aspect from the English 

 Lady's Slipper to be of much interest for the garden. There are 

 other hardy kinds, but none of the obtainable ones equal to 

 the foregoing kinds. 



DAPHNE CN-EQ-RnM.— Gar /atici-Jlower. 

 A LITTLE trailing but compact shrub, growing from six to ten 

 inches high, and bearing a muhitude of rosy-lilac flowers, the 

 unopened buds being crimson. The flowers, like the plant, are 

 very compact, arranged in neat terminal umbels, and so deli- 



