[24} 



V. Description of a Bank for Alpine Plants, by Monsieur Thou in, 

 abridged from his Paper in the Annales du Mus6e, Vol. 6, page 

 183. By Richard Anthony Salisbury, Esq. F. R. S. 8$c. 

 Secretary. 



Read April 2, 1812. 



Plants from Alpine and frozen countries are cultivated in 

 the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, on a Bank, sixty feet long, placed 

 against the wall of a terrace, ten feet high, which faces the south- 

 east so much, that the sun ceases to shine upon it between 

 10 and 1 1, A. M. This bank is divided into five steps, one foot wide, 

 by nailing planks of oak, ten inches deep, to the top of as many 

 rows of strong posts, charred at the bottom, and driven firmly 

 into the ground; the taller posts are still further secured in their 

 places by cross bars let into the wall. 



Through the whole length of this bank runs a ditch, two feet 

 deep, but sloping gradually towards the front up to nine inches in 

 height, under the general level of the ground ; and in making 

 this ditch, its sides were plaistered six inches thick with mortar 

 of brick mould and chopped straw, filling up all the cracks 

 which appeared during the week it was left exposed to the air. 

 After nailing the planks to the posts, the natural soil, which is 

 of a light nature, was thrown into the hollow up to within about 

 a toot of the surface of the slope, above which it was filed with 

 sandy peat, such as Ling and Heaths grow in, passed through a 

 screen. My reason for using all these precautions was to pre- 

 vent the water necessary for the health of those Alpine plants in 

 summer, running oft too quickly into a bed of dry gravel un- 

 derneath : in a naturally moist soil, that expense and trouble 

 may be saved. 



