CURRENT GARDEN LORE. 



23 



-together, with twoorthreesickly-lookingfernsstruggling 

 for existence in the interstices, formed the chief orna- 

 ment of a front "garden." The illustration will point 

 out that which is necessary for the cultivation of alpine 

 plants is not a heap of stones piled 

 promiscuously together, with little 

 or no soil between them, but a situa- 

 tion that will resemble somewhat 

 the stony ground in which such 

 plants are found growing naturally. 

 A rock-garden is a difficult thing to 

 make. Failure generally results 

 from attempting to do too much. A 

 man who simply half buries five 

 large stones in a heap of earth will 

 secure a much better effect than he 

 who makesone of the ordinary ' 'rock- 

 works," in which hundreds of stones 

 stick up as closely as teeth i n a 

 dentist's window. It would, in many 

 cases, be better to put alpine plants 

 in a smooth, exposed plot of sandy 

 loam, than to attempt to grow them 

 in the absurd rockeries that are 

 wrongly supposed to represent some- 

 thing in alpine or mountainous 

 countries. In the garden here shown 

 are to be found, in perfect health, fine specimens of 

 Androsace {carma and lanuginosa). Campanula, Saxifraga 

 (lotigifolia, Bursonaria, opposiiifolia , etc.), alpine and 

 glacier pinks {Dianthus alpinus And gladalis),&n& numer- 

 ous other alpineplantsandrock-ferns. — London Garden- 

 ing Illustrated. 



An Iris Garden. — Near Cambridge, England, is an 

 interesting iris garden. The irises are not grouped to- 

 gether, but here a terrace and there an enclosed spot 



have gone out of flower, so that they may be protected 

 from wet and thoroughly ripened ; and to this system 

 Professor Foster, the owner, claims that he owes no 

 small share of his success in growing and flowering 



contain many rare and scarce species and varieties. 

 The cut represents one of these sheltered spots, and 

 glass sash has been placed over those plants which 



A Rock Garden in England. 



many of the choicer and shyer-blooming irises. In 

 speaking of iris seed and sowing, Professor Foster is 

 particular in impressing upon the tyro the virtue of 

 patience ; as, for example, he says that he received from 

 Persia some seeds of iris in 1884, and the first year after 

 sowing one seed germinated, and in the year 1890 he 

 was rewarded for his patience by six other seeds germi- 

 nating. — Gardener's Chronicle. 



Ashes vs. Insects on Roses. — A simple remedy 

 was recently recommended by La Nature. It 

 consists in taking crushed wood-ashes, and 

 sifting them dry in a fine condition over the 

 heads of the trees immediately after they have 

 been syringed with water. The wood-ashes 

 adhere to the leaves, and on accunt of their 

 alkaline nature soon make it uncomfortable 

 for any insect pests that may be there. The 

 ashes do not injure the trees ; on the other 

 hand, when they have been syringed off with 

 water again they fertilize the soil. 



New Conservatories at Lincoln Park. — 

 We present an engraving from the architect's 

 drawing of the new conservatories now in 

 course of construction at Lincoln Park, Chi- 

 cago. The height will be 54 feet at the center 

 and 30 feet at the ends, and that of the orchid 

 and New Holland division, 20 feet. The build- 

 ing will stand seven feet above the lawn and 

 the ground will be terraced down to the flower- 

 garden in front. Hot water will be the system used in 

 heating, and to overcome friction in the long length of 

 pipe used a steam-pump will be connected with the 



