294 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



and a piece of flat glass laid over the pan, especially if no water 

 is used for them unless it has been boiled, reduces this trouble 

 to a minimum. But sowings of choice and rare seed should be 

 carefully watched, and the fungus picked off at the first appear- 

 ance. Many alpines seem never to make seed in cultivation, 

 and must be reproduced by division or cuttings. The skill re- 

 quired to do this varies greatly with different subjects ; where a 

 shoot can seldom be found more than half an inch long, as in 

 the case of two or three hybrid Alpine Pinks, the striking needs 

 delicate manipulation. Other things grow very slowly, though 

 not long-lived, and a constant succession from cuttings must be 

 ensured. Some of the terrestrial Orchids, such as Bee, and Fly, 

 and Spider, excellent subjects for rockery, we must be con- 

 tented to keep as long as they choose to live, as they seem never 

 to increase in cultivation at all, though they may flower well 

 year after year. But there are not a few plants which refuse to 

 be tamed, and from the time they are planted in our gardens 

 seem always to go from bad to worse, and are never presentable 

 in appearance for two seasons together. Of these I may instance 

 Gentiana bavarica and Eritrichium nanum, which I believe no 

 skill has ever kept in cultivation without constant renewal, and 

 which perhaps are never likely to repay the trouble of trying to 

 keep them alive on an English rockery. In all alpine gardening 

 there will be, even where equal skill is exerted, different degrees 

 of success, according to the surrounding conditions ; and it must 

 not be expected that the same soil and treatment which keeps a 

 hundred rare alpines in perfect health at Edinburgh will be 

 equally fortunate at Kew. 



This paper would not be complete without saying something 

 about the use of frames in alpine gardening. Where the area 

 of rockery is considerable, a cold frame should be assigned 

 for keeping up the supply of plants for it — cuttings and seed- 

 lings — in pots. The best treatment of these plants in winter 

 has been much discussed in gardening journals. I may say that I 

 think all attempts to imitate natural conditions, such as snow and 

 long rest, by unnatural means are mistakes. During warm 

 winters mountain plants will grow, and must be allowed to grow, 

 and to keep them unnaturally dark or dry when growing is fatal 

 to their health. Even in severe frosts air must be given abun- 

 dantly in the daytime, and the frames must not be muffled up. 



