118 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



warm the soil considerably that they can possibly grow, and this 

 explains the shortness of the internodes. It is for the same reason 

 that the plants which carpet the high Alps so frequently, or even 

 generally, change their appearance when transplanted to the 

 lowlands ; the nights being warmer, they continue to grow, and 

 exhaust themselves ; all their parts are soon lengthened, and 

 they rapidly become paler in colour. For the same reason again, 

 many Alpine plants form large tufts, beautifully leaved, in Eng- 

 land, which in our gardens at Geneva, where the sun is more 

 powerful and the moisture in the atmosphere less, appear un- 

 deniably weaker and smaller. In our Alpine Garden at Geneva 

 we cannot produce such tall, large, and vigorous plants as you 

 do here in England. And it has been noticed that just those 

 very plants which we have such difficulty in raising under our 

 unfavourable conditions in Geneva, succeed well under the more 

 suitable conditions they meet with in England, and increase 

 very rapidly. I was very much astonished some years ago at 

 seeing in Mr. G. F. "Wilson's garden at Weybridge quite a bed of 

 Saxifraga opyositi folia, a plant that never grows with us more 

 that 8 centimetres (3 J inches) in diameter, even under the most 

 favourable conditions. The Ramondias on the rockery at Kew 

 caused me a very great surprise, and, I must add, discourage- 

 ment. I often think of the marvellous growth of Alpines in 

 your English climate, and sometimes, I confess, with somewhat 

 of jealousy. 



But if you in England are favoured in some ways, you are not 

 so in all, and you might well sometimes envy us the vivid colours 

 of the flowers in our modest rockeries, and the profusion of the 

 stemless blossoms covering our tufts of Saxifraga oppositifolia,. 

 Androsace glacialis, Laggcri, helvetica, Sec. And I believe that 

 our plants grown in unfavourable conditions, but under the more 

 powerful action of the sun, have better preserved their original 

 character than the very healthy and strong specimens which call 

 forth my exclamations of delight in the beautiful rockery at Kew. 

 But, alas ! we cannot alter the existing condition of affairs. You 

 cannot get more sun, and it is impossible for us in Geneva to 

 get more moisture in the air. The best thing is for us each to 

 endeavour to obtain the best results under our several conditions. 



It is important for those who wish to devote themselves to- 

 the cultivation of Alpines to know the conditions under which 



