382 
JOUEXAL OF THE ROYAL HOETICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 
From the above fifty genera an abundant supply of species and varieties 
can be got to make any garden a thing of beauty and a source of interest 
all the year through. 
I have said nothing of the desirability of introducing Ferns into the 
shady parts. The pond has been mentioned, that is all, but it and 
the bog department are absolutely necessary adjuncts to a really good 
rock-garden. Our native Primroses, Primula acaulis and P. Scotica, the 
latter a pretty little species to be found growing on the moors of the far 
North, thrive well in a damp situation. The same may be said of the 
stately and beautiful Japan Primrose (P. Japonica), also Primula rosea 
and P. iiivolucrata, the latter being quite a failure in a dry position. The 
American Cowslips {Doclecatheon) all do best in the bog-garden, while 
here only the Marsh Marigolds (Caltha palustris) grow to perfection. 
The bog-garden is also the home of the Orchis, Cypripedium spectabile, 
C. acaule, C. calceolus and C. piubescens, and their beautiful orange- 
flowered cousin Habbenaria ciliaris, several Iris and Lychnis, many 
Spiraeas, and even a few of the Lily family and other plants that might be 
named. 
I would emphasise the necessity, particularly in wet localities, of 
protecting some of the rarer Alpines from damp in winter with a covering 
of glass. This can be firmly fixed over them by a simple wire arrange- 
ment. Most of those with hairy or tomentose leaves should be thus 
treated. The tomentum is an excellent protection from extremes of heat 
and cold, but in damp climates it retains moisture and sets up rot with 
fatal results. Do not form your rockery against a naturally wet bank. 
It is probably an ideal position while summer lasts, but in winter it 
turns out, for many of our pets, a cemetery. As already indicated plenty 
of water is necessary in early summer. A simple and effective method 
of applying it would be, I think, to lay a lead pipe along the ridge, 
perforated at intervals with pin-pricks. Then water could be turned on 
and oft' as required, arranging the pipe so that it could be emptied in 
winter. 
Seeds of many of the Alpines can now be procured, and some species 
are best grown from seed on the spot they are to occupy, or they may be 
raised in small pots in a cold frame and planted out when large enough. 
The iDrocuring of plants is of course the speediest method of clothing the 
rockery, but it is obviously the more expensive. 
Planting in autumn is not to be recommended, because of the danger 
of the plants being thrown out and destroyed by the winter frosts. 
Spring is the best time, the season when all animate nature bursts 
into new life ; w^hen the woodlands again put on their annual mantle of 
living green ; when the sweet songsters of the grove trill out anew their 
love songs and fill the air with melody ; when even man catches up the 
inspiration, and, as he walks along vdth elastic step and sparkling eye, 
wonders much how he ever came to think of this world as a waste, weary 
wilderness. Nature — or should I not rather say the Great Creator ? — has 
clothed our earth in wondrous beauty. Be it ours to open our eyes to see 
it — especially to see the beauty of those little humble forms, which come 
to brighten our lives and win our love, from their far-away homes in the 
Alps. 
