COMMONPLACE NOTES. 



327 



COMMONPLACE NOTES. 



By the Editor.- 



Irrigation for Alpine Plants. 



The following note from Mr. R. C. Appleton, of Molescroft House, 

 Beverley, East Yorks., on a method of constructing and watering a 

 bed for alpine plants will be read with interest by many. It is a 

 special application of a method of sub-irrigation which has proved 

 useful in many gardens for various purposes, and which will doubtless 

 become more common as time goes on. 



" Please bear in mind the bed is twenty- five feet long, and sixteen 

 feet wide. The thickness of the usual alpine root soil over coarse 

 drainage is eighteen inches ; three-inch drain tiles are laid on at 

 six inches ; so there are nine inches of soil above them. A variety 

 of plants from hill pastures and up to the shingles were taken from 

 pots and planted early in March, just as growth was starting. Demur 

 will be taken by some, who will say they were put into fresh soil 

 when it was cold. Practice tells me such a plan is better than planting 

 when growth has advanced. Also it may be urged that the mode of 

 planting is open to objection. This was the way it was done. The 

 plants were inserted so far that the surface of the pot soil was level 

 with the ground ; no attempt was made to put them in deeper, as is 

 suggested so often. Then the soil around was rammed. A number 

 were planted, then surface material was put on, for the delay to the 

 next day might have allowed of damage by a frost. Of course the 

 crowns were regarded ; elsewhere not less than three inches were 

 applied. This was crushed brick mixed with a little soil from the 

 woods. Broken with a geologist's hammer, the shattered bricks were 

 put into a fine riddle to get rid of the powder, then all that went 

 through a quart er-of-an-inch mesh riddle was used. I know of no 

 better material for alpines ; it contains ' ash ' and salts which plants 

 extract, or which is washed out for them. The body of the bed had 

 become firm in the winter. Nothing more seems required, except an 

 almost general dusting of powdered chalk. 



" From March 12 to May 21, ten weeks, the rainfall was just over 

 two inches. North-East Yorkshire is notorious for being almost 

 the driest part of Great Britain. It gets more than a fair share of 

 north-east winds. The conditions this year were ideal for testing 

 the method of applying moisture. The water-can is useless with 

 such a climatic vagary. So far as alpines are concerned, this season 

 (1914) has been one of semi-drought, just when it was not desirable. 



