JOURNAL 



OF THE 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Vol. XLI. 1916. 

 Part III. 



SOME BOOKS ON ROCK-GARDENING AND ALPINE 

 PLANTS. 



By E. A. Bowles, M.A., F.E.S., F.L.S. 



[Read November 9, 191 5 ; Dr. F. Keeble, F.R.S., in the Chair.] 



* Note. — The books marked with an asterisk (*) in this paper may be con- 

 sulted in the Lindley Library, at the R.H.S. Ofhces, Vincent Square, S.W; 



Books entirely devoted to the subject of Rock-gardening, or the 

 cultivation of Alpine plants, form a comparatively modern section of 

 horticultural literature. The publication in 1864 of Kerner's " Die 

 Cultur der Alpenpflanzen " seems to have opened the floodgates. 

 William Robinson's " Alpine Plants for English Gardens " * appeared 

 in 1870 ; Sutherland's " Hardy Herbaceous and Alpine Flowers " * 

 in 1871 ; and Wooster's " Alpine Plants "* in 1872. 



This does not mean that no interest was taken in Alpine plants 

 prior to that period, but rather that it was believed to be extremely 

 difficult, if not impossible, to grow many of them in the open air. 



We can get a good idea of the use made of Alpines in the early 

 part of the last century from the first edition of Loudon's " Encyclo- 

 paedia of Gardening," published in 1822. One of the subsections of 

 the chapter on herbaceous plants is headed : " Flowers for ornament- 

 ing Rocks, or Aggregations of Stones, Flints, Scoriae formed in imita- 

 tion of Rocky Surfaces, &c." 



An illustration is given showing an appallingly ugly crescent- 

 shaped pile of rough stones ; and such horrors are described as well 

 suited to the less durable materials, such as bricks, pudding-stone, 



VOL. XLI. 2 D 



