SOME BOOKS ON ROCK-GARDENING AND ALPINE PLANTS. 403 



are beautifully illustrated with his photographs, many of which are 

 reproduced with great skill from those beautifully finished paintings 

 that he is such a master in making out of a photographic print. Primula 

 hirsuia in its rocky crevice, Androsace glacialis, and Eritrichiutn nanum 

 are three of the best coloured portraits of Alpine plants I know of. 



We must now turn to the books that treat of gardens in which to 

 cultivate the plants from mountain-sides, and still one of the most 

 useful is W. Robinson's "Alpine Flowers for Gardens,"* as its title 

 now runs in its third edition revised, 1903. It appeared as " Alpine 

 Flowers for English Gardens " in 1870, but now appeals to a wider circle. 

 It is constructed on somewhat similar lines to " The English Flower- 

 Garden, "* with introductory chapters on the construction and styles 

 of rock-gardens and a second part in which the plants are arranged 

 in alphabetical order, and here and there charming little pictures are 

 let into the text. 



W. Sutherland's "Handbook of Hardy Herbaceous and Alpine 

 Flowers "* (1871) contains a great deal of information, generally very 

 practical and useful, gathered, as stated in the preface, by the writer 

 when manager of the herbaceous department at Kew, but of course 

 its date precludes the mention of many now much-prized Alpines. 



" Alpine Plants : a Practical Method for Growing the rarer and 

 more difficult Alpine Flowers,"* by W. A. Clark (1901, and second 

 ed. 1907, 2s. 6d.), is a small book, but a very useful one, full of good 

 hints for making fretful plants happy, as practised by the writer in 

 Messrs. Backhouse's Nurseries at York. 



The instructions for mixing soils, choosing sites, and so on, are as 

 full and precise as a cookery recipe, but just what one wants in the case 

 of anew and untried plant, for instance for Andromeda fastigiaia on p. 11. 



"Andromeda fastigiata is no doubt rather difficult to grow unless 

 in the right position and soil. Use a compost of leaf-mould, white 

 sand, and peat (equal proportions). Make the place 18 in. deep, 

 with good drainage, in a partially shady spot ; mix the compost well 

 together before planting ; make the plants perfectly firm and, after 

 the plant is in its home, cover the surface with fine white sand, and 

 give a good watering, so as to settle the sand well among the shoots. 

 Great care must be taken to top-dress twice a year — spring and autumn 

 — with sand, leaf-mould, and a little fine peat. Spread out the young 

 growths over the surface, and peg them down ; then add the above 

 compost, cover the young growths to within two or three inches of 

 their tips, and when this is done give a good watering as before, and 

 the young roots will soon make headway among the freshly added 

 soil, and make provision for the following season's blooms." 



One must translate some of its directions for the climate of York 

 into terms of one's own rainfall and average temperature if living in 

 such a place as my dry sun-baked garden, or in favoured Cornwall. 



Charles Thonger contributed a volume, " The Book of Rock and 

 Water Gardens,"* to the series of Handbooks of Practical Gardening, 



