ALPINE PLANTS IN THEIR NATIVE MOUNTAINS. 



173 



plenty of space between them for the plants to grow in. They will cover 

 the space in a year or so, if only the soil is rich. Again, observation in 

 the Alps will teach us not to make our slopes too steep, for the flowers are 

 usually most abundant in valleys or on gradual slopes. Many people 

 seem to have the idea that a rock garden ought to look rugged and 

 desolate. Therefore they pile rocks together on a steep slope. But the 

 Alps are not all desolation ; and we cannot imitate the grandeur of their 

 desolate places even in the largest rock garden. We should aim rather at 

 imitating their flowery abundance, and we can do this best with gradual 

 slopes and shallow valleys, especially if we have a light soil to start with. 

 Where sharp drainage is necessary it can be supplied under the soil with 

 rocks and bricks. That is far better than the drainage of a steep slope from 

 which the rain always runs away. No doubt on heavy soil and in rainy 

 places the pockets in which the more difficult alpines are grown must be 

 sloping ; and of alpine gardening in such conditions I cannot speak, for 

 I have no experience of it. These notes are made for those who have light 

 soils and a sunny dry climate like my own. I fear they are rather dis- 

 connected and inconclusive ; my only excuse is that they are all from my 

 own experience, which is still very incomplete. 



