183 
these plants, near London, tolerably well, and enable them to 
open their flowers, though much later and smaller than tliose 
against a south aspected wall, where they will expand every 
season; and if properly blended as to colour, at the middle and 
end of every November, they are capable of making a more 
showy and magnificent appearance of flowery beauty, richness, 
and elegance, than I ever beheld in any other group. The du- 
ration of their hardy flowers is likewise greater than that of 
other autumnal plants, both as to individual blossoms, and in 
the lateral successioual ones, and even when cut for bouquets and 
placed in vessels of water; one plant of the old purple, in my 
garden, having had flowers from the beginning of November, 
to the second week in January. But the earlier they can be 
made to come into blossom, by open air treatment (for all 
forcing irretrievably weakens them) the better, and the longer 
will be their duration, and the finer their soft but agreeable 
chamomile scent. 
184 Alpines, Winter Treatment of. To be successful in 
preserving the more tender sorts of Alpine plants, in pits and 
frames, care must be taken to make the bottom perfectly dry, to 
plunge the |)Ots in dry sand, as near the glass as possible, to 
remove, occasionally, wet adhesive soil from the tops of the pots, 
and supply its place with dry light sandy com|)Ost; to admit 
plenty of air during fair weather, by drawing tlie sashes entirely 
ofl’during tlieday, and during bad weather to give air by lifting up 
the lights. When winter sets in, a layer of fern, straw, or other 
similar protecting material, should be put round the pit, or 
frame, to prevent the frost from penetrating it. During the night, 
w hen frost is severe, protect with mats or other covering. When 
once the frost has reached the surface of the pots it then becomes 
safer to let the covering remain on during the day-time also, and 
not remove it or give air until the soil, &c. is tlioroughly thawed, 
the sun and air then doing the [ilauts more injury than they 
receive by exclusion from light. 
This mode of management approaches pretty nearly to their 
natural winter treatment on their native mountains, covered as 
they are for months by snow, and thereby excluded from atmos- 
pheric changes. Little or no water is necessary from Novem- 
ber until February or March, when, as the sun becomes more 
powerful, many begin to grow, and require moistening over 
192 AUCTAEIUM. 1S4, D. CamcroD. 
