490 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. c December i, issi 
People, too, are apt from association and recollection to plant 
trees the fruit of which they liked in youth, not remembering 
that the untrained fruit appetite of a schoolboy and that of a 
man are different. Boys readily and eagerly eat the small and 
the sour. 
I am trying several other varieties of Apples and Pears 
which have been figured in those numbers of the “ Hereford¬ 
shire Pomona" which have as yet appeared, but I cannot 
venture to give an opinion of their merits until another year or 
two. This has been a grand year for Crabs of every variety, 
and very much have they added to the beauty of our gardens, 
for Crab blossom and Crab fruit are both extremely delicate, 
telling, and beautiful. 
An authority from Worcestershire thus writes to me in 
regard to the past season :—“ I have seen,” says he, “ some 
remarkably good and well-ripened fruit about here this season. 
As regards newish Apples, I think the Ecklinville Seedling will 
in all probability surpass Lord Suffield. Red Hawthornden 
and Yorkshire Beauty are capital kinds, and the Worcester 
Pearmain is a very good dessert Apple, and for profit should 
hold its own, as it is attractive, good, and early.” 
And now, Englishman-like, I must end with a grumble. I 
was much taken with the Hampshire late-keeping Apple, 
Hambledon Deux Ans. I judged of the fruit, but had not 
seen a tree. Being determined to have a tree from Hampshire 
—supposing, at any rate, “ good coals must come from New¬ 
castle,” so at some expense I bought an espalier from a Hamp¬ 
shire nurseryman. I waited two years for a specimen of its 
fruit, and it was not a Hambledon Deux Ans at all, but a Red 
Astrachan, which I did not want or wish to have in my garden. 
Of course I was vexed ; indeed I am compelled to own that 
many smaller men and some larger men in the trade are very 
careless in this matter. When 1 have in walking through a 
nursery noticed that wrong names were on the trees, the 
answer I have got is, “ The boys have mixed the labels." Can 
anyone wonder that buyers are driven to send to the great men 
of the trade, from whom they are sure to get what is wanted ? 
Nurserymen injure themselves by such carelessness and drive 
trade away from them, but they have no one to blame but 
themselves.— Wiltshire Rector. 
A ROCKERY FOR ALPINE PLANTS. 
(Continued from page 457.) 
Having lately seen the term “alpine” limited to plants which 
grow on the Alps, it may be as well to say that in these notes I 
have used the word in a wider sense. The mountain flora of the 
Alps is, perhaps, the richest in the world ; but any flowering plants 
whose home is on the slopes of mountains anywhere, if quite hardy 
in the climate of the Alps, may by analogy be called alpine plants. 
However, it is not easy to define an alpine plant, nor is it necessary. 
I think I proposed to name about fifty alpines, and though I 
have kept no account I seem to be approaching this limit; but on 
looking into my rockeries pretty claimants for the vacancies which 
remain come in sight at every turn, and some seem to reproach 
me with not having selected them for honourable mention, as if 
I had forgotten them because they flowered in spring, and had 
preferred others which were gay more recently in memory ; but 
I must try to be as fair as I can. 
No one can expect to grow Androsaces without trouble, but 
they are worth it. They do not mind cold, but many devices are 
recommended to save them from wet in winter, which they abhor. 
Potting and putting them into a cold frame is, perhaps, a cowardly 
way of solving the difficulty, though I adopt this plan with many 
alpines, of which my stock is small. Some expert gardeners ad¬ 
vise laying a flat piece of glass in such a way as to keep rain but 
not frost from them in winter. The west winds here are too strong 
for that. I prefer to plant them in recesses under projecting 
ledges of limestone, where there is a space of 3 or 4 inches between 
the soil and the upper rock. In this way A. Laggeri, A. sarmen- 
tosa, A. lanuginosa in peaty soil, packed round with broken lime¬ 
stone, are tolerably happy through the winter, and I am gradually 
extending my experiments with others. A biennial of no great 
attractions, A. coronopifolia, sows itself on the barer crevices of 
the stones, and giv.es no trouble. The same may be said of Erinus 
alpinus, most useful for varying the surfaces of the limestone and 
growing in the smallest cracks. Linaria alpina is another of these 
seif-sowing plants, and should be encouraged in bare spots where 
hardly any other plant will grow. Linaria pallida and L. hepa- 
ticaefolia, good as they are in their way, must not be allowed to 
spread too much, as they grow rapidly. Dryas octopetala is a 
model alpine, of which you will not easily obtain too much ; as 
well as its near relation, D. Drummondii; it prefers limestone, the 
surface of which it clothes most neatly. If Thalictrum minus 
would grow as it does in the bare crevices of its native rocks few 
alpines would be more attractive ; but it has a tendency to be¬ 
come coarse in cultivation, and must be confined to the driest and 
poorest spots. Lychnis Lagascae is a neat plant, which may be 
raised in plenty from seed, and, though a perennial, often damps 
off in winter. I will say more of this and similar shrubby plants 
in a future number. L. alpina is a neat and desirable plant for a 
bare upper ledge, liking a surrounding of fine gravel. 
The limestone rockery is the best place for that interesting and 
nearly extinct native, Cypripedium Calceolus. Planted in a pocket 
in the limestone in a mixture of good loam and peat, with broken 
limestone about its roots and an annual top-dressing of leaf soil, 
it will do well, but will take some years to become a fine plant. 
Of the Gentians G. verna will do best in damp pockets near the 
base facing the sun, but must be constantly watered in summer. 
G. acaulis, too, likes full sun, and loose stones a few inches 
beneath the surface ; it i3 capricious about soils, and I can give 
no golden rule to ensure success. G. septemfida likes peaty soil 
and shelter from hot sun. Many others are worth growing, but 
some are very difficult subjects. By all means give several spaces 
near the summit of the rockery to Wild Thyme (Thymus Serpyl- 
lum), not forgetting the pure white variety. It is one of the very 
best of rockery plants if well grown, and to be well grown it 
must be kept quite off the soil; but when planted with its root 
close to the upper edge of a slab of limestone, so that the whole, 
growth rests upon the rough stone, it grows and flowers with a 
luxuriance quite unknown to it in other situations, and hangs 
over the perpendicular edges with elegant shoots crowded with 
myriads of leaves. No other Thyme, and there are many, has 
equal merits. I suppose I shall be expected to say something 
about that overrated plant the Edelweiss, which is not much 
better than a common Cudweed dredged with flour ; but the as¬ 
sociations which it recalls, and the sentimental veneration with 
which it is regarded by the people in its native country, have 
tended to make it popular. Its cultivation is easy if planted 
on the under side of a projecting ledge of limestone, and its roots 
packed below with broken limestone and pressed against the 
upper surface. So treated it flowers freely, and ripens seed, by 
which it may be easily increased. There is a delightful alpine 
plant, a native of the Himalayan range, named Cyananthus 
lobatus, which thrives well when established. It is said to do 
better when not exposed to full sun, but I have it on both sides of 
the rockery and can. see no difference between them. It dies off 
in autumn with flower buds and shoots still immature, and you 
would despair of seeing it again were you not told that this is 
its habit, and that you will see it again shooting up with increased 
strength late in spring. It likes a little nest of fine sandy peat, 
and must not be transplanted or divided, but young shoots of it 
strike readily at any time. Houstonia ccerulea is a favourite with 
all who can grow it, flowering from spring to autumn ; this, too, 
likes moist peaty spots sheltered amongst the rocks. 
The best rockery Hypericum is H. reptans, which has flowers 
as large as a florin, and in other respects resembles our native 
H. humifusum, which is also a pretty rock plant. In growth it is 
like a trailing shrub, and you cannot divide its root, but must 
take small cuttings and have patience with them. The fine showy 
H. olympicum must be treated in the same way. A tiny upright 
shrub named H. egyptiacum I always house in winter and plant 
out in spring. Few persons would think of planting the common 
Scurvy Grass (Cochlearia ?) on their rockery. It is a plant of so 
many forms and names that I dare not specify the variety, but 
it grows abundantly to the summit of the highest sea cliffs at 
Llandudno, and, besides having bright smooth leaves, produces an 
abundance of pure white flowers just at the time when spring 
begins to fight with winter. I cannot omit Erigeron mucronatum 
(also called Yittadenia triloba), which bears for six months in the 
year slender branches full of pink and white flowers neater than 
those of any lawn Daisy. It is increased readily by slips, of which 
you must strike plenty, not only for yourself, but for your friends, 
who are all sure to ask for it. 
I can do no more than name Achillea tomentosa, the Golden- 
flowered Yarrow, which flowers from May to September; Origa¬ 
num pulchellum and O. Dictamnus, producing branches full of 
flowers like punk Hops ; Tunica saxifraga, feathering out with 
grassy foliage and myriads of light rose-coloured flowers. Onosma 
taurica requires a little more notice, being a plant of great merit, 
and being very easy to lose. Cuttings taken early strike easily, 
and you should strike as many as you can, for both young and 
