156 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ August ir, lass. 
and are being, lost. More intelligent work is needed among these 
plants than has been exercised during the last half century. 
As regards the cultivation of Androsaces, they require the rock 
garden as a home, and to be planted in well-drained partially shaded 
positions, so as not to receive sunlight during the hottest part of 
the day, with a good depth of soil to root into. The following 
compost I have found suits them when suitably prepared—good 
turfy loam, leaf soil, sand, and broken limestone in equal parts, 
the latter broken up finely and well mixed with the other parts. 
When planting press the soil firmly about the plants and cover the 
surface round about them with small nodules and fragments of lime¬ 
stone to keep the roots cool and moist, as that will greatly prevent 
evaporation. They may be fully exposed during all the year except 
the winter months, when they should receive a slight protection, 
not necessarily against the cold, which they can endure with im¬ 
punity, but against superfluous moisture when at rest, which is 
positively injurious, causing decay, especially in the case of the 
woolly varieties. This can be effected by a bellglass tilted so that 
there is free access of air, or a sheet of glass so placed that the 
rain can pass off. This answers a similar purpose as the coating of 
snow they receive under natural circumstances. It is necessary to 
keep a sharp look-out for slugs, as they are very partial to them, 
and in making a good meal would greatly reduce the size of a good 
established plant. The different species are increased in various 
ways. Some can readily be divided, which should be done carefully ; 
and in the case of those kinds which emit runners, the latter should 
be pegged down, when they will readily root, after which they may 
be separated from the parent. Several kinds are easily increased 
by cuttings, which should be taken when the wood 'is ripe, in¬ 
serted in well-drained pots of very sandy soil, and placed in a cold 
frame in a shady position, watering carefully. They are slow in 
striking, but there is no difficulty in the matter. 'They are also 
easily raised from seed, which should be sown as soon as ripe, as 
the longer it is kept the slower it is in germination, like most of 
the Primulaceous seeds. It is best to raise the seed in pots filled 
with carefully prepared soil, and place the pots in a cold frame or 
cool greenhouse, standing them upon a cool bottom. Cover the 
seed lightly, and cover the top of the pots with a suitable pane of 
glass, so as to prevent evaporation and reduce to a minimum the 
necessity of watering. Let the young plants remain in the seed 
pots until they are well established rather than pricking them off 
young. Finally, plant them out on the rockery in batches so as 
to form a clump quickly. 
Old cultivators of these flowers grew them in pots, when they 
were given the protection of a frame during the winter, or were 
covered with such protecting material as bracken fronds. This 
plan is to be encouraged, especially where it is not practicable for 
want of material with which to construct a rockery, and they are 
easily managed this way. This method of culture is largely prac¬ 
tised on the continent, where, however, they have not only climatal 
advantage, but cultivators are frequently collectors. Many young 
gardeners enjoy their short holiday with an alpine excursion 
in search of their favourites, which are taken home and care¬ 
fully cultivated in pots.. A few of the best species are briefly 
described below, and it is difficult to find many others in cultiva¬ 
tion with us, although several others are offered by some alpine 
plant-cultivators in Austria and other parts of southern Europe. 
A. earned.—Very free-growing ; leaves in flattish rosettes, linear, 
smooth ; flower stems 4 to 6 inches high, forked ; flowers bright 
pink. It flowers very early in the year, being one of the first 
flowers to open, and is extremely pretty. Very gritty soil is 
most suitable for it. It is a native of the Swiss Alps, and was 
introduced into this country more than a century ago, and was 
cultivated by Mr. Miller in the Chelsea Botanic Gardens. 
A. Charuzjasme. A very small species, forming under favour¬ 
able conditions dense cushions. Leaves less than an inch lono-, 
linear lanceolate, hairy, in roundish rosettes } scape 1 to 2 inches 
high, supporting a small umbel of white flowers about one-quarter 
of an inch across with yellow eyes, or rarely of a light pink colour. 
It is a little gem, very free-flowering, and the flowers last some 
time, appearing in June. It is found on the mountains of southern 
Europe generally, where it forms very large masses, and was 
introduced about the same time as the last. 
A. ciliata .—A small tufted species, with light green, linear 
ciliated leaves ; flowers in tiny umbels, very freely produced’ 
bright pink with pale yellow eyes. A very close and free-growing 
kind, enjoying a damp situation. Native of Austria, flowering in 
May and June. 
A. glacialis .—A very dwarf species with sub-trailing branches, 
slender, and rather fleshy ; leaves linear, blunt, smooth, 3 to 4 lines 
long ; flowers produced at the ends of the branches, almost sessile, 
pink, about 4 lines across. A very curious little species, somewhat 
resembling some of the Stonecrops. It enjoys a well-drained posi¬ 
tion, with a free admixture of limestone crumbs, where it thrives 
well. Native of the Swiss and Austrian Alps. 
A. lactea .—A free-growing species with flattened rosettes; leaves 
1 to 2 inches long, linear acute, smooth, light green ; flower stems 
4 to 9 inches high, divided at the top, bearing several flowers about 
4 lines across, pure white. This requires a dry position during the 
winter, as it is very liable to decay without some covering. If 
that is afforded it is perfectly safe, multiplying itself by runners, 
which should be carefully pegged down. It flowers in June and 
July. Native of the Austrian mountains, and appears to have 
been cultivated by Miller. 
A. Laggeri. —This is also a tufted species, very dwarf ; branches 
sprouting, thickly covered with small subulate leaves 3 to 4 lines 
long, rather prickly ; umbels near the extremities of the branches 
one to three-flowered ; flowers bright pink with yellow centre, the 
corolla limb five-lobed. This is a little gem, and does very freely 
in a moist position in plenty of leaf soil and sand. I have also 
known it to thrive well in a small bog bed, and well remember 
seeing a splendid little patch of it in such a bed in Mr. White¬ 
head’s garden at Bickley. It flowers in April and May, and comes 
from southern Europe. 
A. lanvginosa. —A very distinct trailing species, with long red¬ 
dish branches covered with white silky hairs ; leaves ovate lanceo¬ 
late, 1 inch or more long, thickly covered with silvery down; 
umbels axillary, copiously produced, many-flowered : flowers 3 to 
4 lines across, white shaded with lilac, with conspicuous yellow 
centres. This is a most desirable plant for the rockery, the flower 
umbels blending so charmingly with the silvery-grey foliage, while 
the growth is so disposed as to render it a capital rock plant, and 
it should be so arranged it can ramble over the ledges of the stones. 
It enjoys thorough drainage in very free soil, and the cuttings will 
root freely if treated carefully in a cold frame. It flowers nearly 
all the summer, and is a native of Asia Minor. 
A. oMvsifolia —A dwarf dense-growing kind, with roundish 
rosettes of linear, acute, very hairy leaves, resembling some of the 
Drabas, ^ to 1 inch long ; flowers in umbels, pink, 3 lines across. 
This is perhaps not more than a biennial, as it dies away very 
frequently ; but it seeds freely, and is easily raised, flowering in 
April and May. Southern Europe. 
A. pyrenaica. —A very dwarf tufted species, resembling some 
of the dwarf Saxifragas of the aretioides section ; branches not 
more than 1 inch high, erect, covered with small narrow blunt 
leaves ; flowers axillary, usually solitary, pink, very small, but 
freely produced. It requires a well-drained fissure in loam and 
coarse sand, surrounding it with pieces of limestone. It is not so 
showy as the others, but it is very distinct, and should be grown, 
coming from the Pyrenees. 
A. sarmentosa. —A very handsome species from the Himalayas 
of comparatively recent introduction, forming large compact 
rosettes ; leaves 2 to 3 inches long, strap-shaped, hairy, falling 
away at the. end of summer, leaving dense woolly rosettes; flower 
stems G to 9 inches high, umbellate, with several flowers 5 to 6 lines 
across, bright rosy-pink with white centres. This is a very free- 
growing kind, each rosette producing several runners, which 
should be pegged down, when a little colony may soon be formed, 
and it is a very handsome plant, covering in a comparatively short 
time a good patch, flowering in June and July, or even later. I 
have known plants to vary much in the time of flowering. 
_ A. septentrionahs. —A very free-growing annual, or, at the most, 
biennial species, none the less, however, worthy of cultivation. 
Leaves linear lanceolate, distantly serrated, in flattish rosettes ; 
flower stems 6 inches high, forked at the top, several-flowered ; 
flowers pure white, 4 lines across, very pretty. It flowers as early 
as March, frequently when the ground is covered with snow, con¬ 
tinuing in a mass till the end of May, when it seeds freely, which 
falls to the soil and readily germinates, and a batch of young plants 
take the place of the old ones, so there is little trouble with it, and 
it is charming during the long blooming period. Native of Russia. 
A. villosa. —A very compact-growing dwarf kind ; leaves in 
close roundish rosettes £ to f of an inch long, linear, acute, 
covered with white silky hairs ; scape 1 to 2 inches high, with 
small umbels of flowers, white with yellow eyes, or light pink, 
very freely produced. This is a beautiful little plant in any state, 
enjoying a soil composed of crushed limestone and sand, with a 
little loam added, when it roots freely, the rosettes producing a 
number of tiny runners, which freely establish themselves. I have 
also taken these runners off and rooted them in a cold frame, and 
planted a colony of them on the rockery, where they thrived 
admirably. Native of the Pyrenees, flowering here during May 
and June.—N. 
Passiflora c.f.rulea in Ireland. —For the past month this 
beautiful Passion-flower has been blooming here against a southern 
