May 19, 1892. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
373 
grow them, but a light friable loam with a little leaf mould and 
sharp sand is what we generally use; in this the cuttings will 
readily establish themselves if placed on a shelf or bed in a warm 
vinery or Cucumber pit where they can be slightly shaded from 
hot sun. The old plants may be thrown away, unless wanted for 
a further supply of cuttings, or where the stock is limited ; but 
it will be found next to useless to keep them for flowering 
again. 
When it is seen that the cuttings are beginning to grow, and 
that the pots are filled with roots, the young plants maybe shifted 
into 5 or 6-inch pots, using a similar soil to that recommended for 
the cuttings, with the addition of a sprinkling of bone meal or 
Thomson’s Vine manure. When potted they ought to be again 
placed where a gentle warmth will encourage free growth and root 
action in the new soil. As the season advances the plants may 
be placed outside after being gradually hardened, a bed of ashes 
under a north wall suiting them admirably. They may remain 
out until the usual time for housing plants susceptible to injury 
from heavy autumn rains and early frosts. If grown as described, 
the plants will have thrown up flowering stems, and may be placed 
on shelves in vineries or Peach houses, or in any light airy structure 
from which frost can be excluded. 
The fact that no insects of any kind seem to trouble the plants 
in any stage of growth enables them to be housed and stood in 
positions that could not be occupied by others liable to be infested 
by thrips or mealy bug. This is a strong point in favour of a more 
general cultivation of this showy plant. Although, from the succu¬ 
lent nature of the Echeverias, they are able to stand drought to an 
extent that would ruin many plants, attention to watering must 
be given at all times, as if allowed to become too dry the large 
leaves become flaccid and the small leaves on the flowering stems 
will turn yellow and wither, which disfigures the plants very 
much. By introducing a few to a warm house at intervals of a 
fortnight or so they may be had in flower at Christmas and 
onward. They should be given a position as close to the glass 
as possible, as the colour and brightness of the flowers will be 
much intensified. 
We annually grow about 100 plants, and find them invaluable 
for winter and early spring work, the glowing colour of the flowers 
being particularly attractive during the dull months of the year. 
They require little or no support in the way of staking or tying. 
Not seeing this useful plant so generally grown as it deserves to be, 
I am induced to offer these few remarks. It is peculiarly a plant 
for the amateur, while as a window plant it has but few equals.— 
W. N., Badminton. 
ROCK GARDENS. 
(^Continued from page 292.') 
Eeigeeon aurantiacum is a very showy, bright, and easily grown 
plant which I have used on the rockery, although I think it 
more suitable for the border. There are others of this family, 
such as speciosum, which I have grown on the rockery, but have 
now consigned them to the border. 
Erinus alpiuus and its variety albus are pretty and easily grown 
things on a dry part of the rockery, and in truth do better on 
a dry wall than in any other place. They are not showy, but 
free flowering, and for this reason ought to find a place on the 
rockery. 
As Dianthus alpinus and neglectus are the gems of the rock 
garden in their shade of colour, pink, I think the palm must 
be given to the Gentians as blue flowers, and of the alpine 
species acaulis, bavarica, and verna are without doubt the most 
beautiful. G. acaulis, the old and well-known Gentianella, is a 
plant that does not seem to be fastidious, and grows in many 
gardens that I know most luxuriantly. I know one garden where 
broad belts of it border the flower beds a foot or more in width, 
and it seems to thrive well on borders or rockeries. Its large 
flowers, out of all proportion to the size of the foliage, are so well 
known as to need no description, and are certainly amongst the 
deepest in colour of the many blue flowers ; but when we come to 
speak of the other two species we have a different tale to tell, and 
hey are an instance of how carefully the habits, the likings, and 
dislikings of plants ought to be considered by the cultivator, for 
while verna delights in limestone, bavarica, on the other hand, 
rebels against it, and yet in appearance they are very similar. But 
how different the conditions in which they are found. G. verna is 
a native plant ; it occurs in Teesdale, in North Wales, and in the 
West of Ireland especially in great abundance, in the counties of 
Galway and Clare, but always on the limestone ; and although 
found on the Alps at high elevations it occurs in the county of 
Clare only about 3 feet above the sea level up to about 1000 feet. 
So decided is its preference for limestone that in the dolomite 
country, where there is a most curious geological formation, the 
granite and the limestone impinging on one another, my friend Mr. 
Selfe Leonard informs me that it is never found on the granite, 
but is abundant on the limestone. I have only lately learned these 
facts, and hope by recollecting them to grow it better than I have 
done, although I have not been altogether unsuccessful with it. It 
requires moisture constantly at the roots, and in some cases the 
plan is adopted by Mr. Burbidge of the College Botanic Gardens, 
Dublin, of making holes obliquely in the soil, so as to pour the 
water through this way to the roots instead of on the surface. 
Gentiana bavarica is, on the other hand, a plant which likes 
peat, and indeed will do best in a bog. It is the necessity for 
studying the idiosyncrasies of these plants that makes their 
culture so interesting and in some cases so difficult. You treat 
all Cattleyas alike as to soil and temperature. When I 
pot my greenhouse bulbs the same mixture does for Ixias, 
Trop^olums, Sparaxis, &c,, but here are two species that require 
the most opposite treatment and the most different soil, and when 
this is given and success crowns the effort the grower is suffi¬ 
ciently rewarded. There are other Gentians, such as asclepiadea and 
chamsejasme which I do not grow, and I cannot therefore say much 
about them ; they are not so dwarf as the three already mentioned. 
Dryas octopetala is a charming native mountain plant occurring 
abundantly in the West of Ireland on the limestone formation 
intermixed with Gentiana verna. The flowers are very pretty, 
white, and the foliage very neat. It is a creeping plant and very 
soon covers the ground. 
Geum montanum.—This plant with bright yellow flowers is 
easily grown and is conspicuous on the rockery. 
Dodecatheon Meadia. — This striking-looking flower, called 
generally the American Cowslip, although it bears no similarity 
that I can see to that flower, thrives with me in a moist spot 
on the rockery in peat, where it has been for some years, and 
never fails to give me abundance of flowers, which are peculiar 
in form and very attractive. It is always sure to be noticed by 
any who have not previously seen it. 
Hepatica angulosa, the largest and finest of this family, does 
well with me, and is a very delightful plant. With triloba, both 
the double red and blue, I have had some difficulty, and have 
found that they succeed better on the border in a somewhat shady 
spot, and so I can no more regard them as rock plants. Why they 
should be difficult I cannot understand. I remember as a boy that 
they were common in all gardens, cottage and suburban ; they 
