The Gardening World 
MOTTO FOR THE WEEK: 
“Auriculas, enriched with shining meal o’er all their velvet leaves.”— Thomson. 
WEEKLY PRIZES 
FOR 
SHORT ARTICLES. 
The Proprietors of The Gardening World 
ivill give a cash prize of Seven Shillings and 
Sixpence tor the best paragraph, or short 
article, sent by readers during the week, and 
Two Shillings and Sixpence as a second 
prize. The Editor’s judgment must be con¬ 
sidered final, and he will be at liberty to use 
any of the contributions sent in. The para¬ 
graph, or article, must not exceed one 
column in length, but the value, rather than 
the length, of the article will be considered in 
making the award. Competitors may send in 
items of news or comments on news ; hints of 
practical interest to gardeners or growers of 
plants, fruits, or flowers; successful methods of 
' propagating plants usually considered difficult; 
' or contributions on any subject coming 
- WITHIN THE SPHERE OF GARDENING PROPER. 
: Letters should be addressed to Thu Editor, 
: marked “ Competition,” and posted not later 
than Friday night to ensure insertion in the 
\ issue of next week. 
( - 
The following Coloured Plates 
have appeared in recent num¬ 
bers:— 
; September 12.— SIX NEW DAFFODILS. 
; October 3 — LILIUM AURATUM PLA- 
TYPHYLLUM SHIRLEY VAR. 
< Novembei 14.— ROSE MME. N. LEVA 
VASSEUR. 
January 2— HYBRID TEA-SCENTED 
ROSE IRENE. 
January 30. — TUBEROUS BEGONIA 
COUNTESS OF WARWICK. 
February 27.— A FINE STRAIN OF 
> GLOXINIAS. 
< April 2. — WISTARIA MULTIJUGA 
RUSSELLIANA. 
May 7 —CACTUS DAHLIA DAINTY. 
June4. —CACTUS DAHLIA SPITFIRE, 
f July 16 —ROSE LADY BATTERSEA. 
' CI ?^ er L — GEUM HELDREICHI 
1 SUPERBUM. 
October 15.— ROSE HUGH DICKSON. 
Back numbers may be obtained from the 
publishers, price 2Jd. post free. 
This week we present a Half-ton 
Plate of 
ERICA VEITCHI. 
Next week we shall give a Half-ton 
Plate of 
primula denticulata alba 
grandiflora. 
I? P r i ze last week in th 
» ® a( *® rs ’ Competition was awarded t 
A. J. M.,’ for his article on “ Strej 
tosolen Jamesoni,” p. 331 ; and th 
second to “ C. C ” for his article o: 
’Basket Beds,” p. 330. 
Views and Reviews. 
Memoirs of an Old Society. 
—o- 
We learn from the “ Memoirs of the Royal 
Caledonian Horticultural Society " that the 
society is not very much younger than the 
Royal Horticultural Society. It was founded 
on December 5th, 1809, about five years 
later than the last named. Both societies 
commenced publishing transactions or me¬ 
moirs of the work accomplished by them, and 
both ceased publishing the same after a 
time. The Edinburgh Society first com¬ 
menced publishing in 1811, and continued 
to do so until 1829, after which the memoirs 
ceased to appear, owing to the want of sup¬ 
port on the part of the horticultural public. 
Relying upon the wider interest and greater 
popularity of horticulture at the present 
day the Edinburgh Society has undertaken 
the publication of its memoirs once more. 
It has received considerable encouragement 
by its own members, and that we think the 
best excuse for publishing papers on horti¬ 
cultural subjects brought before them. A 
number of articles which appear in the first 
issue of the revived journal have been con¬ 
tributed by members of the society. 
The first article is on alpine plants, by 
Mr. Robert Lindsay, Kaimes Lodge, Murray- 
held, and formerly curator of the Royal 
Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh. Mr. Lindsay 
is an enthusiastic hardy plantsman, arid 
since his retirement has well stocked his 
private garden with plants of great variety 
and interest. Most of them are plants of 
great value for garden purposes, especially 
where alpine plants receive the attention 
which they deserve. He has also been in¬ 
strumental in getting together a splendid 
collection of the New Zealand shrubby Vero¬ 
nicas. In offering a plea for the cultivation 
of alpine plants, he says they are “ pre¬ 
eminently the thing for the owner of a small 
garden.” He says, if he had only one square 
yard of ground he should certainly not fill 
it with a Laurel or' Laurustinus, for the 
simple reason that he could pack twenty 
interesting alpine plants into the same 
space. 
His explanation of an alpine is also brief 
and to the point. It is simply a mountain 
plant, and it might be well to make that 
distinction, although in speaking of the oc¬ 
cupants of a rock garden it is not always 
convenient, nor even attempted, to distin¬ 
guish between mountain plants proper and 
those which may grow on sea level. Truly 
alpine plants are always of dwarf stature, 
otherwise they would be unable to exist 
at the high elevations where they grow un¬ 
less they closely hugged the ground. They are 
subjected to extreme cold during a lengthy 
winter, where the snows may or may not melt 
until late in the season. In planting a rock 
garden, however, a large number of subjects 
at very low elevations are planted, because 
they are dwarf and suitable for the purpose. 
The cultivator soon recognises the difference 
between these lowlanders and true alpines 
by the freedom with which they grow and 
the ease by which they may be multiplied 
and cultivated generally. 
The chief difference between the two 
classes lies in the different climatic condi¬ 
tions to which thej r have been subjected for 
long ages. In their mountain homes, alpine 
plants are kept in a resting condition until 
the season is well advanced. Practically 
they may be said to commence flowering 
towards the end of May, and by the end of 
June the bulk of them have passed into the 
fruiting condition, as they have to ripen up 
their growth early and seed before the early 
advance of winter. 
In the lowlands these plants are subjected 
to a much higher temperature than is really 
good for them, and a mild winter will even 
stimulate some of them to make growth when 
they should be resting. The dryness of the 
atmosphere at lowland elevations is also 
against them, so that all things considered 
the successful cultivator of alpine plants has 
something to his credit. On the Continent 
many of the foremost cultivators of these 
plants have conceived the idea of making 
gardens for the cultivation of these alpines 
at high elevations, thus placing them at once 
under natural conditions where they flourish 
amazingly, and in many cases run wild be¬ 
yond the bounds allotted to them. 
The author of this article has evidently 
met with a large measure of success, though 
we must admit that the climatic conditions 
at Edinburgh are more suitable for alpines 
than is the latitude of London. Soil, how¬ 
ever, is not a matter that could be ignored : 
indeed, it is conducive to the welfare of 
alpine plants to give them something 
special which will tend to keep the plants 
cool and moist or dry at the roots as the 
case may be, the latter condition referring 
chiefly to the conditions in winter. The 
writer states that a large number of the 
alpines may be grown in ordinary garden 
soil, while peat proves highly beneficial to 
