March 16, 1907. 
1NE GARDENING WORLD. 
191 
Alpines 
j Few people realise the usefulness of 
pines. As a distinct class of plants, 
ey supply during winter and summer the 
aximum of pleasure with the minimum 
labour. It is, however, true that a 
■rtain amount of knowledge is requisite 
r the full development of this form of 
udening. In every garden there is 
enerally some corner which its owner 
legates as waste, probably after vain at- 
mpts at growing plants, which fuller ex¬ 
igence would have demonstrated as 
tile. 
Suppose this waste corner lies to the sun, 
id gets more or less baked during; Sum¬ 
er. remove what good soil there is and 
heel on to the vacated plot any rough 
iil lying about, with road scrapings, 
roken stones, old mortar, including brick 
ats; mix together and make very firm, 
laping as taste indicates to be best for 
ie ground. Surface over this mass with 
ood soil, a foot deep, allowing some large 
HOW TO MAKE 
AN ALPINE ROCKERY. 
PLANTS TO GROW 
AND HOW TO GROW Tl EH. 
for planting. The roots must be placed 
their full length deep in the soil, and 
make very firm. No art.ficial watering 
should be indulged in, unless enough can 
be given to thoroughly saturate the sub¬ 
soil, as well as the surface. 
As the plants named are typical of many 
alpines in their requirements, the follow¬ 
ing details of propagation mav be useful: 
—Cuttings taken during late September 
and early October, dibbled firmly in sandy 
soil in a cold frame (such as is used for 
Pentstemons and Violas) wall root before 
spring. Keep the frame closed the first 
fortnight, shading from strong sun ; after 
this admit air on all favourable occasions. 
The following plants may be treated so: — 
Arenaria, Hutchinsia, Erinus, dwarf 
Phloxes, Arabis, Gypsophila repens, Ery¬ 
simum rupestre, etc. 
Seeds of alpines should be sowm when¬ 
ever ripe in small pots, using light soil; 
sow r seed thinly and just cover the seeds, 
View of the Rock Garden at Walmsgate, the property of 
Mrs. Dailas Yorke. 
pieces of stone to project in such a posi- 
:ion that the bulk of water striking the 
stones will be carried back to the plants. 
Ihe photograph gives some idea of group- 
ng, and includes several plants available 
or planting. At the top is the White 
Broom, with Olearia Gunni in front, the 
sitter a white flowered shrub from New 
Zealand. In the centre occurs two white 
snasses of Hutchinsia alpina and Arenaria 
arontana, behind which are masses of 
oaponaria ocymoicles splendens (deep 
pink), and Iris stylosa (blue), while in 
front is Silene pendula var., Erinus 
a.pinus and Sedum caeruleum (blue). 
Silene and Sedum, being annuals, can be 
■’Own directly in the open ground, and 
having once flowered, thev sow them¬ 
selves. 
All the plants named can be procured 
ns rooted plants, and placed in position 
during spring, this being the best season 
using sharp silver sand. Stand the pots 
in a cool greenhouse or frame. To 
novices taking this form of gardening, I 
should recommend sowing during Febru¬ 
ary, transplanting to botces or pots when 
the seedlings have made two rough leaves. 
Water about third day after transplanting, 
and do not water again until the plants are 
fairly dry. Excessive moisture kills more 
seedlings than all other garden misfor¬ 
tunes combined. 
Plants readily raised from seed include 
Aubrietias, Dianthus (a few exceptions, 
which are expensive), Saponaria, Hyperi¬ 
cums, Campanulas, Erinus, many Saxi- 
fragas, etc. 
From the fact of many alpines being 
evergreen, an additional charm surrounds 
them, independently of their flowers. A 
carpet of Hutchinsia alpina during win¬ 
ter always seems reminiscent of the first 
green blades of spring, while the rosettes 
of manv Saxifragas, with their lime en¬ 
crusted leaves, sparkle like silver in the 
winter’s sun. 
T. Smith. 
-- 
Horticulture in France.— France 
has a population of about 38 millions, 
and of this total about 18 millions are 
engaged in horticultural and agricultural 
pursuits. 
Peas Worth Their Weight in Silver. 
—Many of our common vegetables w r e ow"e 
to the Dutch who, four centuries ago, at a 
time when English people hardly under¬ 
stood the word garden, w r ere famous horti¬ 
culturists. It seems difficult to believe 
that, so late as the reign of King James 
I., Peas w r ere worth their weight in silver. 
A writer of the time speaks of them as “ fit 
dainties for ladies—they came so far, and 
cost so dear.” 
END OF WINTER. 
An Astronomical 
Fiction. 
It is interesting to note that, according 
to the calendar, winter’s reign ends pre¬ 
cisely at 6.33 p.m. on the 21st inst. when 
“the sun enters Aries” and spring begins. 
This is, however, only officially, for after 
all it is an astronomical fiction that spring 
synchronises with the passage of the sun 
through Aries. It was the great Newton 
who explained the phenomenon of the 
shifting of the spring equinoctial point 
from Aries towards Pisces. Even in 
B. C. 120 Hipparchus had directed atten¬ 
tion to this shifting. As a matter of fact 
it will be 24,000 A.D. before the sun will 
again occupy the same relative position 
in the zodiacal constellations at the spring 
equinox as when the Twelve Signs of the 
Zodiac were mapped out. Thus in 
2,000 years the equinoctial points have 
receded one whole sign, and nowadays it 
is when the sun enters Pisces that spring 
may be said to commence. 
It is this receding of the equinoctial 
points that makes the oddity of stating, 
as is done in the almanacks, that on 
June 22 “Summer commences” and two 
days later that it is Midsummer Day. 
The year being divided into four equal 
seasons there are valid reasons for mak¬ 
ing March, April and May the vernal 
months, mid-winter being reached on 
January 15th, and mid-spring, mid-sum¬ 
mer, and mid-autumn, on the 15th of 
April, July and October, respectively. 
Regarded from the point of view of tem¬ 
perature the mid-seasons are:— 
Mid-winter (January 15th), mean temp., 
36 deg. 
Mid-spring April 15th), mean temp., 
46 deg. 
Mid-summer (July ijth'i, mean temp.. 
63 deg. 
Mid-autumn October 15th), mean temp.. 
50 deg. 
From these figures it will be seen how 
slowly our spring temperatures recover. 
On an average of 30 years, as observed at 
Greenwich, it is 1 deg. warmer on Decem¬ 
ber 1st than on March 1st, the records 
being 41 deg. and 40 deg. respectively. 
Peter Penn. 
