large space, or to cover a wall, figs are valuable. Alpines grow astonishingly well, and though a considerable percentage will die from the alternating damp fogs and frost in the winter, many will really establish themselves, and be quite at home, much nearer the heart of London than Dulwich, where many have been cultivated. “I know a bank whereon the wild thyme grows” in London--not a green, mossy bank, but rather a blackened rockery; still the slope is really covered with large patches of wild thyme, purple with bloom in the summer, carefully marked by the London County Council “_Thymus serpyllum_,” for the benefit of the inquiring. Several of the other thymes, which form good carpets, will also grow. _Antennaria dioica_, a British plant, forms a pretty silvery groundwork on beds or rockeries, and nothing seems to kill it. Saxifrages in great numbers are suitable, beginning with the well-known mossy green _hypnoides_, to the giant known as _Megasia cordifolia_, also sedums, semper-viviums, aubrietias, phloxes, tiarella, dianthus in variety; and several other Alpines have succeeded in different parks and gardens, such as _Androsace sarmentosa_, _Dryas octopetala_, yellow fumitory, _Cotoneaster frigida_, the small ivy _Hedera conglomerata_, _Achillea tormentosa_, _Lychnis Haageana_, _Linnæa borealis_, _Azalea procumbens_, _Campanula garganica_, only to mention some that have been noticed; even edelweiss has been successfully grown in the centre of London. A few annuals will make a good show, and nothing is better in a window-box or really dingy corner than Virginian stock; but, as a rule, it repays trouble best to rear perennials. Seedling wallflowers, sweet Williams and Canterbury bells, and such like, make a border bright. The great secret of success in growing annuals is to thin them out well; the patches of seedlings are too often left far too much overcrowded. This “thinning” is even more important than good soil and careful watering. Marigolds thrive best of all, and will often seed themselves, but a few other annuals can be safely recommended. Candytuft. Catchfly. (Silene pendula and armeria). Erysinum perofskianum (a kind of Treacle mustard). Eschscholzia. Flax (scarlet). Godetias. Ionopsidium acaule (violet cress). Larkspur (annual). Love-in-a-mist (Nigella). Nasturtiums. Phlox drummondi. Snapdragon (Antirrhinum). Toadflax (Linaria).