THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 99 



the matter in a small way, I have ray elevations and I face them wliere 

 they are irregular with large blocks of gray sandstone or the burrs from 

 the brick-kiln, but of one material only, whatever that may be, in 

 each separate section, so that each of the scenes is distinct in itself. 



If a straight line is anywhere needful, as in the present instance it is 

 with me, I make amends for that by constructing a rough wall of tree 

 stems. These are laid horizontally, and kept in their places with stout 

 uprights driven down in front; and in the picture part of such a wall is 

 shown on the left hand, where we turn the corner from the straight walk 

 into the nook. Carry these facings of stone or dead trees eighteen inches 

 higher than the present level of the bank of cla}^, and then throw on a 

 bed of peat, and you may grow on that bank almost anything that will 

 really live out of doors in this country. As for British ferns, which 

 ought to have predominance among the permanent stock of such a planta- 

 tion, the best thing I can say for them is that for the most part they will 

 grow in any soil. I have great old plants of common Lastrea, Lady Fern, 

 Blechnum, Brake, Polypody, Royal Osmund, and others as good, growing 

 in clay alone, and all the aid they get is a daily sprinkling by means of 

 the hydropult during the months of April, May, and June ; this they 

 rejoice in, and make large glittering green feathers delightful to behold. 

 For special purposes special means must be employed. It is on such 

 banks we can best display Pampas grasses, huge-leaved Cannas, the 

 common Caladium, and the many curious plants with ornamental foliage 

 that are lost in the borders, and of little use in beds. I never saw any- 

 thing in my life that pleased me more than the grouping on the bank 

 here figured as we had it last summer. Some blocks and logs were taken 

 out from the front here and there, and the spaces filled up with leaf- 

 mould. In those spaces we planted all the saxifrages we could lay hands 

 on, and they were beautiful. Among them we had hypnoides, Icelandica, 

 oppositifolia, pyramidalis, pulchella, etc. In other similar openings tufts 

 of spergula and sagina were inserted. Between the stones tufts of varie- 

 gated-leaved thyme, sheep's fescue grass, the lovely variegated rue, 

 variegated Helix arborea, and other such plants of small growth and 

 striking characters. Up the slope of the bank the ferns were aided by 

 the contrast of cannas in abundance, aU of which flowered profusely, 

 and their magnificent foliage made the scene luxurious. 



But amongst these, towards the front, there were mixed all sorts of 

 interesting plants, such as old stumps of Cineraria maritima planted in a 

 mixture of broken chalk, charred rubbish, and leaf-mould, large plants of 

 lleteor fuchsia for the sake of its leaves only, and further back Chenopo- 

 dium atriplicis, and our now famous foliage bedder, the purple orach, 

 allowed to grow to its full height, and make trees as tall as myself. If 

 you can imagine what these colours were, relieved on every hand by the 

 true green of Lady Ferns, Lastreas, and Osmundas, you will understand 

 that a rockery need not be a weedery, or a mere refuge for the destitute. 

 It would astonish some of our readers if I were to give a list of all the 

 plants I have used for this sort of work, and with good effect too. For 

 instance, I once wanted to get rid of along seedling mountain ash till they 

 were strong enough to plant out in their places, and I scattered them 

 over a huge extent of banks I had just then been carrying out for a 

 gentleman to whom I was acting as adviser in general. They did look 

 pretty mixed with the ferns and fancy plants, and they were actually 



