THE BIG BOG AND ITS LILIES 155 
sharp and rapid, is even more essential for the inhabitants 
of the marsh than for the pinched children of the high 
rocks. One only has to study their circumstances. In 
the soaking, fine shingle of the last moraines grow the 
downy-leaved mats of Androsace glacialis; and one con- 
cludes that heavy, loitering damp can, despite proba- 
bilities, be no enemy to that roseate loveliness. But, if 
you examine, you will see that the moisture is perpetually 
running, sifting, drifting through the rough harsh sand, 
and never rests for a minute round the roots of the 
Androsace. It is true that I have chosen, for my instance, 
a plant so difficult of culture that no treatment seems to 
satisfy it; but my rule holds securely and firm all through 
the long list of bog-plants, from Ranunculus glacials, 
a-glitter in the melting streams of the snow-beds, to Cam- 
panula hederacea, twining its tiny peal of azure bells through 
the long wet grasses of North Wales. (And yet I have 
iust heard of a plant of Eritrichium nanum—LEritrichium 
nanum, if you please !—which has thriven unprotected 
through a phenomenally rainy winter, planted in a low 
boggy hollow! Oh dear me, there is only one infallible 
rule, I believe, in the culture of difficult plants; put 
them elaborately, with full precautions, in a corner care- 
fully thought out to suit their requirements—and they ’Il 
certainly die; plant them where, by all laws of their being 
it is physically impossible for them to survive—and they ’Il 
probably go ahead like Duckweed on a pond. I think 
I must take to growing Fritrichiwm as an aquatic, and 
Miltonia Roezlit as a hardy perennial.) 
In building the bog-garden, then, take all the soil out, 
if necessary, to a depth of three feet or more, then set a 
bottom of very rough drainage before you put in your 
rich mixture of loam, peat, and old manure. Obviously 
such a violent course is not always necessary, by any 
means. Quite often your garden will be founded on sharp 
