THE BIG BOG AND ITS LILIES 159 
Land, the banks of your bog may, and should, slope 
gently up to stark mountainous rock-work above, whence 
brawling cascades may come splashing down over Caltha 
and Maiden-Hair fern, loitering in pools and under still 
dark caverns, widening into lagoons that mirror beds of 
Primula rosea and azure Myosotis. But this is merely a 
beautiful vision. 
As for the bog itself; if your sub-soil give sharp, free 
drainage, if your site be a favourable slope, all your need 
will be to prepare rich ground, and then provide moisture 
to pervade it. Frequently, though, on heavy soils, it is 
necessary to do more. In fact, from my own experience, 
I think that it is always better if one can do more; 
namely, for a small bog, to take out all the soil to three 
or four feet, to fill the space with a sort of concrete tank, 
the concrete to be about four inches thick ; then to lay six 
inches of rough drainage-rubble at the bottom; then at 
the floor of the concrete, at its lowest point, to knock 
one or two drainage holes, to let the filtered moisture 
run away; and finally to fill up with a very rich mixture 
—richer and heavier than the soil of the rock-garden 
itself—made of old manure, silver sand, peat, leaf-mould, 
and good loam, with a generous intermixture of stone 
fragments. 
But the garden thus made will be, of course, only the 
choice nursery of your rarest, loveliest little things. It 
is In no way necessary to take such elaborate precautions 
to grow Iris stbirica, Spireas, and the larger, commoner 
glories of the bog-garden—which, indeed, require nothing 
more than juicy, retentive soil, and a certain amount of 
moisture. But, if one is a true enthusiast, it is very 
pleasant, at the bottom, say, of a slope aglow with great 
Lilies, Irids, Orchids, to have a space where the tiny 
jewels of Alpine bogs may be safe and at peace—where 
Gentiana bavarica, Primula involucrata, and half a hundred 
