THE ROCKWORK 69 



grottos, or bridges, without a spot to hold more 

 than a handful of soil. The constructors of 

 such atrocities must have thought, if indeed 

 they were guilty of thinking at all, that alpines 

 lived on air and stones alone. For nothing 

 else was provided. It is needless to say no 

 self-respecting plant would grow under such 

 conditions. The only remaining hope was 

 that some friendly ivy would soon cover 

 their nakedness. 



These, then, are some of the most usual forms 

 to be avoided ; but there are others more or less 

 on the same lines, all hideous and unnatural. 

 Why they were ever made will always remain 

 a mystery. It may be presumed that the 

 object in view was to grow alpines in a place 

 somewhat akin to that from which they 

 originally came. But how was this attempted ? 

 A home was prepared for them as diametrically 

 the opposite in every way as human ingenuity 

 could contrive. The result was a foregone 

 conclusion. It is only within comparatively 

 recent years that the more natural and reason- 

 able method has been adopted, with the result 

 that success in place of failure has crowned 



