176 ROCK GARDENS 



Perhaps, however, if gardening were all plain 

 sailing it would not have the same fascination. 



In hard weather, when snails and slugs are 

 not abroad, birds tear to pieces our choicest 

 tufts of Saxifrages and Campanulas, seeking 

 for insects. It was only yesterday that, going 

 round my own garden after a week's frost 

 and snow, I found my best plant of Saxifraga 

 Apiculata strewn in small pieces over the 

 path, and a patch of Arenaria Balearic a looking 

 as though an army of men had been at it with 

 rakes. 



In mild weather the birds very kindly leave 

 us more or less alone, except when, in a play- 

 ful mood, they amuse themselves by cutting 

 off and scattering on the ground the open 

 flower-buds of our alpines, choosing with an 

 almost uncanny certainty those of the shyest- 

 blooming varieties. But in case we should 

 be congratulating ourselves on the waning 

 interest in our garden displayed by the birds 

 in mild weather, the slugs and snails will sally 

 forth in quest of pastures new and rare ! Is 

 it towards such strong-growing plants as the 

 Aubrietias, Arabis, or mossy Saxifrages that 



