INTRODUCTION. 
Now comes the building : 
Use as little rock as possible. 
Better, by far, are ten large blocks than a hundred small ones. 
Bury what you do use as deeply as possible in the ground. 
Be sure that your stone lies always on its broadest face. 
Be sure that every stone is absolutely and finally firm in its 
place. 
Aim always at a flattened and not a spiculous effect. 
No rock should overhang another. 
All rock should slope deeply down into the bank behind it to 
convey moisture to and from the roots. 
With regard to rock-garden design, learned and lovely chapters 
beyond end have been written, and will continue to be written. 
WRONG 
Diagram 1. 
I have contributed my own abundant word to the question, and 
here I will only repeat that there ought to be deliberate beauty 
about the building itself, quite apart from the plants. When the 
compilation is finished it ought to look established, harmonious, 
and of a piece, long before a single tuft has been put in. The 
rock-garden ought to consist primarily for the plants, but not 
solely. In the old days it existed merely to show as many ex- 
pensive spikes as possible, and the plants were quite a secondary 
consideration. Nowadays we swing towards the other extreme ; 
and think (and rightly) so much of our plants, that the intrinsic 
beauty of rocks in well-schemed arrangement often tends to be 
ignored. It is from a study of garden art in China and Japan 
XXxi 
