INTRODUCTION. 
mould, of loam and silver-sand, and so forth; each moraine may 
be divided into lockers for a different compound, for a different set 
of plants. The range of experiment is infinite, and such, in each, 
is almost invariable and triumphant. Chips and soil, then, 
should be thoroughly dug together, and shovelled into the ex- 
cavation till all is rather over-full (stepping-stones should be sunk 
deep from the beginning, or even cemented on piles). Copious 
watering (rather than treading) will now make the mixture settle ; 
down sinks the soil, and the surface becomes a beautiful clean 
sheet of shingle, on which neat day you will write the beauty of 
a thousand plants. No mystery attaches to the planting of these. 
Brutal as it may seem, they must be riven from their pots, their 
roots shaken free of the encumbering earth, and then spraddled 
out pitilessly among the harsh stones in a scraped hole, filled in 
again with shingle. Water them in soundly from overhead, and 
they will at once take hold and prosper marvellously. 
Overhead watering goes farther on the moraine than any- 
where else, the chips refusing to evaporate it, while giving it also 
the quickest of drainage. 
But underground water is better. There is no limit to the 
possibilities of a well-made moraine, watered from beneath. Hi 
no water can be obtained, the moraine should avoid too steep 
a “rake” and too torrid an aspect. The moraine should be 
disposed, when possible, near eye-level, as many of its loveliest 
treasures are of low stature, and if on the level, necessitate that 
aman should go upon his belly like the serpent when he wishes 
properly to observe them. 
Hard and dice-like stones, such as flint or marble, should be 
as sedulously avoided in the moraine as everywhere else, rough- 
ness of surface being essential alike to pervasive moisture and 
the due nourishment of roots. I once saw a moraine, made by 
two faithful zealots, which consisted entirely of small marble 
squares, without the slightest admixture of soil whatever. It 
speaks volumes for the efficacy of the general system that even 
here its plants were tentatively surviving. 
Some makers of moraines advocate a cemented trough or 
XXXVI 
