16 ALPINE PLANTS 
the demand for a better knowledge of plant culture, and 
to the enterprise and development of illustrated garden 
journals, a clearer conception of the possibilities of 
rockeries was obtained. The fine examples of rock gardens 
at Kew, and at the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens, served 
as object lessons to enthusiastic gardeners. Nurserymen 
who specialized in alpine plants, such as the great firm 
of Backhouse of York, Barr, Ware, Wallace and others, 
constructed some fine rockeries in private gardens, and 
by exhibiting model rockeries at the Royal Horticultural 
and other important shows they educated the garden- 
loving public to an appreciation of this form of gardening. 
In course of time it followed, and in some respects it may 
be said unfortunately, that rock gardening became a 
fashionable craze, which led to a mushroom growth of a 
crowd of self-styled experts who built rockeries anywhere 
and wellnigh everywhere. 
The unfortunate element is that whilst a properly con- 
structed rockery, planned with due regard to environment, 
will constitute a valuable feature of any garden, the mere 
insistence upon having a rockery simply because it is 
fashionable has in too many cases led to quite inappro- 
priate association with formal gardening, and the work 
being sometimes undertaken by those who lack artistic 
as well as technical skill has resulted in the building up 
of rocks for display, the plants being added as trimmings 
to the structure, whereas rock-work should be utilized 
only to form a home for the plants. This is a point that 
must never be lost sight of, otherwise it were better to 
dispense with rock-work altogether and content ourselves 
