176 REVIEW. 



foundation should consist of mounds of earth, which answer the purpose as 

 well as any more solid erection, and will make the stones go farther. Rocks 

 of the same kind and colour should be placed together ; if intermixed they 

 seldom wear a natural appearance. A dark cave, penetrating into the 

 thickest part of the erection, is not very difficult to construct, and, when 

 encircled with ivy, and inhabited with a pair of horned owls, 'which may be 

 easily procured, it will form a most interesting object. Rock plants of every 

 description should be profusely stuck around, and, in one short twelvemonth, 

 the whole scene will exhibit an impress of antiquity far beyond anticipation. 

 The whole should be enclosed with forest-trees of large foliage, that the 

 visitor to the scene may step upon it unexpectedly. Water in all cases adds 

 greatly to the general effect, and a small pond permits the construction of a 

 rocky island, which should be formed with jutting points, for the sake of the 

 reflection in the water. By a simple expedient, streams of water may be 

 made to issue from the rocks, or spout into the air, and fall in beautiful 

 cascades. This is done by placing a cask in an elevated spot at a little 

 distance, and leading under ground, pipes to the spot required, where, by 

 service pipes, anything wished by the erector may be easily managed. A 

 cask holding thirty -five gallons might keep such falls playing for an hour, 

 and might be kept out of sight. A pond, also, would permit the cultivation 

 of native and foreign succulent plants ; and gold fish and perch might be 

 introduced, with a water-hen or two, and a few of the ducker species of sea- 

 fowl. In absence of a pond, or any similar supply of water, a pump-well 

 mi«ht still be made, without much labour, to enliven the rockery with water 

 falls. 



" ' The whole undertaking, when completed, will present a field of varied 

 and interesting study, and more than compensate for all the attention and 

 outlay bestowed upon it. The aquatic and rock plants which formerly were 

 ' far to seek and ill to find,' will thus be brought within the range of every- 

 day observation ; the wagtail, oxeye, and stonechatter, will be attracted to 

 the spot, not, perhaps, because they are lovers of the picturesque, but be- 

 cause they find everything here suited to their nature ; and colonies of the 

 wild bee will soon be seen, and heard humming on their winged instruments 

 around the interstices of the rocks, and heavily laden with their winter store. 

 These are all objects which not only please the eye, but from which man 

 may derive grave lessons, that, well digested, may make him a better and 

 a wiser man.' 



"On the steep edges of woods where the falling down of a brow has ex- 

 posed the more massive roots of large trees, and more in forests where trees 

 have been torn up by the roots, moss frequently accumulates, annually dies 

 and soon forms soil, where we may sometimes meet with pretty native flowers, 

 such as wood-sorrel (Oxalis acetosella), wood anemone (Anemone nemorosa), 

 elegant St. John's wort (Hypericum pulchrum,) and the like. This accidental 

 feature of natural woods has been imitated in gardens, by collecting, in some 

 border or compartment, old stumps and roots of trees, and throwing, on 

 such parts of them as will permit it to lie, compost fitted for the growth of 

 the plants intended to be cultivated there. It is necessary to remark, how- 

 ever, that as the soil will be necessarily shallow, it will require plants that 

 will thrive without much water. 



" The authoress of the Florins Manual says that " fragments of stone'may 

 be made use of, planted with such roots as flourish among rocks, and to 

 which it might not be difficult to give a natural appearance, by suiting the 

 kind of stone to the plant which grows naturally among its debris. The pre- 

 sent fashion of introducing into gardens this kind of rock-work, requires 

 the hand of taste to assimilate it to our flower borders, the massive fabric of 

 the rock being liable to render the lighter assemblage of the borders di- 

 minutive and meagre. On this point caution only can be given, the execu- 

 tion must be left to the elegant eye of taste, which, thus warned, will quickly 

 perceive such deformity. I must venture to disapprove of the extended 

 manner in which this mixture of stones and plants is sometimes introduced 



