THE PLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 3 



Ivy grows slowly at first ; it taxes one's patience when it is wanted 

 as a distinct furnishing element, and while it is in progress the 

 appearance of the mound, if tastefully built, is at least pleasing. 

 Annuals of quiet colours and a few greenhouse perennials may be 

 put out on the pile, and neatness and completeness may thus be 

 attained at once, and the smaller aids dispensed with as the ivy 

 makes its second spring growth, and promises to cover the whole 

 with its glossy wealth of green. In the planting of ivy in these 

 mounds strong plants should be employed, and April is the best 

 season to plant them. 



Now as to another sort of rock- work for the strictly ornamental 

 ground, let us take even the smallest of suburban or town gardens, 

 measuring say from sixty to ninety feet in length, by from twenty 

 to thirty in breadth. The garden is bounded on three sides by walls, 

 and on the fourth by the house. It is laid out with a central grass- 

 plot and flower-beds. Around the walls runs a narrow border, 

 separated from the grass-plot by a continuous path. The walls must 



be covered with ivy, clematis, jasmine, and other climbers; and if 

 the evergreen shrubs are well disposed, and the flowers grouped in 

 good masses of colour, the scene will be pleasing, and afford as much 

 space for gardening labours as most people having but moderate 

 leisure will be able to cultivate. Let the border under the rear wall 

 be raised into a bank, with a facing of large burrs, such as are 

 supplied for the purpose, the lower tier being sunk a few inches 

 below the surface. A few large rough blocks of limestone, or any 

 other grey or dark rock, may mingle well with the facing ; and on 

 the upper tier some large dark flints may be set. The mass of the 

 bank is composed of rich sandy loam, and the rock-work is so 

 arranged that there are plenty of interstices for the insertion of 

 plants in the front. A white poplar, birch, or tree of any kind, will 

 be an improvement if planted towards one side in the midst of a 



January. 



