276 ROCKWORK. [CHAP. X, 



geniously, by placing fragments of dark stone, 

 to absorb the heat, round those that require 

 most warmth, and fragments of white stone, to 

 reflect the heat, round those that require to be 

 kept cool. In all the trees and shrubs planted 

 among the rocks, the same care is taken to 

 keep up the illusion : they are all alpine plants ; 

 and dwarf species, or those of a very slow 

 growth, are generally chosen, to prevent them 

 from becoming too large for the rocks. The 

 part which represents the " Mer de Glace," is 

 " worked with grey limestone, quartz, and spar. 

 It has no cells for plants ; but the spaces are 

 filled up with broken fragments of white mar- 

 ble, to look like snow; and the spar is to 

 imitate the glaciers." I have already men- 

 tioned that Lady Broughton was her own 

 artist; and I may add that the rockwork was 

 six or eight years in progress, before it was 

 completed. 



Many other specimens of rockwork on a 

 large scale are to be found in different parts of 

 the kingdom; but the finest I have seen, be- 

 sides those I have already described, are those 

 in the Botanic Garden at Manchester, at Lower 

 Boughton Hall near that place, at Ealing Park, 

 at Endsleigh, and at Woburn. 



Whatever kind of rockwork may be erected, 

 the first thin£ to be done is to make a secure 

 foundation; as, unless this is effected, the 

 stones will gradually sink into the earth by 

 their own weight ; and thus, in a few years, the 

 mass will either have become half-buried, or 

 tottering and insecure. It is, therefore, most 

 prudent, unless the rockwork be actually 



