BOG AND MARSH GARDENS 69 



usually over-run such spots. If the area of ground to 

 be dealt with is large, it will be advisable to retain some 

 of the boldest groups of sedge and rush, allowing these 

 to act as natural screens to the various divisions. The 

 making of rough pathways will present no difficulty. 

 At the edge of the marsh ground and in the drier 

 portions it will be sufficient to excavate the soil to a 

 depth of a few inches, filling in with rough ballast and 

 making the surface moderately level. Towards the 

 centre and in the wettest places, the paths should be 

 dug out at least a foot deep, coarse drainage and porous 

 material being afterwards rammed in until a sufficiently 

 high and firm passage-way is secured. Such paths 

 should be left quite in the rough, with edges only 

 barely defined. Any attempt at trimness or formality 

 would be quite out of place. Though it should be 

 so arranged that all the best and most interesting parts 

 of the bog garden can be included in the survey, an 

 undue number of paths will produce a map-like and 

 unsatisfactory effect. In order to obviate this, good 

 use may be made of stepping-stones, which will not 

 only provide " short cuts " from one pathway to another, 

 but will permit of close inspection of plants growing in 

 the wet mossy ground, fringing the bog pools. 



With the soil removed when path-making and clean- 

 ing, mounds and sloping banks may be made in the drier 

 situations. A flat, even surface is fatal to the appear- 

 ance of the bog garden, where the various families of 

 water-loving plants should be grown in little groups 

 and colonies, each a small picture in itself. It is 

 essential also, that a varying degree of moisture be 

 obtainable throughout, for although many bog plants, 

 such as Osmunda, Iris Kaempferi and Calthas, revel in 

 wet mud, others require a peaty loam or leaf-soil. It 

 is an easy matter to prepare special beds for favoured 

 groups of Liliums, or to make clearings among the 



