70 HERBACEOUS AND ROCK BORDER COMBINED [CH. 



I have a strong prejudice in favour of a border raised 

 3 or 4 feet higher at the back than in the front, irregularly 

 crowned with boulders and inverted roots of trees, so as to 

 afford shelter and break the force of prevalent winds. 



Then again, where stones, great and small, may be 

 had, I like to work them everywhere into the border, from 

 one end to the other, and by this means to secure an 

 edging as far as possible removed from the stiff earthen- 

 ware abominations from the potteries. 



There is no edging so full of possibilities as rough 

 stones, but I would go further, and build up separate 

 small divisions or " pockets " on the bank, sometimes 

 with great rocks, sometimes with small and medium 

 stones, laid (as thick limestone flags or flat stones can 

 so readily be) as nearly as possible as though they were 

 lying in their own quarry, stratum upon stratum. These 

 divisions will then render the border not unlike, in 

 miniature, the curiously shaped little fields one often 

 notices on some unproductive farms in mountain 

 districts. 



In raising such a bank it is well to lay every 

 available sort of stuff under contribution layers of rich 

 manure where it may be had, heaps of leaf mould, 

 and of gritty road-scrapings (taking care to pick out 

 all roots of weeds), or the high bank of earth which 

 often is thrown up as a mound at the edge of a ditch. 

 I have turned to account the lime-rubbish and slates 

 from the roof of an old house. Such material is often 

 to be found, and folks are glad to be rid of it. 



