74 ALPINE BORDERS [CH. 



it gives very real pleasure and satisfaction, with com- 

 paratively little work. In one of those awkward forma- 

 tions of ground which one frequently observes in a garden, 

 where some abrupt change of level would seem to make a 

 terrace or a retaining wall necessary, the oportunity should 

 certainly be availed of to build there a dry wall (which 

 may be anything between an old broken-down wall and a 

 very steep line of rockery). So much the better if it is 

 exposed to north or east if it is meant to be a home for 

 Alpine plants. 



In Miss Jekyll's " Wood and Garden " she tells us that 

 she has built and planted a good many hundred yards of 

 dry walling with her own hands, and that she can speak 

 with some confidence of the pleasure and interest of both 

 the actual making and planting, and of the satisfactory 

 results which follow. 



I should not recommend beginners to try and build 

 such a wall out of their own inner consciousness, and 

 without having previously made a careful inspection in 

 some garden where the thing had been already well done, 

 or consulting some amateur like Miss Jekyll, who is 

 a clever expert ; and indeed it may perhaps prove most 

 helpful if almost in her own words I try to describe the 

 operation. 



A dry wall needs but little foundation, two thin courses 

 underground are quite sufficient. The important thing is to 

 keep the earth well rammed and trodden behind the stones 

 of each course and in the middle, and every two or three 

 courses to lay some extra long stones across, so as to tie 



