PART I.] CULTURAL 57 



branches being about 3 feet apart. The whole, when covered with 

 peat, will form an admirable bog, the spaces between the channels 

 forming drier portions, in which various plants will thrive vigorously. 



" Perhaps the best situation of all for a bog-garden is on the side 

 of a hill or on sloping ground. In this case the water flows in at 

 the top, and the surface, whatever its form or inclination, must be 

 rendered water-tight with Portland cement or concrete. Contour or 

 level lines should be then traced on the whole surface, at distances 

 of about 3 feet, and a ridge of two bricks in height should be 

 cemented on the surface along each of the horizontal lines. These 

 ridges, which must be perfectly level, serve to hold the water, the 

 surplus escaping over the top to the next lower level. Two-inch 

 drain tiles, covered with coarse stones, should be laid along each 

 ridge, to keep the channel open, and a foot of peat thrown over the 

 whole. Before adding the peat, ridges or knolls of rock-work may 

 be built on the surface, the stones being built together with peat in 

 the interstices. These ridges need not follow the horizontal lines. 

 The positions thus formed are adapted both to grow and to display 

 Ferns and alpine plants to advantage. 



" There is another way in which a minute stream of water may 

 be turned to advantage, and that is by causing it to irrigate the top 

 of a low wall ; such a wall should be built 12 inches high, the top 

 course being carefully laid in Portland cement. A course is then 

 formed by bricks projecting over about 2 inches at each side, with a 

 channel left between them along the centre of the wall, which must 

 be carefully cemented. Small drain pipes are laid along this channel 

 and fitted in with stones. Large blocks of burr or clinker are then 

 built across the top of the wall, with intervals of 12 or 15 inches 

 between them, and these are connected by narrow walls of clinker on 

 each side, so as to form pockets, which are filled with a mixture of peat 

 and sandy loam. The projecting masses of burr stand boldly above 

 the general surface, and, occurring at regular intervals, give a 

 castellated character to the wall, which may be about 2 feet high 

 when finished. Hundreds of elegant wall plants find a choice 

 situation in the pockets, which are kept constantly moist by the 

 percolation of the water beneath them, while Sempervivums and 

 Sedums clothe the projecting burrs. In fact, with Wallflowers, 

 Snapdragon, Cistuses, and Sedums, such a wall forms a garden of 

 blossom throughout the whole spring and summer. 



" In addition to true bog plants, almost all the choice alpines will 

 luxuriate and thrive in the drier parts of the bog-garden better 

 than in an ordinary border or in pots. Perhaps the most charming 

 plants to commence with are our own native bog plants Pinguicula, 

 Drosera, Parnassia, Menyanthes, Viola palustris, Anagallis tenella, 

 Narthecium, Osmunda, Marsh Ferns, Sibthorpia, Linnaea, Primula, 

 Campanula, Saxifraga Hirculus, aizpides, and stellaris ; Mimulus 

 luteus, Cardamine, Leucojum, Fritillaria, Marsh Orchises, and a 



