SELECTIONS OF FLOWERING PLANTS FOR THE GARDEN. 31 



rustic arch, mantled with climbers, or through a winding pas- 

 sage among evergreens. Rockeries should be formed as much 

 as possible of natural materials ; the stones, or fragments of 

 rock of which it is composed, should not bear the marks of the 

 quarry, or any art. For a small garden one collection of rocks 

 or stones, with a walk round it, will be sufficient ; but when a 

 person has some fancy, a variety of beds or collections may be 

 made with winding walks around them, which, if relieved with 

 some dwarf evergreen shrubs, may be made to show off a great 

 variety of dwarf plants to the very best advantage. Rockeries 

 should be conspicuous for a natural character. No appearance 

 of art, and no approach to the regularity or smoothness proper 

 to works of art, will be at all in place here. The surface of 

 the whole cannot be too irregular, or too variedly indented or 

 prominent. Evergreen shrubs of low growth will be particu- 

 larly useful in giving prominence to some portions of the work ; 

 provision will, therefore, have to be made, in the placing of the 

 stones, for planting a few shrubs, and a greater number of her- 

 baceous rock plants, in their interstices, which should be left 

 broader or smaller, according to the size of the plant that may 

 be required in them. 



In arranging the stones, they should be laid upon their 

 broadest or flat sides, with the outer edge slanting downwards 

 rather than upwards. Any great elevation should never be 

 sought in small rockeries. This would be inconsistent with 

 their breadth, and would render them too prominent and artifi- 

 cial. There are many rocky locations in New England, which, 

 with a little study, might be converted into tasteful and beau- 

 tiful gardens, where all the fine creepers might display their 

 beauties on the more prominent points, and the more accessible 

 places be fitted up to receive the more humble dwarf species. 



LAWNS. 



No flower-garden can be complete without some grass. 

 There are but very few, however, who can afford the luxury 

 of an extensive grass lawn ; but every one wishes for a few 



