164 GARDEN PLANNING 



crops may afterward be encouraged to grow. 

 If these steps be introduced, it is better to 

 carry them between two adjacent mounds than 

 to make them ascend a conspicuous elevation. 

 A visit to a well-made rock garden in the winter- 

 time will afford the gardener much practical 

 guidance in this kind of work. He will see 

 just how far it is possible to reahze a natural- 

 istic effect, and may gain some wrinkles in re- 

 gard to the disposition of his rocks. 



Although in the past the real rock garden has 

 been a negligible quantity in American gardens, 

 recent years have seen a greatly increased 

 interest in their building. The fact that the 

 rock garden offers the gardener the chance of 

 growing a large collection of plants of small 

 size and low stature that would get lost in the 

 open border, is to many people a sufficient justi- 

 fication for the introduction of this feature. 



There are rock gardens in which the chief 

 charm is their rocks, placed together so skil- 

 fully that they might be mistaken for a natural 

 out-crop. Such gardens have cost their owners 

 many hundreds of dollars, but they are no bet- 

 ter for their purpose than the more simple 

 type of garden I am describing. The gardener 



