ROCK GARDENS 255 



about to appropriate the bowlder itself, and 

 keeps these in such a way that he puts them 

 back down around and against and on it in 

 just the same relation they originally held, with 

 every patch fitted accurately to its proper neigh- 

 bor, we are bound to fall short of the exact and 

 wonderful naturalism that is alone excuse for 

 attempting to be natural. 



It follows moreover, where this sort of thing 

 exists, or is brought into existence by artistry 

 so finished, that it must be dissociated from 

 every hint of a contrary element. Therefore it 

 is not only seclusion from the vision of the out- 

 side world that a rock garden demands, but that 

 deeper seclusion that belongs to the heart of na- 

 ture, as it were; the seclusion of the mountain 

 top or of the deep, wild glen — a something more 

 than outward hiding, a real inward solitude. 

 Hence for the perfecting of a rock garden it must 

 not only be undreamed of from without but it 

 must leave the outside world undreamed of, 

 from within. 



Within the limitations of a small place, this 

 is a thing seldom possible to achieve. Where- 

 fore it appears that the rock garden is not, usu- 

 ally, within the possibilities of any but the larger 

 places — unless an inhospitable and unfavorable 

 scrap of land is acquired, which may become a 



