82 THE STORY OF MY ROCK GARDEN 



Next, with great care, I put a small layer of my clay 

 and moss some quarter of an inch thick on to the neck 

 of the plant, to prevent it being bruised, and then 

 drove home my next wedge of stone, repeating the 

 process and filling up with soil each time, so as to 

 separate my plants, or tufts, by about one-and-a-half 

 inches. 



If the reader has followed this description, it will be 

 seen that by the time I reached the end of the crevice 

 which before had been a gaping crack, it was filled 

 from end to end by tight cushions of the Saxifrage 

 or the shell-like rosettes of the Primula, alternated with 

 pieces of stone. In the case of the Saxifrage I found it 

 greatly enhanced their beauty, if I used as the wedges 

 pieces of the Old Red Sandstone, the lovely rich colour 

 of it contrasting beautifully with the shimmering 

 silvery rosettes of the Saxifrages a very small quantity 

 of this stone which I had was thus used economically 

 and to its fullest advantage. 



When the whole place was planted, I carefully 

 fixed each wedge, where it seemed to require it, with a 

 little tinted cement, to prevent it becoming loose from 

 the action of the frost, the blade of my pocket knife 

 making an excellent " trowel " for this delicate purpose, 

 since great care had to be taken to avoid touching the 

 leaves with the caustic cement. A little powdered 

 Venetian red and gas black mixed with the cement, 



