MAKING THE ROGK GARDEN 13 



course, one should have the labour of making the sunk 

 rock garden is not so formidable as it would seem, for 

 each barrow-load of soil, as excavated, may be dumped 

 down where it has been decided to form the hills, thus 

 avoiding the necessity of a second removal. Once the 

 pathway, or part of it, is cleared, the rest of the work, 

 if not easy, is at least far more interesting, for the actual 

 formation of the bays or recesses, the lesser mounds 

 and the hilly walks, can be proceeded with, and the 

 work is intensely fascinating. There is probably no 

 other initial garden work that gives so much pleasure 

 or offers such scope for originality as the building of 

 a rock garden. Every man must fashion it according 

 to his own ideas, and exercise his own powers of imagina- 

 tion. You cannot very well, in a book, tell him exactly 

 what to do. You can tell him what not to do, and describe 

 some essential details, but you cannot provide a plan 

 and advise that one rock be put here, another there, and 

 so on. These things the gardener must work out for 

 himself, and, believe me, he will find it enthralling work, 

 and feel immensely proud of his creation. 



If a representative collection of rock-garden flowers 

 is to be grown, one must remember the necessity for 

 providing all sorts and conditions of sites and aspects, 

 sunny and shady, stony and boggy, gentle slopes, and 

 deep declivities ; and arrange also, perhaps, for a minia- 

 ture cascade, a rocky bed for a stream, and a pool at 

 the foot for water plants. Each and all of these is 

 possible in quite a small rock garden, and they add 



