94 ROGK GARDENING FOR AMATEURS 



natural form; the worst stone will be buried beneath 

 the soil. Thus we are led to consider the right use of 

 stone in rock building. It is true that if all the rock and 

 stone used were buried beneath the soil, not even the 

 top of a single piece showing, the plants would thrive 

 equally as well as, and possibly better than, if the rockery 

 were built in orthodox fashion. But it would not look so 

 well ; it would be merely a border of alpine flowers, and 

 their association with rocks is natural, and therefore 

 worthy of imitation. In writing of cheap stone I have 

 in mind the concrete blocks that are used for the edge 

 of pavements by contractors. If a number of these are 

 buried in the bed of soil they will still further help the 

 free passage of water; and, moreover, the roots of the 

 plants, many of which go deeply, will find them out 

 and cling to them for coolness and moisture. 



Placing the Rocks. Having inserted a number of the 

 cheap stones on the twelve-inch bed of gritty soil, and 

 filled round about them with further gritty soil made 

 firm and worked well into all crevices, there remains 

 to arrange the rocks proper that will give character and 

 naturalness to the finished border. Many amateurs 

 first build their mound of soil and then insert the rocks, 

 pressing them in as far as they will go, which is exactly 

 the thing not to do. It is impossible to get them firm 

 in this way, and unless they are firm they are of little 

 or no use to the plants. Let us, then, begin to arrange 

 the final rocks while the bed of soil is still low, then we 

 can fill in between them with the soil mixture, working 



