THE NEW ROCK GARDENING 79 



scape of the Alps, but providing the conditions best 

 suited to the welfare of beautiful and cherished plants. 

 Scenic-railway gardening is heated, breathless, and 

 grandiloquent. It has much of the vagueness and 

 garrulity of humanitomtity. It does not make for noble 

 and sincere flower-pictures. 



I believe that in most gardens natural conditions 

 can be found which provide for good Alpine gardening 

 at a moderate cost. This is particularly the case where 

 part of the ground shelves to water. Some of the most 

 beautiful effects in nature are those in which colonies 

 of plants have established themselves in boulder-strewn 

 ground by the side of streams. There is no necessity 

 to do more than accentuate in a moderate degree such 

 unevenness of outline as prevails, and use flattish stones 

 sparingly. It is, indeed, rather the paths than the bulk 

 of the ground which should be treated with stones. 

 One who adopts the simple, but generally overlooked, 

 device of first marking out the outlines of an Alpine 

 garden by laying flat, separated stones to form paths, 

 will be astonished at the limited amount of material 

 which is required for the garden itself. Large blocks 

 should never be used except under the personal direc- 

 tion of an expert, for error is easy and rectification 

 laborious. 



A lover of Alpine flowers who has sharply-sloping 

 ground to deal with will find a sound, practical helper 

 in an intelligent builder's man, who, without any attempt 

 at soulful conversation (but with silent gratitude for 

 beer) and for a remuneration of eightpence or tenpence 

 an hour, will cut the ground into a series of terraces, 

 wide or narrow according to instructions, that will form 

 ledges for stones and plants ; or will put up a loose wall 

 of stones. 



