EMBELLISHMENTS. 393 



concealing and adorning the rocks with their neat green 

 foliage and pretty blossoms, the effect of the whole, if prop- 

 erly done, will be like some exquisite portion of a rocky 

 bank in wild scenery, and will be found to give an air at 

 once striking and picturesque to the little scene where it is 

 situated. 



In small places where the grounds are extremely limited, 

 and the owner wishes to form a rockwork for the orrowth of 

 alpine and other similar plants, if there are no natural in- 

 dications of a rocky surface, a rockwork may sometimes be 

 introduced without violating good taste by preparing nat- 

 ural indications artificially, if we may use such a term. If 

 a few of the rocks to be employed in the rockwork are sunk 

 half or three-fourths their depth in the soil near the site of 

 the proposed rockwork, so as to have the appearance of a 

 rocky ridge just cropping out. as the geologists say, then the 

 rockwork will, to the eye of a spectator, seem to be con- 

 nected with, and growing out of this rocky spur or ridge 

 below : or, in other words, there will be an obvious reason for 

 its being situated there, instead of its presenting a wholly ar- 

 tificial appearance. 



In a previous page, when treating of the banks of pieces of 

 water formed by art, we endeavoured to show how the nat- 

 ural, appearance of such banks would be improved by the 

 judicious introduction of rocks partially imbedded into and 

 holding them up. Such situations, in the case of a small 

 lake or pond, or a brook, are admirable sites for rockwork. 

 Where the materials of a suitable kind are abundant, and 

 tasteful ingenuity is not wanting, surprising effects may be 

 produced in a small space. Caves and grottoes, where ferns 

 and mosses would thrive admirably with the gentle drip 

 from the roof, might be made of the overarching rocks ar- 



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