2 1 2 Landscape Gardening 



at home. And the more decided climbers, such as clematis, 

 the hop plant, Wistaria sinensis, some of the better sorts of 

 bramble, the wild roses, Virginian creeper, and several others, 

 would, if suffered to scramble over the bolder parts of rock- 

 eries and duly pruned and regulated so as not to smother 

 things of more value, be most important and engaging 

 accessories. 



Grass never harmonizes well with rocks if brought into 

 immediate contact with them. They demand the adjunct of 

 a rougher and less polished vegetation, such as attends them 

 in a state of nature. Common heath, whortleberry, etc., 

 cut into sods, and laid with a broken line along the margin 

 of rocks and interspersed in parts with the dwarfest trailing 

 evergreens, will give a good rustic finish, and may be par- 

 ticularly valuable in connecting the rocks with any mowed 

 grass beyond. Everything like a perceptible or continued 

 line (much more a curved line) must be distinctly avoided 

 in the appropriation of such materials. Rocks should join 

 the grass in the most jagged and inartificial manner. 



Rockeries can be made to ans.ver one or two simple pur- 

 poses, which will impart meaning and spirit to them and 

 prevent them from becoming the expressionless and pointless 

 things which they usually are. Where there are raised banks 

 between one part of a garden and another, rocks can be 

 employed to face the more private side of them, and will 

 contribute to their solidity at the same time that they 

 increase their propriety and interest. If, again, a walk be 

 cut through a bank, rocks may be used to hold up the sides 

 of the opening when steep. Or where a walk travels along 

 a narrow hollow between two banks, the slopes of the banks 

 can be partially covered with masses of rock. In both these 

 last cases an imperfect imitation of a small defile will be 

 produced and may be made very consistent and natural. 



