CHAPTER X 

 Rock, Wall, and Water Gardens 



IN considering, first of all, 'the material to be used for such a rockery, 

 it is desirable to take into consideration the most readily obtainable 

 stone material. Nearly all our counties have some particular stone 

 or slag peculiar to them, and where this is brought into use a much 

 more natural appearance is obtained, and it is at the same time the 

 least expensive. The flint stones from the chalk and marl pits, 

 where they can be had, form excellent rockwork, and so, of course, 

 do the different spars of Devonshire and Derbyshire ; but, in a 

 general way, for rockeries which are intended to be covered with 

 plants, any stone material may be made use of, according to the 

 tastes, requirements, and necessities of the constructor. 



Although sandstone is usually regarded as the best stone to use 

 in rock gardens, almost any stone may be utilised provided it is not 

 too soft and liable in a few years to crumble away. When the ques- 

 tion of expense has to be studied, one has perforce to use the cheapest 

 stone obtainable in the neighbourhood. Even the larger stones of 

 gravel pits may be used for this purpose, and, for want of anything 

 better, the buint clay or spoilt bricks from brickyards, and clinker 

 from the smiths' furnaces, are not to be rejected. The seashore, too, 

 provides a wide field along the coast, where material in plenty can 

 be secured, out of which a little taste and good judgment will soon 

 arrange something both agreeable to the eye and useful as a bed for 

 many different classes of plants. 



As a rule, a rockery should never be raised on grass, but on 

 gravel or on a concrete foundation. Rockwork forms a very suitable 

 skirting round a pond or a water tank, and makes an effective 

 addition to a gravel patch, such as a carriage drive, vhich, without 

 such rockery, would have nothing to relieve its bareness. A rockery 

 may be constructed by using the roots of old trees piled one upon 

 another as a basis, and covered with a good coating of loam ; an 



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