PART I.] 



CULTURAL 



It is not only those who make their " rockwork " out of spoilt 

 bricks, cement, and perhaps clinkers, that err in this respect, 

 but the designers of vsome of the most expensive works of this 

 kind. At Chats worth, for instance, and also to some extent at 

 the Crystal Palace, we see rocks not offensive so far as distant 

 effect in the landscape is concerned; but, when examined 

 closely, it might well be imagined that rocks and rock-plants 

 were never intended for each other's company, so bare are 

 these of their best ornaments. They are, for the most part, 

 pavements of small stones, huge masses of stone, or imitation 

 rock, formed by laying cement over brickwork, and in none 

 of these cases are they adapted for the cultivation of mountain 

 plants. 



It is possible to combine the most picturesque effects of 

 which rocks are capable, with all the requirements for plant- 

 growing ; and it is easy to use the large stones and make bold 

 effects, and leave at the same time level intervening spaces 

 of rocky ground in which rock-plants may thrive almost as 

 well as on the many mountain pastures where we see them 

 happy in the mountain turf. 



Part of the Rock Garden at Brookfield, Hathersage, Sheffield. 



