12 ALPINE FLOWERS [PART I. 



they could spread their roots under the great stones. The 

 result was quite a picture, and got in the most simple way. 



CONSTRUCTION. 



In no case should regular or mason-built steps be permitted 

 in or near the rock-garden. Steps may be made irregular, and 

 even beautiful, with violets and other small plants jutting from 

 every crevice. No cement should be used in connection with 

 the steps. The woodcut on page 10 is from a photograph of 

 the lower part of rude steps ascending from a deep and moist 

 recess in a rock-garden. It shows imperfectly no engraving 

 could show it otherwise the crowds of lovely plants that 

 gather over it, except where worn bare by feet. In cases where 

 the simplest type of rock-garden only is attempted, and where 

 there are no rude walks in the rock-garden, the very fringes of 

 the gravel walks may be graced by the dwarfer Stonecrops. 

 The alpine Linaria is never more beautiful than when self-sown 

 in a gravel walk. " Rockwork," which is so made that its 

 miniature cliffs overhang, is useless for alpine vegetation ; and 

 all but such wall -loving plants as Corydalis lutea, perish on it. 

 The tendency to make it with overhanging brows is everywhere 

 seen in cement rock-gardens. Into the alpine garden this kind 

 of construction should never be admitted, except to get the 

 effect of bold cliffs. When this system is admitted, the designer 

 should be requested to obtain his picturesque effect otherwise 

 than by making all his " cliffs " overhang. It is erroneous to 

 suppose that heaps of stones or small rocks are necessary for 

 the health of alpine plants. The great majority will thrive 

 without their aid if the soil be suitable ; and though all are 

 benefited by them, if properly used as elsewhere described, it is 

 important that it should be generally known how needless is 

 the common system of inserting mountain plants among loose 

 stones. Half burying rocks or stones in the earth round a rare 

 species, which it is intended to save from excessive evaporation, 

 and which has a deep body of soil to root into, is, however, a 

 different and a good practice. 



