CHAPTER XI 

 THE ROCK GARDEN 



THERE is no feature in the modern small 

 garden so badly contrived as the rock garden,, 

 or "rockery," as it has come to be called. It 

 is too often but a formless heap of stone rubbish 

 or clinkers in which a few sickly ferns struggle 

 for existence. A rock garden need not be large 

 to be interesting, but it must be properly con- 

 structed and placed where the sun can reach 

 it. To the real flower-lover the rock garden 

 is a delight. There is no corner of his domain 

 which yields more interest. It is a garden with- 

 in a garden, a place where nature has all her 

 own way, rewarding him with quaint and beau- 

 tiful flowers and varied foliage from early 

 spring to winter frosts. It is well to under- 

 stand the scope and purpose of the rock gar- 

 den, a thing all too often overlooked. The 

 common plan of heaping together a mass of 

 stone and mineral curiosities into a grotto- 

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