CHAPTER IV 



DRY WALLING 



THE wisdom of Solomon did not overlook " the 

 hyssop that springeth out of a wall." Nay, if it 

 be true that the name translated hyssop applies 

 more properly to the caper bush, it is likely enough 

 that the beauty of the large creamy-white flowers 

 would catch the eye of so keen a lover of plants. 

 But hyssop in the context is the antithesis of the 

 cedar of Lebanon, and with its pretty purple-blue 

 flowers and tufted growth is the very type of a 

 humble wall plant. So we may perhaps prefer 

 to keep to the familiar reading. Wall plants have 

 always been favourites, partly, it may be, from 

 their rare courage in asking little, yet giving much 

 to add to the beauty and colour and fragrance of 

 life. There are certain plants, besides wallflower, 

 which are always associated with a wall. Snap 

 dragon, for example, and the little ivy-leaved toad- 

 flax, red valerian, and, in Devon and Cornwall, 

 the round leaves and pale spikes of pennywort. 

 In the damp air of the west, maidenhair spleenwort 

 also, and ceterach and little tufts of wall rue and 

 other ferns, may be seen sometimes almost hiding 

 stone or brick with a mantle of greenery. 



But it has been reserved for modern gardening, 



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