CHAPTER VII 



THE ROCK GARDEN 



CLINKERS, in the words of an old dictionary of 

 1730 or thereabouts, " are those bricks that, by 

 having much nitre or saltpetre in them, (and lying 

 next the fire in the clamp or kiln) by the violence 

 of the fire run and are glazed over." How often, 

 in the days of long ago, were these same clinkers 

 employed, and even recommended, for the con- 

 struction of rockeries, on the principle, perhaps, 

 that there is a use for all things under the sun. 

 Far be it from me to hint that clinkers are without 

 a value of their own. As an aid to drainage, for 

 example, they serve admirably, where they are out 

 of sight ; but they are taboo for the purpose of 

 the simplest rockery, dear as they may be, even 

 yet, to the heart of the suburban builder. Prob- 

 ably the early recollections of many a would-be 

 gardener, besides the present writer, include a 

 childish attempt, with the help of stone crops and 

 London pride, to make a thing of beauty out of 

 these unsightly lumps of refuse from some conveni- 

 ent brickfield. But, after all, we need scoff as little 

 at such poor beginnings as at the early attempts 

 at fine art left by prehistoric bushmen on the cliff 

 walls of some ancient fastness of a South African 

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