HOW TO FORM ROCKERIES. 75 



see over, and which we can walk round in the course of 

 a dozen paces. The construction is pretty, pleasing — 

 a genuine acquisition to the garden — but it is not per- 

 fect. We see something wanting, but we did not enjoy 

 making it the less because through it we felt our way 

 to something better. 



Before we can rest entirely satisfied with our efforts 

 at Alpine gardening we have to construct a rock garden 

 which completely fills the eye when we stand at its 

 base. We cannot look over it to a line of Geraniums 

 or a belt of Marigolds, which (in the absence of a 

 capacity for make-believe that wipes them out of 

 existence) are apt to spoil the picture. Such a con- 

 struction is not impossible even in a small garden, 

 nor does it necessitate a large number of half ton 

 boulders. 



The most perfect illusion of Alpine gardening is that 

 in which the ground rises in a series of tiers, not 

 geometrically exact Hke a flight of stairs, but irregular, 

 indented here, projected there, and terminated in a 

 ridge beyond which only the sky or distant landscape 

 is visible. Such a scheme causes alarming visions of 

 huge rocks to arise, and admittedly it is in aiming at 

 this ideal that some of the worst errors are made. But 

 great masses of thick rock are really out of place in this 

 class of construction. Flat slabs weighing a few pounds 

 each are the best, indeed, old, broken-edged paving 

 stones may be made good use of, for if plants are put 

 in the crevices between them they are robbed of all 

 towny suggestiveness. They should, of course, be 

 bedded loosely in soil, not set with cement. 



