CHAPTER V. 



Alpines for Walls, Steps, Edgings. 



From the time walls were first built to enclose and 

 shelter gardens, some horticultural use has been made 

 of them. They were either planted with fruit trees, 

 as in the kitchen garden ; or with climbers and creepers, 

 as in the flower garden. Tall brick walls are probably 

 serving their best purpose, so far as supporting plants 

 is concerned, when they give crops of Pears, Cherries, 

 Peaches and other choice fruits. But in some gardens 

 low stone walls exist which are not suitable for strong- 

 growing plants, and which, as a consequence, are left 

 entirely bare. 



In parts of the West country where there is abund- 

 ance of stone, walls are often built up without mortar, 

 and Nature at once proceeds to clothe them with 

 plants. She produces some very pretty effects, and 

 when we see them we are struck with the fact that we 

 have neglected our own opportunities sadly. That 

 steep chalk bank which has gone so long with a mere 

 covering of scrubby grass, and which in hot summer 

 is almost bare through the dwindling and browning of 

 the turf, could be made, we now see, into a delightful 

 home for lime-loving Alpines (selections of which will 

 be found in Chapter XIV.), if stones were built up 



