CHAPTER XX 



ROCK GARDENING 



The surface must be irregular and the worker's skill will be 

 revealed in such measure as he is able to impart a natural ap- 

 pearance to its irregularities. 



IT is rarely that the beginner in gardening attempts to 

 make a rock garden, and in his forbearance he is really 

 most wise. He has the impression that the skilful arrange- 

 ment of rocks and the management of alpine plants is 

 something altogether beyond his powers, and prefers first 

 to learn wisdom among the more accommodating border 

 plants. When a few years have passed, and he longs 

 for other flower worlds to conquer, a little alpine garden 

 which has for long, perhaps always, held high place 

 in his affections comes persistently to mind. Memory 

 charms with dreams of a rock-strewn bank flooded with 

 drifts of lovely, lowly bloom; of rock fissures blossom- 

 filled ; of leafy tufts, with bright flowers spangled, on 

 the dizzy heights of a miniature peak ; of enticing step- 

 ping-stones that lead between dainty masses of leaf and 

 flower, and, winding, disappear and reappear as one 

 follows their lead. Then comes the decision to build, 

 and the would-be rock garden maker, if he takes thought 



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