An Undesirable Combination 



meriting a "vote of censure" by reason of their inutility. 

 I have no desire to withdraw one word of it or to lessen 

 the severity of the condemnation. The kind of thing 

 one has in mind is that made up of brick-bats, clinkered 

 burrs and the like, the whole so cemented together as 

 to make them appear like, natural rock. They differ, 

 however, from the latter by reason of their impervious 

 and unsympathetic nature, and generally by their un- 

 suitableness to plant growth. Presenting more or less 

 externally the characteristic features of natural rock, 

 they are usually a delusion and a snare, and one is 

 sorry for the gardener whose duty it is to keep plants 

 alive on such erections. Not infrequently they are 

 welded and cemented together to form one continuous, 

 unbroken mass, and, devoid of fissure or crevice — 

 assets of inconceivable value in the best-arranged rock 

 gardens — are all but useless to the gardener. I am 

 speaking now of the great piled-up masses of such 

 things, more than one of which occur in well-known 

 gardens near London to-day. Many years ago the 

 writer had charge of such a rock garden, and is, there- 

 fore, speaking as one "having authority" and not 

 altog-ether as a " scribe." Moreover, it is difficult to 

 realise any point in their favour, since they perform no 

 useful office of which the natural rock is not capable, 

 whether it be boldness or picturesqueness, while bereft 

 entirely of the life-giving effects and charm of the 

 natural rock masses when these are intelligently re- 

 garded. The main object of referring to the artificial 

 kinds then is to discourage their use. They are not 

 economical, rather the reverse, and remaining unoma- 

 mented year by year have nothing of beauty to attract. 

 Happily, the cement gives a colour tone which is not 

 unbearable, and happily, too, these wrong things in 

 right places are not on the increase. 



The Question of Soil.— For the sake of convenience, 

 one need but refer here to the staple soil; its greater 

 variety, that suited to the largest number bf alpine 

 plants, can be best treated elsewhere. Rock, it should 



