CHAPTER VII 

 THE TOWN OR SUBURBAN ROCK GARDEN 



THE town rock garden must ever be of a sub- 

 ordinate kind — subordinate to buildings, fences, 

 walls; arranged within a limited area, in danger of its 

 soil area being robbed by tree roots travelling from 

 adjoining gardens, and in various other ways. The 

 strictly limited scope of its own boundary fences of 

 necessity minimises all hope of " selecting a site," and 

 not a little, too, that of " aspect " also. Light in very 

 large degree will be shut out by adjacent buildings or 

 trees, and, generally, the outlook, bereft of many of 

 the essentials which the professional builder of rock 

 gardens believes to be necessary to success, would 

 appear very black indeed. Happily, however, the be- 

 ginner in such matters is quite oblivious of all these 

 things, and were it otherwise, so great is his determina!- 

 tion and enthusiasm once he had made up his mind, 

 that they would be accounted naught, and he would be 

 prepared to face all and give his own ideas a chance, 

 ofttimes successfully (Fig. 13). 



Of rock-building principles he probably knows 

 nothing and cares little. In the main he has made up 

 his mind to have a rockery, and that after his own 

 heart's desire. Of the orthodox methods of arranging 

 sandstone or limestone he is unacquainted, and as he 

 usually does not intend purchasing either, there is no 

 need for him to learn. In short, his owm ideas of the 

 affair are as limited as the scope of his garden, and he 

 considers himself surpassingly rich in the possession 

 of a few clinkered burrs, brick-bats, or concrete blocks ; 

 an)rthing, indeed, that is capable of being plastered 

 together with cement to form " pockets " for soil and 

 plants. 



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