British Wild Flowers and Trees 245 



It cannot be too well known that 'rock-works,' 

 as generally made, are ugly, unnatural, and quite 

 unfit for a plant to grow upon. The stones or 

 'rocks' are piled up, with no sufficient quantity of 

 soil or any preparation made for the plants, so 

 that all delicate rock-plants die upon them, and 

 the 'rocks' are taken possession of by rank weeds. 

 These rock-gardens are generally made too per- 

 pendicular, even in the best gardens in England — 

 masses of rock being used merely to produce an effect, 

 or masses of stone piled up without any of those chinks 

 of soil into which rock-plants delight to root. The 

 best way is to have more soil than 'rock,' to let the 

 latter suggest itself rather than expose its uncovered 

 sides, and to make them very much flatter than is the 

 rule, so that the moisture may freely enter in every 

 direction, and that the rock-garden may more resemble 

 a cropping out of stone or rocks than the ridiculous 

 wall-like structures which pass for rock-gardens. 



The Marsh Gentian (G. pneumonanthe) is also 

 a lovely plant, which should have a moist spot in 

 a border, and is not difficult to find in the north of 

 England ; also, less plentifully, in central and southern 

 England. The Brighton Horticultural Society is in 

 the habit of giving prizes for collections of wild 

 plants, and thereby doing much harm by causing 

 a few rude collectors to gather bunches of the 

 rarest wild flowers, and perhaps exterminate them. 

 When at one of its meetings a few years ago, I 



