118 WOOD AND GARDEN 



The -wall is planted as it is built with hardy Ferns — 

 Blechnum, Polypody, Hartstongue, Adiantum, Geterach, 

 Asplenium, and A. Ruta muraria. The last three like 

 lime, so a barrow of old mortar-rubbish is at hand, 

 and the joint where they are to be planted has a layer 

 of their favourite soil. Each course is laid fairly level 

 as to its front top edge, stones of about the same 

 thickness going in course by course. The earth back- 

 ing is then carefully rammed into the spaces at the 

 uneven backs of the stones, and a thin layer of earth 

 over the whole course, where the mortar would have 

 been in a built wall, gives both a " bed " for the next 

 row of stones and soil for the plants that are to grow 

 in the joints. 



The face of the wall slopes backward on both sides, 

 so that its whole thickness of five feet at the bottom 

 draws in to four feet at the top. All the stones are 

 laid at a right angle to the plane of the inclination — 

 that is to say, each stone tips a little down at the back, 

 and its front edge, instead of being upright, faces a 

 little upward. It follows that every drop of gentle 

 rain that falls on either side of the wall is carried into 

 the joints, following the backward and downward pitch 

 of the stones, and then into the earth behind them. 



The mass of earth in the middle of the wall gives 

 abundant root-room for bushes, and is planted with 

 bush Roses of three kinds, of which the largest mass 

 is of Rosa lucida. Then there is a good stretch of 

 Berberis ; then Scotch Briars, and in one or two 



