Part I. 



THE ROCK-GARDEN. 



gentle isolated mound or open sunny spot, and arranged as 

 shown in Figs. 4, j, 27, and 28, would produce a better efifect 

 than several hundred tons placed as in Fig. 6. 



In dealing with the construction of the bolder masses of rock- 

 work, we cannot have a better guide than Mr. James Backhouse, 

 to whom I am indebted for the following article, which first ap- 

 peared in the ' Field.' If we merely want a certain surface of 

 rock disposed in a picturesque way, such details as these may not 



Fig. 7. — Aj Silene alpestris. B, Lychnis viscaria. c, Silene acaulis, 



be worthy of attention, but if we wish our rock-gardens to be 

 faithful miniatures of those wild ones which are admitted to be 

 the most exquisite of nature's gardens, then they are of much 

 importance. t 



" Comparatively few alpines prefer or succeed well in hori- 

 zontal fissures. Those, however, which, like Lychnis viscaria 

 and Silene acaulis, form long tap roots, thrive well in such fis- 

 sures, provided the earth in the fissure is continuous, and leads 

 backward to a sufficient body of soil. Where the horizontal 

 fissures are very narrow (as at A, Fig. 7), owing to the main 

 rocks ;being in contact in places, and leaving only irregular and 

 interrupted fissures, such plants as the charming Lychnis 



