Part I. 



THE ROCK-GARDEN. 



31 



to do is to excavate the ground to a depth of two feet, or there- 

 abouts, and to run a drain from it if very wet. If not, it is better 

 let alone, as a good deal of the success depends upon the beds 

 being continually moist ; and in dry soils, instead of draining, it 

 would be better to put in a substratum of spongy peat, so as to 

 retain moisture for the stony matter that the cavity is to be 

 filled with. As to soil, rock plants are found in all sorts ; but a 



Fig. 28. — Rock-garden on margin of shrubbery. 



good turfy loam, with plenty of silver or river sand added, will 

 be found to suit a greater number of kinds than any other. The 

 compost should be of a somewhat spongy character, and if not 

 naturally so, it should be so made by the addition of well de- 

 composed leaf mould, cocoa-nut fibre, or, failing these, peat. If 

 the trees of the shrubbery are of a nature likely to send hungry 

 roots into the mass of good compost prepared for the rock- 

 plants, it will be desirable to dig a narrow drain to below the 



