THE BIG BOG AND ITS LILIES 155 



sharp and rapid, is even more essential for tlie inliabitants 

 of the marsh than for the pinched children of the high 

 rocks. One only has to study their circumstances. In 

 the soaking, fine shingle of the last moraines grow the 

 downy-leaved mats of Androsace glacialis ; and one con- 

 cludes that heavy, loitering damp can, despite proba- 

 bilities, be no enemy to that roseate loveliness. But, if 

 you examine, you will see that the moisture is perpetually 

 running, sifting, drifting through the rough harsh sand, 

 and never rests for a minute round the roots of the 

 Androsace. It is true that I have chosen, for my instance, 

 a plant so difficult of culture that no treatment seems to 

 satisfy it ; but my rule holds securely and firm all through 

 the long list of bog-plants, from Ranunculus glacialis, 

 a-glitter in the melting streams of the snow-beds, to Cam- 

 panula hederacea,tvfim.ng its tiny peal of azure bells through 

 the long wet grasses of North Wales. (And yet I have 

 j ust heard of a plant of Eritrichiurn nanum — Eritrichium 

 nanum, if you please ! — which has thriven unprotected 

 through a phenomenally rainy winter, planted in a low 

 boggy hollow ! Oh dear me, there is only one infallible 

 rule, I believe, in the culture of difficult plants ; put 

 them elaborately, with full precautions, in a corner care- 

 fully thought out to suit their requirements — and they '11 

 certainly die ; plant them where, by all laws of their being 

 it is physically impossible for them to survive — and they '11 

 probably go ahead like Duckweed on a pond. I think 

 I must take to growing Eritrichium as an aquatic, and 

 Miltonia Roezlii as a hardy perennial.) 



In building the bog-garden, then, take all the soil out, 

 if necessary, to a depth of three feet or more, then set a 

 bottom of very rough drainage before you put in your 

 rich mixture of loam, peat, and old manure. Obviously 

 such a violent coui'se is not always necessary, by any 

 means. Quite often your garden will be founded on sharp 



