THE BIG BOG AND ITS IJLIES 159 



Land, the banks of your bog may, and should, slope 

 gently up to stark mountainous rock-work above, whence 

 brawling cascades may come splashing down over Caltha 

 and Maiden-Hair fern, loitering in pools and under still 

 dark caverns, widening into lagoons that mirror beds of 

 Primula rosea and azure Myosotis. But this is merely a 

 beautiful vision. 



As for the bog itself; if your sub-soil give sharp, free 

 drainage, if your site be a favourable slope, all your need 

 will be to prepare rich ground, and then provide moisture 

 to pervade it. Frequently, though, on heavy soils, it is 

 necessary to do more. In fact, from my own experience, 

 I think that it is always better if one can do more; 

 namely, for a small bog, to take out all the soil to three 

 or four feet, to fill the space with a sort of concrete tank, 

 the concrete to be about four inches thick ; then to lay six 

 inches of rough drainage-rubble at the bottom ; then at 

 the floor of the concrete, at its lowest point, to knock 

 one or two drainage holes, to let the filtered moisture 

 run away ; and finally to fill up with a very rich mixture 

 — richer and heavier tlian the soil of the rock-garden 

 itself — made of old manure, silver sand, peat, leaf-mould, 

 and good loam, with a generous intermixture of stone 

 fragments. 



But the garden thus made will be, of course, only the 

 choice nursery of your rarest, loveliest little things. It 

 is in no way necessary to take such elaborate precautions 

 to grow Iris sibirica, Spireas, and the larger, commoner 

 glories of the bog-garden — which, indeed, require nothing 

 more than juicy, retentive soil, and a certain amount of 

 moisture. But, if one is a true enthusiast, it is very 

 pleasant, at the bottom, say, of a slope aglow with great 

 Lilies, Irids, Orchids, to have a space where the tiny 

 jewels of Alpine bogs may be safe and at peace — where 

 Gentiana bavarica, Primula involtccrata, and half a hundred 



