THE HEATH GARDEN 109 



'pan,' a thin layer of what is neither stone nor 

 sand, but something between the two. It is like 

 thick flakes of rotten dust ; hard enough for the 

 spade to ring on when it reaches it, supported by 

 the firm sand below. In all cultivation for wood- 

 land planting it is necessary to break through this 

 pan ; nothing thrives if this is not done. 



"No part of my copse was broken up except 

 a space of about forty feet wide next to my 

 southern frontier, where I wished to plant groups 

 of Juniper, Holly, Mountain Ash, and Ilex ; and a 

 roundish area about the middle of the ground for 

 Cistuses. Both are now so well covered with a 

 natural carpet of the wild heaths that one would 

 not know that they had ever been touched, and I 

 could wish for nothing better, both as a ground- 

 work to what has been planted and as a growth 

 that harmonises with all that is near." 



But a real heath garden I should like to see 

 in every large estate. Our native species are 

 amongst the most beautiful plants in the British 

 flora. It is not possible, of coiu-se, except under 

 unusual circumstances, to produce the exquisite 

 effects that Nature provides, but in the made 

 heath garden a variety of kinds may be grown 

 which will give as much pleasure as the ling and 



