98 HOME AND GARDEN 



some foliage, such as Scixifraga peltata and Rodgersia 

 podophylla. The object of this one is to lead unob- 

 trusively from lawn to copse, and at the same time 

 to accommodate certain small shrubs and handsome 

 plants with a place where they would do well, and 

 where I should wish to see them. The other little 

 rock-garden, between the lower end of the lawn and a 

 group of Oaks, has another purpose. It is absolutely 

 artificial, and only pretends to be a suitable home for 

 certain small plants that I love. A rock-garden takes 

 a great deal of skilled labour, and I can only afford it 

 my own, so that its size is limited to little more than 

 I can work with my own hands and see with extremely 

 short-sighted eyes. Four broad and shallow steps lead 

 down to the path-level ; there is a long-shaped island 

 in the middle, and sloping banks to right and left, all 

 raised from the path by dry -walling from one to two 

 feet high. The joints of the dry- walling are planted 

 with small Ferns on the cool sides, and with Stonecrops 

 and other dwarf sun-loving plants on the sides facing 

 south. The walling as it rises changes to rocky bank, 

 with again a course or two of walling in the cooler face 

 to suit some plantings of Ramondia and the rarer 

 Hdberlea rhodopensis. The cool, sloping flats between 

 are covered with Dryas octopetala, and neat Alpines 

 such as HutcJiinsia and Cardamine trifoliata, and little 

 meadows of ZinThcea horealis, Campanula pulla, Veronica 

 prostrata, and V. satureioides, Zinaria pallida and 

 Z. Ivepaticcefolia ; while in the joints of the stones and 



