ROCK, ALPINE, FERN, AND WILD GARDENING. 



155 



limestone, chalk, or granite, is so near the surface as 

 to be easily laid bare, and the sxirface is irregular 

 in outline, here a natural rockery may be almost 

 lalways made at trifling cost. If the conditions 

 occur in a cottage garden, however small, they may 

 be utilised, and even in the largest domain the con- 

 ditions may not be more capable of effective use, 

 though on a larger scale. Where disused stone- 

 quarries occur in grounds, they often offer oppor- 

 tunities of the greatest value which, used judiciously, 

 will afford charming rockeries ; and disused gravel 

 and marl pits may often be converted into strikingly 

 beautiful homes for many lovely plants under the 

 directing hand of a skilled operator. In all spots 

 where the natural rock crops out at the surface, or 

 is so near it as to be easily made the surface, the 

 most satisfactory results are easy of attainment, and 

 should be utilised. 



Materials for the Rockery. — Natural stone 

 should be preferred when it can be obtained. Some 

 kinds are better than others, but the kind common 

 to the district will generally be most used. Even 

 though it should be less effective than some other 

 kind which can be got onlj^ at great trouble and 

 expense, the trivial disadvantage may be compensated 

 for in a large degree by using it judiciously as an 

 adjunct rather than as a prominent feature, and by 

 the proper planting of such subjects as will speedily 

 cover the greater part of it. Red Sandstone, Old or 

 New, is perhaps the most universally useful kind for 

 most purposes. The grits and conglomerates are nearly 

 all as good. The limestones, again, are capable of 

 most artistic use, and are sure to be preferred if most 

 easily obtainable. Schists and shales may often be 

 employed with effect. Where natural rock is unob- 

 tainable, or very costly, artificial blocks made of brick 

 rubble and concrete, if skilfully constructed, are by 

 no means to be despised, though to produce anj^thing 

 really good with this material artistic skill is a 

 most necessary condition ; and the amateur is there- 

 fore advised, if he has to depend on himself alone, to 

 ^avoid artificial rock- work, and use natural rock. 



One kind of rock only should be used in a 

 garden ; for nothing is more ridiculous than for the 

 rockery to present an appeara-ace in any way sug- 

 gestive of a collection of mineralogical specimens. 

 Much less rock is really needed for the formation of 

 a first-class rockery than is usually employed. Its 

 chief uses are to form the ribs of the construction, 

 whatever its size; to assist in retaining moisture 

 in contact with the roots ; to prevent unduly quick 

 evaporation at the surface, and to aid in the healthy 

 development of roots, which it undoubtedly does, 

 as any one may readily ascertain by examining the 

 buried stones in an established rockery. 



But under this heading it will be as well to say a 

 word about materials which should be avoided, and 

 this is the more necessary because they are constantly 

 used, and are often found hurtful or ridiculous. On 

 no account employ the roots of trees for Alpines. 

 However picturesque these may look for a time, 

 sooner or later they wiU decay, and give rise to 

 a frequent cause of death to plants large and small, 

 namely, the mycelium of various kinds of fungi, 

 which, ramifying about the roots of living plants, 

 will very rapidly lead to their destruction, after first 

 debilitating them. Decaying roots of trees are also 

 favourite haunts of slugs, and many insects huitf ul 

 to vegetation. They are, therefore, on both accounts 

 to be carefully avoided. And as the kind of rockery 

 we wish to become com^mon in our gardens is to be 

 as far as possible an imitation of a natural rockery, 

 all adventitious and extravagant materials should 

 be kept away ; such, for instance, as pieces of statues, 

 portions of old buildings, or anything else that bears 

 vestiges of man's handiwork upon it. Study nature 

 as to the materials to be found in her prettiest bits of 

 rock garden, and follow her teaching implicitly, and 

 there will be no fear of a repetition of the hideous 

 jumbles which hitherto have been far too common 

 in our gardens. 



Bog-plants. — The Alpine flora includes many 

 lovely plants which thrive only in bogs or boggy 

 places. No traveller with any interest in gardening, 

 who sees these plants in a state of nature, but wiU 

 desire to transfer some of them to his own garden. 

 If he is to do so successfully, it wiU be necessary for 

 him to provide for them as many of the conditions 

 under which they were found thriving in their 

 Alpine solitude as possible. Of these, the most im- 

 portant are a constant suppl}" of moisture, and soil of 

 a more or less peaty nature. In our own country the 

 alteration of natural conditions by draining and other 

 operations has rendered m^ny of our bogs and 

 marshes incapable of growing several native plants 

 which previously grew profusely. This suggests the 

 lesson we wish to impart, namely, that where it is de- 

 sired to grow bog-loving plants in an English garden, 

 an artificial hog must he provided for them. And this 

 maybe done inmany gardens without an extraordinary 

 expenditure of money or labour. Wherever there is 

 a little rill of water or a pool, however small, the 

 formation of a bog will be easy of accomplishment. 

 When neither is at hand, a pipe laid on from a water- 

 service, or from some vessel at a higher level kept 

 filled from time to time — which need not involve much 

 labour for the supply of a sufficiency of water even 

 during the hottest and driest months — will be found 

 a very efficient plan for keeping a miniature bog suf- 

 ficiently moist to admit of many plants being grown 



