404 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



edited by Harry Roberts, published by John Lane, I think in 1906, 

 but my copy is not dated. Six of its chapters are devoted to rock- 

 gardens and plants. Like the rest of the series, it is concise and 

 useful, plentifully illustrated with reproductions of photographs, but, 

 somehow or other, rather dull compared with later books. 



Much sound advice and practical knowledge and some instructive 

 and some other pretty photographs are to be found in " Rock-Gardens 

 and How to Make and Maintain them,"* by Lewis B. Meredith (1910, 

 ys. 6d.). The preface gives us an idea of its practical value in stating : 

 " Not a single book deals with the subject of the cost, which I have 

 attempted to estimate, basing it on my own practical experience." 



The introduction, written by Sir Frederick Moore, states that 

 " Mr. Meredith writes with practical experience. His own rock- 

 garden, constructed by himself, is artistic in conception, covers a 

 considerable area, and suits the requirements of a large and varied 

 collection of all classes of Alpines." This I can endorse, and may 

 add that I never saw better arranged masses of colour in a rock- 

 garden than I did in the author's. Those wishing to form a rock- 

 garden will find some chapters of great service, especially that on 

 the Types of Rock-Garden, with its good illustrations ; chapter x., on 

 Propagation ; chapter xii., on Planting, with its useful division of 

 rock plants into two classes : — 



1. Those which, on account of their freer growth and more 



generous bloom, can be effectively used for massing. 



2. Those grown chiefly on account of their intrinsic beauty, 



but which, owing to their slower and more diminutive 

 growth, will not, in this country at least, give the same 

 bold dashes of colour. 



Here is a bit of good advice : " Never plant rubbish. Do not be 

 persuaded by your friends ' just to fill up your garden with anything 

 to make a show the first year.' 



" This is the greatest mistake, for you may afterwards have diffi- 

 culty in getting rid of what you planted merely as a ' stop-gap.' " 



Then follows a word of warning as to planting very strong and 

 rampant-growing plants, and the account of how the introduction of 

 Convolvulus althaeoides caused two days' hard work in taking down 

 rockwork, to clear the ground of a plant that travelled four feet 

 underground, working its way behind a rock weighing a quarter of a 

 ton, to appear in the middle of a plant of Daphne Blagayana. There 

 is a short chapter on Cost, and Part II. is a useful alphabetical list of 

 plants with their colours and requirements, which, as the preface states, 

 has passed under the critical eye of Mr. Irving. 



" The Rock Garden,"* by Reginald Farrer, in "The Present-Day 

 Gardening Series," 1912 (is. 6d.), is professedly, to quote the words 

 of its author, written " for the man who has small means and only a 

 small plot of ground to play with," and to teach him " that nothing 

 could possibly fill his small garden plot with perennial delight so 



