280 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
One of the Alpine willows grows on a ledge below and to the left 
of the dripping well. 
A group of our rare native Fern Cystopteris montana, brought from 
Ben Laoigh, in Perthshire, after a very long day's excursion to obtain 
it, thrives well at the base of the cliffs, and a natural vent is planted 
with the much commoner Cystopteris jragilis, brought from the neigh- 
bourhood of Killin. The plant of Saxijraga oppositijolia growing 
with it is from the same locality. We also grow in quantity a 
larger-flowered form of this species, sold as S. oppositijolia splendens. 
Near by are two more interesting native plants, both brought 
from the neighbourhood of Killin — namely, the Holly Fern (Polystichum 
Lonchitis) and Poa alpina, which is nearly always found in a viviparous 
state as it grows here. 
The Green Spleenwort grows very luxuriantly in a naturally damp 
crevice of the rock, where it never gets direct sunshine. The leaves 
produced here are larger than any I have found in the wild state. 
In a sheltered nook in the natural rock at the base of the steps 
that go up to the right, I planted Primula Winteri, not knowing how 
it would succeed in the open, but my confidence was not mis- 
placed. The plant faces north-east, and is more or less sheltered 
from above by slightly overhanging rocks, and it formed a beautiful 
picture last January. P. Bulleyana grows at the foot of the cliffs just by. 
The steps (fig. 52) ascend from the ravine towards the north-east, 
and pass immediately below and against the u Pulpit " rock, and 
near them specimens of Saxijraga longifolia form a beautiful feature. 
Echiutn plantagineum, a rare plant found in the Channel Islands, 
and a fine specimen of one of the New Zealand Celmisias, C. Munroi, 
and Saxijraga Kolenatiana also grow here. Above the last is the 
graceful and rather rare English grass, Melica nutans. This we 
brought from a wood near High Force, Teesdale. A great mass of 
our common Echium vulgare grows on one of the outer sandy banks 
of the Rock-garden; although a common British plant, it is very 
beautiful, and is extremely attractive to bees and other insects. 
Having ascended the steps, the top of the chasm with the upper 
portions of the Rock-garden come into view. The steps are continued 
to the left, and when they reach the stage by the tunnel they again 
go off to the left and then to the right, the upper path passing along 
just below the peaks, and commanding a fine view into the chasm 
and over a large part of the rock-garden and the country beyond. 
Standing at the level of the tunnel, and looking back, we see at 
the bottom of the ravine the path which brought us to the chasm — the 
steps leading out of the rock-garden to the south, and the commence- 
ment of the upper path which extends the whole way back through 
the Rock-garden to the point from which we started. An almost 
entirely fresh set of plants is found along this path, and the views, 
looking down, are quite different from those obtained when walking 
up the lower path. Diascia Barbarae, growing here, is interesting as 
having a flower with two spurs. 
