203 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW, SURREY, 
ENGLAND, VIII. 
ROCKERY. 
In 1867 a Rockery was built of Reigate sandstone 
north of an ice house used in the old Botanic garden. 
It contained 300 Alpine plants and the next year some 
600 more plants were planted in it. In 1874 a hardy 
fernery was laid out in connection with it. The increas- 
ing taste in these plants made their allotment altogether 
too small. In fact so interested and appreciative had 
the public become that a number of gentlemen addressed 
a memorial to Her Majesty’s Office of Works towards 
the end of 1881, setting forth their especial interest, and 
a gift of the executors of the late George Curling Joad, 
F. L. S., of Oakfield, Wimbledon Park, in accordance 
with his expressed wishes offering the entire collection 
of herbaceous plants cultivated at Oakfield. The treas- 
ury which had the building of a larger Rockery under 
consideration appropriated ^500 
at once for its formation. The site 
selected was a level piece of 
ground near the north of the her- 
baceous grounds, and to give var- 
iation to the whole, the walk was 
sunk four feet and laid out in a 
winding cour e leading between 
picturesque and rocky slopes sup- 
posed to represent a rocky course 
of a stream such as may be erected 
in some of the side valleys of the 
Pyrenees. To quote the director: 
“Such streams dry up after win- 
ter, and are bounded by rock 
piled banks amidst the crevices of 
which a copious summer vegeta- 
tion springs up. Above the rocks 
an evergreen shrubby growth de- 
scends wherever the soil is of 
sufficient depth.” 
The path eight feet wide and 
514 feet long at the bottom of the 
Rock garden represents the dry bed of such a stream. 
On either side fragments of rock are piled up in a man- 
ner as little artificial as was possible to a height of about 
five feet. Above this the view is limited by shrubberies 
of box and rhododendron rising to a varying height. 
The natural soil of the site chosen was a perfectly 
pure sand. As much good soil as possible was therefore 
thrown in behind the rock bank together with turf par- 
ings and the sods of the top spit. As the stones were 
arranged this was carefully rammed down, and up to 
the present time (November 1883) no perceptible sub- 
sidence of any part has occurred. For parts of the banks 
with a northern exposure tree stumps were employed. 
These have since been substituted by rocks. This en- 
abled us to use up a large accumulation from the heavy 
windfall in the pleasure grounds referred to hereafter, 
and it also enabled us to extend our operations on a 
considerably larger scale than the money at our disposal 
would otherwise have permitted. The use of wood has 
been a good deal criticized; but it is not wholly out of 
keeping with the general idea, and as a matter of fact it 
proves admirably suited to the growth of the larger and 
stronger growing species. 
One of the chief difficulties to contend with in this 
country in the cultivation of herbaceous plants is the 
violence and volume of summer showers. As parts of 
the bottom of the Rock garden are sunk as much as 
four feet below the general level it was necessary to 
thoroughly drain the whole to prevent swamping from 
rainfall. A drain with numerous catch-pits was carried 
throughout the whole length and connected with the 
main drain of the garden, which discharges into the 
Thames. In order, on the other hand, to protect the 
numerous plants of more humid climates from the ef- 
fect of summer drought a copious water supply was laid 
on with stand pipes at intervals. The water of the gar- 
den supply being always maintained at high pressure the 
whole rock-work can be rapidly and efficiently watered 
by an improvised shower in very dry weather. 
I must express my obligations to several gentlemen, 
who, during the progress of the work, favored me with 
many useful suggestions and otherwise interested them- 
selves in details. I may especially mention Mr. George 
Maw, F. L. S., Dr. Masters, F. R. S., and the Rev. H. 
Ellacombe. To the latter gentleman we are particularly 
indebted for considerable trouble in procuri ngus a quan- 
ity of finely weathered pieces ot Bath oolite, Golonel 
A. M. Jones of Glifton, also most kindly exerted himse'f 
to procure a quantity of weathered mountain limestone 
from the well-known Cheddar Cliffs. This is a material 
admirably adapted for the purpose, as the stones can be 
arranged with little care but agreeable effect much in 
the position which they naturally occupied on the talus 
of the cliffs. 
Besides these sources, on which we should have 
drawn more if money had been available, we made use 
of an overgrown and neglected rockery (Slonehouse 
Ruins) dating from the time of George III. Most of the 
IN THE ROCKERY, KEW GARDENS, ENGLAND. 
