growth, enabling the plants to better withstand the vagaries of 
our winters. Among the subjects planted in the moraine are 
Androsace, Saxifraga , Primula, and Asperula. Their growth has 
been encouraging and there is a prospect that we may have to ex- 
tend our “moraine garden.” 
The general idea in constructing the garden was that of a 
boulder strewn slope. This design, of necessity, was modified 
in places to provide proper cultural conditions as to drainage, 
depth of soil, and shade. The desirability of walks or trails, so 
that visitors might get near enough to the plants (some of which 
are very diminutive) to appreciate their beauty, was another 
factor which inhibited the idea of a boulder strewn slope being 
carried out in its entirety. The provision of adequate facilities 
in the way of paths in a rock garden which is open to the public 
is always a problem when a naturalistic effect is desired. If the 
walks and trails are constructed of rocks similar in character to 
those used in the body of the garden, and made without definite 
boundaries so as to merge into the garden, many plants are 
doomed to destruction by the feet of visitors, particularly small 
and active boys, who wander from the straight and narrow way. 
The problem was partly overcome in the Royal Gardens, Kew, 
England, by constructing the rock garden in the simulation of 
the bed and banks of a dried-up Pyrenean mountain stream. The 
bed of the stream is represented by a wide gravel path. Even 
with this arrangement, some of the plants on the higher parts of 
the garden cannot be readily seen from the walk, and it is no un- 
common sight to see visitors armed with field glasses studying 
the plants and labels on the higher levels. Is it too much to hope 
that some day the people of Brooklyn may become imbued with 
such a love for plants that, instead of walking over, injuring, 
and sometimes destroying the plants that lie between them and 
the object of their interest, they will have recourse to field glasses ? 
Bird lovers habitually use them. Why should not their use be 
extended to the flower lover? 
As it was decided that the accessibility of the plants to the 
public was of greater importance than maintaining intact the 
ideal of a stony slope, our garden is well provided with walks 
and trails. These are made of irregular flag stones, laid infor- 
mally, and, in the case of the small trails, with a stepping stone 
effect. There is very little excuse for deserting the walks for the 
purpose of inspecting the plants— that is, unless one is so unfor- 
tunate as to be very near-sighted. 
The rock garden is intended primarily to supply proper cultural 
conditions and to display in a suitable setting, alpine and saxatile 
plants, and may thus be considered as an ecological exhibit. With 
