these have been necessarily and wisely (gradually it might be) expended to 
form this fine collection. Less perhaps than might be supposed, for the 
owners are their own head gardeners, and are rare judges of good hardy 
plants." 
We adopted a similar plan some years ago in a suburban garden, and found 
it to answer exceedingly well. Beds consisting of stones, burrs, and soil, and 
raised more or less above the surface, were formed on the lawn or grassplot. 
They constituted an excellent means of growing alpines and were far more 
nteresting than an ordinary rockery. Our practice was to drop a few stones 
or burrs about on the turf to form an irregular bed. We then had the turf 
dug up inside the stones and left roughly. On this a thick layer of cow 
manure was placed, and then enough ordinary good mould to fill the bed to 
the top of the stones. A few stones or burrs were next placed here and there 
inside, and the spaces filled up with mould. If it happened to be a large bed, 
dwarf-growing shrubs were planted here and there to break up the flatness, 
and the remainder planted with alpines. Sometimes we had groups of these 
beds of all shapes and sizes, and sometimes they occurred singly. Being 
raised above the surface, the aubretias and other showy plants looked 
extremely pretty, draping the sides of the burrs, &c., on the green turf. They 
had, moreover, another advantage; visitors could walk around them with ease, 
and one could more easily attend to the wants of the plants than when 
growing on a rockery. 
So far, our remarks have been confined to the employment of rockwork as 
a minor element in garden scenery. Were we to leave off at this point we 
should entirely pass over those who have only very small back gardens, and 
who have such a penchant for the culture of alpines, that to gratify their tastes 
they have to devote the whole of the space at their disposal to the pursuit of 
their favourite hobby. Our business is to cater for all, and therefore we must 
have something to say on the subject of rockeries in back gardens. That 
alpines can be grown with great success in a back garden we have had ample 
evidence, and that a properly and tastefully constructed rockery occupying 
the whole of the area of the latter is one of the most interesting and beautiful 
methods of laying it out, there cannot be the slightest shadow of a doubt. 
Here, for example, is a description of a garden laid out by Mr. Edward 
Lovett, of Croydon, an amateur cultivator of alpine plants. 
It is very generally supposed that an alpine garden, or, in fact, anything 
that deviates from the orthodox rectangular garden of a suburban villa, 
Rockery and Alpine Garden. 
