295 
Rockery and Alpine Garden . 
feature for success. To do this well, use potsherds, etc., well under th e 
e arth, and mingle amongst the soil little bits of sandstone. When this cannot 
be got, broken bits of rough and decayed old mortar will do pretty well. In 
towns it is often possible to get a very rich sandstone from men who collect 
“ hearthstone” on their own account, the border stuff not being good enough 
for their usual merchandize. 
The greatest enemy, in our climate, to alpine plants is the cold dampness of 
our winters. Drizzling fogs, for which perhaps London stands first, are fatal 
to many things, but especially to saxifrages. Unfavourably situated, they rot 
off in the most heartrending manner, and yet with care they will withstand it 
in the very heart of London. Indeed, it is possible to grow saxifrages really 
well in a window box, or on a ledge in a back yard, whilst many a flat house¬ 
top in London might, with proper arrangement and care, actually be transformed 
into an alpine rock garden. 
Having dealt with the various types of rockeries, it is necessary now to offer 
a few remarks on the materials available, method of construction, and mode 
of planting. With regard to the first-named, as we have already described 
them pretty fully in the preceding chapter, it is hardly worth while repeating 
the information here, because the same materials are required in the present 
case, and nothing new can be added to what has already been said. Mr. 
Lovett, again, has alluded pretty fully to the matter, consequently the 
reader will find abundant information of this phase of the subject elsewhere. 
Much, too, that has been said in the chapter on constructing a fernery 
applies to an alpine rockery also. The great aim should be to avoid any¬ 
thing like stiffness or formality, either in the outline of the rockery or in the 
arrangement of the materials. Don't attempt to level or place the soil in a 
formal heap. Pick up the burrs or stones and drop a big one down here and 
there. Don't touch them again to attempt to make them appear “ nice and 
level” and so forth. Just imagine that a stone or a burr is a meteor dropped 
from the heavens, and is too hot or too heavy for you to move. Don't put 
all your big stones or burrs at the top of the mound and finish off gradually 
with small ones. Big ones should be dropped anywhere about the heap— 
front, middle, or top. These will form the ground work. Now get some 
smaller ones and distribute these about here and there, so that unconsciously 
you get an outline of tiny beds, some showing boldly, others receding, and so 
on. Next settle the outline of the rockery. Attempt no regular order. If 
the soil comes out a foot or more in one place than another, don't push it back, 
