CHAPTER XIV. 
THE ROCKERY AND ALPINE GARDEN, 
The course of procedure sanctioned by custom in tbe literary 
treatment of this subject consists in first destroying all existing 
rockeries everywhere by unqualified abuse, and then recon¬ 
structing them on the author’s model, on the hypothesis that 
they do not exist to please their owners, but to illustrate the 
writer’s theory of what a rockery should be. We beg per¬ 
mission to evade the demands of “tyrant custom,” and avoid¬ 
ing controversy, to find opportunity here for a few suggestions 
that may be useful to the reader. 
There are many kinds of rockeries, and they serve many 
purposes. They are sometimes intended as mere screens to 
hide from view objectionable objects ; but usually they are 
adopted for purposes of ornament, and to afford their pos¬ 
sessor suitable situations for the cultivation of ferns and 
alpine plants. As a matter of taste, a really “ savage,” or 
say rustic rockery, should not be associated with straight 
walks, smooth lawns, vases, statuary, and clipped trees. Yet 
in the most finished part of a garden, a modified form of 
rockery may be admissible, as, for example, a circle of large 
unhewn stones to form the boundary of a fountain, with 
calandrinias, portuluccas, mesembryanthemums, and varie¬ 
gated-leaved plants of trailing habit dotted about amongst 
them. But this would not be a rockery, properly speaking ; 
it would be a garnishing of an artistic scene, with rocks only 
partially displayed, but affording a suitable groundwork for the 
flowers displayed above them. A rustic rockery may be made 
a most interesting feature, and a good connecting link between 
distinct scenes, while at the same time it provides sunny, 
shady, dry, moist, and marshy sites for an interesting assem¬ 
blage of beautiful plants. When associated with a resting- 
place and reading-room, affording shade and coolness in the 
