THE AMATEUR’S FLOWER GARDEN. 
247 
heat of summer, and with open sheltered seats facing south 
for enjoyment of the landscape, and the song of the lark in 
the early spring, and in all seasons providing entertainment. 
in its varied vesture of ferns, mosses, flowering plants, and 
picturesque surroundings, a rockery may indeed become a 
most delightful accessory, acceptable alike to the botanist, the 
artist, and the eclectic idler, whose desire it may be, having 
escaped from a world of cares, to “rest and be thankful. ,, 
If far enough removed from the dwelling-house to be con¬ 
sistent, a cottage, or miniature chatelet, comprising a reading- 
room, a smoking-room, and a chamber suitable for accom¬ 
modating luncheon and tea parties would be a most valuable 
aid to the enjoyment of a good rockery. A model of a ruin 
on a sufficiently large scale could 
be equally well adapted for social 
gatherings and meditative retire¬ 
ment, and in a place of sufficient 
extent to admit of it without 
breach of propriety, the ruin and 
the hermit’s cell, if adopted at 
all, should be thoroughly deve¬ 
loped and made a delightful place 
of retreat. 
The materials of which rock¬ 
eries are constructed must vary 
in different localities. If the dis¬ 
trict affords suitable stone, and 
large blocks can be placed to re¬ 
present natural protrusions of the 
strata from below, there will be 
a great gain in reality and force, 
provided these strong features 
are not weakened by puerile ebodium macradenium. 
accompaniments, such as paltry 
piles of shells, and cairns formed of the sweepings of a 
builder’s yard. It is the very first requirement of taste, no 
less than of the most sober common-sense, that the natural capa¬ 
bilities of a place should be developed, and in a rocky country 
the materials most readily available are almost certain to be 
the most suitable, because in harmony with the genius loci 9 
while such a tempting site as an old chalk quarry, or disused 
gravel pit, may be turned to grand account for the cultivation 
