THE AMATEUR’S FLOWER GARDEN. 
249 
clefts filled with sandy peat and broken freestone; and for tho 
majority of true alpines, such as androsaces, the smaller dian- 
thus, erinus, erythrgea, hepatica, iris, lychnis, myosotis, and 
others of like nature, sandy loam of a mellow texture, and 
rich in fibre must be provided, and much of it hidden away 
beneath the masses of rock in such a manner that the roots of 
the plants will find it by fair searching in a perpendicular or 
oblique direction downwards—it must not be expected that 
they will turn corners and go upwards after it anywhere. A 
genuine rockery in the garden of a genuine amateur should, 
in the first place, have one distinct character of its own, and 
an evident set of rela¬ 
tionships. For example, 
if it were determined to 
construct a ruin,it should 
be the ruin of a sup¬ 
positious castle, church, 
keep, or part of one, and 
should be constructed of 
one material throughout, 
or at least not of an in¬ 
congruous mixture of 
materials, such as tho 
original suppositious 
builder would not have 
employed. If, on the 
other hand, a natural 
pile of rocks were imi¬ 
tated, it should consist 
of such rocks as might 
be met with somewhere, 
and not of a collection of geological curiosities in the fashion 
of an outdoor museum. The burrs from the brick-kiln answer 
admirably for a bastion or keep, or for an irregular construc¬ 
tion of miniature mountains, valleys, and gorges, but it would 
not be in good taste to dot the slopes with shells or stick busts 
of eminent (or unknown) personages on the pinnacles. If of 
sufficient extent, it should present a number of aspects and 
considerable variety of conditions, such as rough terraces and 
knolls facing the north, for the smaller and more delicate 
alpines, which thrive the more surely when enjoying a cool 
climate all the summer, and are actually safer in winter in 
THYMUS AZUKEUS. 
