January 25, 1908. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
49 
Rockeries. 
How to Build and 
Plant. 
There is no time better than the winter 
for building up rockeries and planting 
them with Ferns and other suitable 
plants. There is more time to spare for 
this work, as it is often impossible to do 
any other kind of garden work owing to 
/ 
Round or conical-shaped rockery. 
the wet state of the soil. Furthermore, 
the compost and stones forming the 
rockery settle down well at this season of 
the year. The position for the rockery 
should be very carefully chosen. It 
should have an east, north-east, north, 
or north-west aspect, as F erns and alpine 
plants generally do better m such posi¬ 
tions than when exposed to the sunshine 
too fully. 
Rockeries may be built against walls 
and other fences, or separately. The 
idea very largely prevails that a rockery 
means a heap of stones with some soil 
placed amongst them. This is a mistake. 
A rockery is an arrangement of stones 
and soil, so that the various kinds of 
plants grown on it will thrive as if they 
were growing in their native homes. 
Lack of mould and the wrong way of 
placing the stones account in many in¬ 
stances for the failure of plants on 
rockeries. A good foundation should be 
laid. 
Fig. 1 shows the ground plan of a round 
or conical-shaped rockery. The body of 
the compost is shown at A, and the stones 
at B. After having placed soil and stones 
as shown in this sketch, more compost 
must be placed in the centre A, and then 
more stones. The latter should be firmly 
embedded in the soil and so placed that 
there will be sufficient space between 
them for compost for the plants. 
The position of the stones should be 
such that the rain water will run off them 
and enter the soil, and not from one stone 
to another as is often the case; then the 
roots of the plants suffer. Do not use all 
pointed stones, but fix in some flat ones 
whereon a small quantity of soil may be 
put for such plants as Sedums and some 
of a succulent nature which do not re¬ 
quire a deep rooting medium. The inter¬ 
mixing of flat stones with pointed ones 
makes a charming variation. 
Fig. 2 shows the section of a rockery 
built against a wall; A represents the 
stones and B the soil. It is not wise to 
build up a rockery too high. 
Fig. 3 shows how to arrange the front 
line of a rockery against a wall. A 
frontal stones, B main body of compost, 
and C the wall. 
Another mistake which inexperienced 
persons often make is using a too light 
compost—one which contains too much 
peat and leaf soil. Undoubtedly many 
Section of rockery built against a wall. 
kinds of Ferns and alpine plants thrive in 
a light peaty and sandy soil, but when it 
is placed in bulk in a heap and once be¬ 
comes very dry, the roots of the plants 
perish, use peat and leaf soil judiciously, 
and for Ferns and many other kinds of 
succulent plants add a fair quantity of 
c 
Front line of rockery against a. wall; A, frontal stones; B, main body of 
corn-post; C, wail. 
old lime rubble taken from demolished 
walls and buildings. 
Hardy Ferns: —Ceterach officinarum, 
Adiantum pedatum (Birds Foot Maiden¬ 
hair), Allosorus crispus (Parsley fern), 
Aspidium aculeatum (The Hard Shield 
Fern), Asplenium Adiantum-nigrum (The 
Black ’ Spleenwort), Athyrium Filix- 
foemina (Female or Lady Fern), The 
Crested Lady Fern, Blechnum Spicant 
(Hard Fern), Cystopteris alpina, Nephro- 
dium Filix-mas (Male Fern), Onoclea ger- 
manica (Ostrich Fern), Osmunda regalis 
(The Royal Fern), O. regalis cristata, 
Polypodium vulgare (Common Polypody), 
Scolopendrium in variety. 
Then there are Armerias, Aubrietias, 
Campanula carpatica, and C.c. alba; 
Cerastium tomentosum, Linum grandi- 
florum rubrum, Nasturtiums, Wallflowers, 
Sedums, Saxifragas and Foxgloves. 
G. 
- 4-^4 - 
Rhubarb. 
A Hint 
on Forcing. 
“Everybody knows all about forcing 
Rhubarb” I have heard it said. So I 
thought myself. But when it was objected 
to in the dining-room, because of being 
flavoured with the horse manure em¬ 
ployed to produce it or because of being 
tough in the skin when house-grown 
through strong fire heat, I began to think, 
and decided to grow it without either horse 
manure or fire heat. In the house 1 had 
a good heap of leaves collected annually. 
The leaves were levelled over and left at 
a depth of six feet, and in these I made 
holes large enough to admit American 
apple barrels, allowing about one foot of 
leaves to remain under the barrels. 1 
now put a spadeful of leaf mould in the 
bottom of each barrel and placed four- 
year-old Rhubarb crowms on this, crowms 
up, and filled all spaces between the 
plant and barrel, level with tops of plants, 
with more leaf mould. I generally began 
this system of Rhubarb forcing between 
Christmas and the New Year, and ended 
about mid-February, after which the out¬ 
door Rhubarb urns getting fit for use. 
The Rhubarb produced in this way was 
much appreciated, and in many ways I 
found it the simplest, best, and cleanest 
method of obtaining this vegetable which 
is so much in demand during .early spring. 
A few broken barrel stays laid across 
the barrel tops are better than solid lids, 
these then being covered with at least 
two feet of leaves. Not more than can 
be used should be forced at one time; 
batches weekly or fortnightly come in 
nicely. ECONOMIST. 
-— - 
A Season of Freaks. 
The present year, says a writer in a 
daily paper, has been remarkable for the 
crop of monstrosities produced by vegeta¬ 
tion. Apples and Pears, for instance, are 
now to be seen in flower in many gardens, 
and flowers and fruits have developed 
manv curious and abnormal oddities in 
shape and colour. 
