the wild that does not fit in with most architecture.
Exceptions are when the house is on a rocky site that makes such
planting desirable, if not imperative, and a slope from the rear or one
side of a house that seems decided enough to permit of a sharp break in
the general landscape treatment. Save in these circumstances, it is
better that it should not be in sight of the house. This is not so hard
as it sounds; even on a small place, the spot is easily concealed by a
planting of shrubbery.

Nor should the rock garden, any more than the rockery, be in the lawn
unless it is depressed and therefore out of sight, or mainly so, from
the level. The depression may be a natural or an artificial one, it may
be a brook with high banks or it may be a sunken pathway. The edge of a
lawn is better, a corner of it is better yet, and preferable to either
is a bank sloping down from it. The bank on either side of steps
leading from one lawn level to another is also a possibility to be
considered.

Trees need not be altogether avoided; sometimes they are essential to
the pictorial effect. It is not well, however, to place a rock garden
near very large trees. The drip is bad, especially for alpines, and the
greedy roots not only rob the plants of nourishment but are very apt to
dislocate the stones.

Somewhere just outside the real garden is the best place; then it is
only a step from one little world into another that is altogether
different. If the rock garden leads to a bit of wood, either directly or
through a wild garden, there will be all the more to rejoice over. The
more irregularity the site has, or suggests, the better; a rock garden
not only should have no straight lines, but it is not well that all of
it should be comprehended in a single view--no matter whether the area
be large or small.

[Illustration: Wherever possible make the entrance to the rock garden a
rough flight of steps. Excavate if necessary. Plant the step crevices as
well as those of the side walls]

What constitutes a good site is well illustrated by one of the existing
American rock gardens. The place is large, and in the rear of the house
the grounds are level for a considerable distance and then drop with a
fairly steep bank to a driveway, below which another terrace leads to a
meadow. Instead of being continuous, however, the bank above the
driveway is broken by a little glen, seemingly leading nowhere, but
actually an entrance to both the rear law