328 THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GAEDBN GUIDE. 



marking out the boundary, throw the greatest extent right and left 

 of the principal approach to it or the principal view of it. Suppose, 

 for instance, that the walks lead from the terrace or dressed lawn 

 through a belt of evergreens towards the wilderness, at some point 

 in this progress the pond will appear in the scene ; and on the side 

 next this approach it should be so extended as to show the greatest 

 possible extent ; and the whole of the plauting of a nature to obstruct 

 the view should be on the margin most remote from this first and 

 principal view. 



Fig. 1. Fig. 2. 



Suppose our principal view is from A (Fig. 1), which we will 

 consider to be the site of an elevated part of the lawn, to which we 

 resort for a view of the country. If the pond extends its greatest 

 diameter from b to c, the eye has the fullest range of its boundaries 

 — none of its extent is lost. But suppose the longest diameter 

 happens to be as in Fig. 2, then, however spacious the extent of 

 water, it is foreshortened to the eye, and appears smaller than it 

 really is. But to destroy the severe formality of right angles, the 

 general direction of the foreshore may be oblique to the line of 

 vision, without loss of space, provided the obliquity is not at a low 

 angle, and the form of the whole is irregular. This may be illustrated 

 by a sketch from a pond made by us, a few years since, in a garden 

 in a very pretty western suburb. Instead of a circle or a square, we 

 bent the pond round upon itself, so that the whole extent cannot be 

 viewed from any one point. The margin next the principal view 

 was left quite open, so as allow the whole of the surface of the water 

 to impress its character on the scene. The planting on the open 

 side was arranged so as to partly obstruct the view of the distant 

 village, which now appears as if set in a fraine-work of leafmess. 



It is needful that a few practical remarks should be made in 

 reference to the earth-work of a pond. When the site, size, and 

 shape of the pond have been determined, a dead level must be 

 marked on stakes placed at a few points of the boundary, and to this 

 level all work must be regulated, no matter what the intended depth, 

 or what the variations of that depth in different parts of the same 

 pond. We can illustrate the necessity for making a dead level by a 

 case that lately came under our observation. A landscape-gardener 

 marked out a place for a pond in a very pretty place he was engaged 

 in planting and decorating, and the superintendent of the works, a 

 man well experienced in every branch of horticultural industry, 

 trusted to guess-work instead of using a spirit-level in taking out 

 the stuff for the pond. The result was, that when the first heavy 

 rainfall came the pond filled, and was about one inch deep at one 

 end and five feet at the other. It had to be emptied, the outfall 



