360 



THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GQIDE. 



WATER SCENERY. 



{Continued from page 329.) 



|HEREVER a natural stream flows through the grounds 

 with something of a pace, a pond or lake may be ob- 

 tained by the simple process of making a suitable 

 excavation, and checking the flow of the water by a 

 dam formed of stone or brick. First divert the stream 

 if the pond, is to occupy a position in its natural course, if not, let 

 the stream flow in its wonted channel until the new channel is ready 

 for it. Then make the excavation, and have it well puddled if the 

 ground is of a nature to require it ; generally speaking, puddling is 

 unnecessary, for though the water may filter away for some time, 



HUSTIC BOAT-HOUSE. 



the deposits of one season will usually suffice to render the bottom 

 comparatively impervious, and the water will then keep to its proper 

 level. One of the finest pieces of ornamental water in the country, 

 the great lake at Sherborne Castle, affords a good example of this 

 simple method of treatment, for it is nothing more than a natural 

 stream dammed back ; the work of one of the greatest landscapists 

 this country has ever produced. 



To obtain picturesque effects in connection with water scenes, 

 is one of the easiest things in all the range of garden embellishment. 

 The water is always our friend ; its gleaming silvery surface when 

 the sun shines, and its deep indigo, or sea-green colour under a dull 

 sky, and with a breeze troubling its surface, render it so pleasingly 

 contrastive to all possible surrounding objects, that we may almost 

 declare it difficult to spoil a water scene. But of course there are 

 limits to our choice of accessories, there ia a good and a bad taste in 





