362 THE PLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



row of dwarf roses, with shrubby perennials between them. In the 

 centre runs an oblong parterre, studded with bright flowering peren- 

 nials in large groups of contrasting colours. The path runs on each 

 side of this centre-bed, bounded on the right by the border of ever- 

 greens, on the left by the roses and perennials. Where the paths 

 meet at the further end of the central bed stands the fountain, the 

 path encircling it, and then passing on down both sides of the garden, 

 where the shrubs thicken and at last terminate in trees, with woody 

 country scenery beyond the garden as a background. We describe 

 details not because they are uncommon, but because the fountain is 

 the key-note to the whole, when placed and arranged as this is, and 

 the result is a complete picture. 



The stone basin is about ten feet in diameter ; around it is a 

 ring of rockwork, or, to speak more correctly, dark stones, studded 

 with the choicest collection of British plants ever got together in so 

 small a space ; a mass of dark green juniper forming a rich clump of 

 overhanging verdure, that serves to break the formality of the circle, 

 and adds, by contrast, to the beauty of the brighter foliage, and gay 

 mingling of colours in the succulent and trailing plants with which 

 the remainder of the ring is thickly studded. A light wire fence 

 surrounds this beautiful garland, and beyond this is a broad circle of 

 the greenest sward, adorned with a fine group of standard roses, each 

 of a distinct and bold tint, the heads of all being trained out fountain- 

 fashion. In the centre a bold jet plays : it is supplied by a cistern, 

 elevated and hidden by trees. This scene from the windows of the 

 house has a charming aspect, and every one of the many fine clusters 

 of colour in the surrounding borders derives additional glory from the 

 vivid green of the zone of turf, and the sparkling freshness of the 

 water, with its groups of lilies, cape pond-weed, and trumpet-lily, 

 and its stock of lively gold-fishes. 



A garden of the smallest dimensions affords facilities for the 

 introduction of water scenery of this kind. A basin of artificial 

 stone is to be preferred where the dimensions are small, and the 



formal arrangements of the flower-beds such as to render a rustic 

 pond out of keeping with the scene. Such a tank must not be 

 enclosed by shrubs or a profusion of vegetation, but must offer 

 its white rim in contrast with a smooth turf, sloping gently up to- 

 wards a hillock, out of which the basin rises with its circle unbroken, 



