156 Xant)scape Hrcbftecture 



dwells on the importance of the margin, the lip of the 

 shore of a stream, or a lake, or a pool. Landscape 

 gardening can display no greater skill than the work 

 that can be done in varying the line which touches the 

 water with myriads of changes even in small ways so 

 that the eye is continually diverted. It is so that 

 nature works, and we will see it, if we observe v/ith 

 seeing eyes. Here a secret cove with pond lilies and 

 water plants, there a point on which grows, with its 

 roots in the water, a fine tree, a scarlet maple or a wil- 

 low, or perhaps it is a rock all moss-grown. The grass — 

 not cement under any circumstances — on the edge of an 

 open lawn coming down to the water may sink its feet 

 directly in the pool or stream, where its green will be 

 reflected in the most charming manner. There is no 

 end to the effects; all kinds of drooping shrubs may 

 hang the ends of their curving branches in the water, 

 and trees and shrubs redouble their beauty by their re- 

 flected images. Rushes may gather along the banks, and 

 irises thrust themselves beyond the margin. Beaches 

 of sand and gravel should also find places where they 

 would naturally assume shape and remain quiescent 

 until some freshet comes along. It is the end, the 

 margin, the border, the tip of everything that counts 

 above all things in the landscape picture. The margin 

 of the shrub groups, the shore line we have termed it, 

 gives the lawn its true value in the scene: the tips of 

 the branches of the shrubs and trees mark their charac- 

 ter in most cases more than anything else, and make 

 much of their charm and beauty. It is for this reason, 



