158 HOW TO PLAN THE HOME GROUNDS 



eminence of earth, if it does not already exist, on one 

 side of the lot, and erecting thereon some rustic summer- 

 house, or vine-covered pergola, commanding a view over 

 even a small reach of stream or lake. Down by the 

 other corner of the lot may stand a little unobtrusive 

 boat or bath-house, also vine-covered. (See illustration 

 on page 155). None of these buildings need be made 

 obtrusive-looking, but, in every case, special consider- 

 ation could be given to varying and renewing, in some 

 other form, the aesthetic value of the water in the land- 

 scape, just as we found an agreeable effect by a little 

 pool at the foot of the land, the sight of which seemed 

 to carry the eye with more pleasant feelings of expecta- 

 tion to the larger spaces of water beyond. All sorts of 

 variations of the line of the shore and the height of the 

 contour of its immediate borders may be effectively de- 

 vised, and by means of rushes, cat-tails, pond-lilies, and 

 other aquatic plants, an effective and beautifully pictur- 

 esque foreground be given to the water itself. The im- 

 agination may revel in many plans for such water effects 

 in connection with the home, but in undertaking to carry 

 them into actual effect, one will find it always needful 

 to remember that the house must be considered with 

 relation to open space in front, or back, or around it, 

 and that the shape of the ground, and any natural charm 

 it may have originally possessed, should not be forgotten 

 in the desire to accomplish some radical scheme of im- 

 provement. 



