104 Landscape Gardening 



Let him go still further now, in imagination, and suppose 

 the banks of this natural lake, without being otherwise 

 altered, entirely denuded of grass, shrubs, trees, and verdure 

 of every description, remaining characterized only by their 

 original form and outline; this will give him a more com- 

 plete view of the method in which his labors must com- 

 mence; for uncouth and apparently mis-shapen as those 

 banks are and must be, when raw and unclothed, to exhibit 

 all their variety and play of light and shadow when verdant 

 and complete, so also must the original form of the banks 

 and margin of the piece of artificial water, in order finally 

 to assume the beautiful or picturesque, be made to assume 

 outlines equally rough and harsh in their raw and incom- 

 plete state. 



It occasionally happens, though rarely, that around the 

 hollow or valley where it is proposed to form the piece of 

 water, the ground rises in such irregular form, and is so 

 undulating, receding, and projecting in various parts, that 

 when the water is dammed up by the head below, the 

 natural outline formed by the banks already existing, is 

 sufficiently varied to produce a pleasing effect without much 

 further preparatory labor. This, when it occurs, is ex- 

 ceedingly fortunate; but the examples are so unfrequent, 

 that we must here make our suggestions upon a different 

 supposition. 



When, therefore, it is found that the form of the intended 

 lake would not be such as is desirable, it must be made so 

 by digging. In order to do this with any exactness the 

 improver should take his stand at that part of the ground 

 where the dam or head is to be formed, and raising his 

 levelling instrument to the exact height to which the in- 

 tended lake will rise, sweep round with his eye upon the 

 surrounding sides of the valley, and indicate by placing 

 marks there, the precise line to which the water will reach. 

 This can easily be done throughout the whole circumference 

 by a few changes of position. 



When the outline is ascertained in this way, and marked 

 out, the improver can, with the occasional aid of the leveller, 



