Treatment of \Valcr 113 



Brooks, rivulets, and even rills may frequently be greatly 

 improved by altering the form of their beds in various 

 places. Often by merely removing a few trifling obstruc- 

 tions, loose stones, branches, etc., or hollowing away the 

 adjoining bank for a short distance, fine little expanses or 

 pools of still water may be formed, which are happily con- 

 trasted with the more rugged course of the rest of the 

 stream. Such improvements of these minor water courses 

 are much preferable to widening them into flat, insipid, 

 tame canals or rivers, which, though they present greater 

 surface to the eye, are a thousand times inferior in the 

 impetuosity of motion, and musical, "babbling sound," so 

 delightful in rapid brooks and rivulets. 



Cascades and water-falls are the most charming features 

 of natural brooks and rivulets. Whatever may be their 

 size they are always greatly admired, and in no way is the 

 peculiar stillness of the air, peculiar to the country, more 

 pleasingly broken, than by the melody of falling water. 

 Even the gurgling and mellow sound of a small rill, leaping 

 over a few fantastic stones, has a kind of lulling fascination 

 for the ear, and when this sound can be brought so near as 

 to be distinctly heard at the residence itself, it is- peculiarly 

 delightful. Now any one who examines a small cascade 

 at all attentively, in a natural brook, will see that it is often 

 formed in the simplest manner by the interposition of a few 

 large projecting stones, which partially dam up the current 

 and prevent the ready flow of the water. Such little cas- 

 cades are easily imitated, by following exactly the same 

 course, and damming up the little brook artificially; stu- 

 diously avoiding, however, any formal and artificial dis- 

 position of the stones or rocks employed. 



Larger water-falls and cascades cannot usually be made 

 without some regular head or breastwork, to oppose more 

 firmly the force of the current. Such heads may be formed 

 of stout plank and well prepared clay; * or, which is greatly 



: It is found that strong loam or any tenacious earth we'll prepared by 

 puddling or beating in water is equally impervious to water as clay; and 

 may therefore be used for lining the sides or dams of bodies of made water 

 when such materials are required. A. J. D. 



