CHAPTER VII 



THE TREATMENT OF WATER 



HAPPY indeed are they whose gardens contain a piece of 

 water, for water when properly treated is one of the 

 first aids to beauty and completeness in design. It may 

 be a stately lake, large enough to permit of boating in 

 summer and skating in winter, or perhaps only a small 

 artificially constructed tank, a home for lilies and choice 

 aquatics. Water is Nature's mirror, in which some of 

 her choicest pictures are reflected ; the ever-changing 

 features of cloud and sky, the broken outline of hill and 

 wood, and the nearer fringe of vegetation which rises 

 softly from the bank. It is because water is so essentially 

 a handmaiden of Nature, that we must exercise the 

 greatest care and skill in our introduction of it, into 

 scenes which are purely artificial in character. Water 

 gardens and "water works " have nothing in common, 

 though designers of the latter will unhesitatingly apply 

 the former term to their wretched creations. What 

 would the beautiful old gardens of Italy be without 

 their fountains ? Torlania, Frascati, and the cypress 

 terraces of D'Este, Tivoli, their charm is not to be 

 equalled. But how can we reconcile to the true ideals 

 of a garden, the monstrous outpourings of the great 

 fountain and cascades at Chatsworth, the canals and 

 fountains at Versailles and Caserta, and those very 

 triumphs of ugliness the water squirts of the Crystal 

 Palace ? As well call Trafalgar Square a garden as 

 apply the name to these freakish show places. 

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