THE TREATMENT OF WATER 59 



sight. It is seldom nowadays that we hear of water 

 being treated in the lavish style of design which made 

 Brown famous among his contemporaries. So far as the 

 small property is concerned, the less of Art and the 

 more of Nature we have, the better. In most cases, 

 existing effects should be jealously preserved, the de- 

 signer making it his business merely to amplify and 

 elaborate these without destroying their individuality. 

 Above all, the presence of water should be made the 

 excuse for an aquatic garden, than which nothing gives 

 greater interest and pleasure. Fountains and cascades are 

 very well, but they are always alike and present from 

 day to day the same prospect of rising or falling water. 

 The water garden is ever fresh, ever new, its aspect 

 undergoes constant alteration, owing to the growth and 

 change of the plants it contains. Above all the reflected 

 beauty of flower and branch, of cloud and summer sky, 

 are never failing sources of attraction, bringing home 

 to the most jaded mind some of the fairest and most 

 subtle charms of the great world of Nature. 



