WATER GARDENS. 169 



is abundant and continuous, it matters little whether a portion 

 of the water is wasted by percolating through the sides of the 

 pond, but when only a small supply can be had the bottom and 

 sides of the pond must be either concreted or puddled with clay. It 

 often happens that when the excavations for a pond are completed 

 the bottom is found to consist of impervious clay, but the sides 

 consist of ordinary soil, which would allow a large portion of the 

 water to waste. In such cases the best way out of the difficulty is 

 the cutting of a narrow trench, say 18 inches wide, to a depth a little 

 beyond the surface of the natural clay subsoil. This trench, which 

 should skirt the whole pond at some little distance from the actual 

 edge of the water, is then filled with clay "puddle" till just above 



Riverside plants in front of an old manor Levens. 



the water-line and forms an effective remedy against waste, while 

 the water-soaked soil between the trench and the actual outline of 

 the pond forms an excellent home for all kinds of marsh plants of 

 the bolder type. The outline of a pond is of the utmost importance. 

 Regular curves of circles or ovals are utterly out of place and look 

 ridiculous in a landscape with naturally undulating ground. 



The water-soaked margins of our ponds and brooks would furnish 

 a home for many graceful fine-foliaged and flowering plants. One of 

 the noblest of our plants with large leaves delight- 

 Margins of ing in such a position is Gunnera manicata. 

 water. Gunnera scabra also likes a similar position, but 



its leaves seldom attain a diameter of more than 

 5 feet, while Gunnera magellanica is quite a pigmy. Rheum Emodi 

 from the Himalayas, Rheum palmatum from Northern Asia, and 



