74: DECORATIVE PLANTING. 



ears ! " All civilized beings love flowers, and ladies often " not 

 wisely, but too well." We will endeaxor to show, hereafter, how 

 they may be wisely cherished. 



Water. — Of water, we can only require that it be pure and 

 clear, and in motion. The scope of this work is loo limited to 

 deal much with the capabilities of this lovely element in the hands 

 of the landscape gardener. Only in large and expensive places can 

 artificial ponds or lakes be introduced to advantage as a decorative 

 element. But we protest against all those abominations made with 

 water, called fish-ponds ; or indeed any ponds at all where the sur- 

 rounding earth, or the earth beneath them, is rich enough to cause 

 water-vegetation, or scum, in them. To invite a clear rippling 

 brook to spread itself out into a stagnant pool, is as bad as to in- 

 veigle your most entertaining friend into " a dead-drunk." It is an 

 outrage on nature and decency. But a brook may be made doubly 

 interesting, sometimes, by obstructing it with stones ; by creating 

 cascades ; by forcing it to rush and hide in narrow crevices, to 

 emerge foaming with excitement ; and, finally, to spread over a 

 shallow bed of bright pebbles, and sparkle leisurely in the sun. 

 Such brooks can be made a perpetual charm. All their beauties 

 may be heightened by art, but not the art of the mill-dam, or fish- 

 pond maker. The fish and fevers bred in such places are not of 

 sutificient value to the producer to warrant the outlay. 



The needful works of art — houses, walls, fences, and decorative 

 constructions — belong more to the architect than to the landscape 

 gardener, and the employment of only architects of thorough edu- 

 cation and culture, is the policy of the citizen who wishes to 

 make a permanently pleasing home, and no foolish expenditures. 

 The building of expensive summer-houses and arbors in ordinary 

 suburban places is rarely necessary. Where grounds are large 

 enough to make them real conveniences, the strong rustic cedar con- 

 structions much used of late years (of which admirable examples 

 are to be seen in the New York Central Park), are well adapted 

 for shady places away from the house and the street. 



