Theory and Practice 145 



The river being everywhere else a lively stream, rat- 

 tling and foaming over a shallow bed of rock or gravel, 

 a greater contrast will arise from a smooth expanse of 

 water in the flower-garden: to produce this must be 

 a work of art, and, therefore, instead of leading an open 

 channel from the river to supply it or making it appear 

 a natural branch of that river, I recommend that the 

 water should pass underground, with regulating sluices 

 or shuttles to keep it always at the same height. Thus 

 the canal will be totally detached from the river and 

 become a distinct object, forming the leading feature of 

 the scene to which it belongs; a scene purely artificial, 

 where a serpentine canal would be as incongruous as 

 a serpentine garden-wall or a serpentine bridge; and, 

 strange as it may appear, I have seen such absurdities 

 introduced, to avoid nature's supposed abhorrence of 

 a straight line. The banks of this canal or fish-pond 

 may be enriched with borders of curious flowers, and 

 a light fence of green laths will serve to train such as 

 require support, while it gives to the whole an air of 

 neatness and careful attention. 



But, as the ends of this water should also be marked 

 by some building or covered seat, I have supposed the 

 entrance to the flower-garden to be under a covered pass- 

 age of hoops, on which may be trained various sorts of 

 creeping plants; and the farther end may be decorated 

 by an architectural building, which I suppose to con- 

 sist of a covered seat between two aviaries. It will 

 perhaps be objected that a long straight walk can have 

 little variety ; but the greatest source of variety in a 

 flower-garden is derived from the selection and divers- 

 ity of its shrubs and flowers. 



There is no ornament of a flower-garden more appro- 

 priate than a conservatory or a greenhouse, where the 



