GRADES, LEVELS, CONTOURS 51 



serve the hollow and the hill and to find a way 

 to make both habitable and beautiful. 



Where there is no complicating drainage to 

 consider, the sunken garden planned especially 

 for winter snugness perhaps, sheltered and 

 sunny, is obviously the solution. But where 

 water settles, something else must be done of 

 course. Yet the very last thing which ought 

 ever to be thought of in handling a natural 

 drainage dip is filling in. Such a situation is 

 never improved by filling, for water below the 

 surface is no real advantage, when it comes to 

 the matter of dry foundations, over water on the 

 surface. What, then, is to be done where water 

 stands? 



Make the water difficulty a feature by con- 

 centrating on it and putting enough thought 

 into its treatment to earn and reap the reward 

 of a personal triumph and of individuality and 

 beauty in the garden. Find the key to the situ- 

 ation — and use it. Why is the water there? For 

 no reason save that it settles from the surround- 

 ing surfaces; in other words, it drains in from 

 higher levels. Very well; make the drainage 

 more complete. Provide one spot at the lowest 

 point so much lower and deeper than all the rest 

 that the water will settle only in it — and make 

 this a swamp or bog garden. Or clear and exca- 



