WATER FLOWERS 237 



forward sincerity. Where a pool truly natural 

 is possible — and by truly natural I mean abso- 

 lutely without any interference by man except 

 to the extent of building a dam possibly, to hold 

 back the waters of a little stream, or excavating 

 a bog or natural drainage basin where surface 

 waters collect, until such basin is deepened suffi- 

 ciently to hold water throughout the season — 

 naturalistic treatment of its margins and of its 

 planting will follow as a matter of course under 

 this ideal. But where a pool is built, even 

 though the building is not done with cement, in 

 form and marginal finish and general treatment 

 let it be honestly i^nnaturalistic. 



This does not preclude the use of grass mar- 

 gins any more than it need involve wide and 

 ugly copings of concrete, for turf may be car- 

 ried right to the water's edge of a square, round 

 or rectangular pool quite as well as to the edge 

 of one of irregular shape. Moreover it need not 

 involve a set and formal treatment of the garden 

 generally; for there is a vast difference between 

 frankly admitting our human part in a garden, 

 through its design and ordered and orderly 

 beauty, and emphasizing our presence by 

 making every feature aggressively eloquent of 

 ourselves and our dominion over inanimate 

 materials. 



