272 How to Make a Flower Garden 



natural wood with a coping. A grade, leading up from the park roadway to 

 the temple-gate entrance of the garden, is dug into low, broad steps, each 

 earthy terrace supported by a row of cobbles. Although said to be not 

 entirely correct as a Japanese garden gateway, the entrance structure is a 

 thing of beauty, its quaint contours and the weathered gray of its timbers 

 appeahng at once to the eye. 



Within the garden there are two thatch-roofed tea-houses overhanging 

 fish-ponds, w^here tea is served by Japanese women in native costume. As 

 you drink tea in the garden, you naturally share the crisp Japanese cakes 

 with the expectant goldfishes clustered below. On higher ground in the 

 rear is a Japanese house. 



The ponds are supplied by a stream that comes trickling most naturally 

 down the hill over its artificial stony bed. The stream is the overfiow from 

 a rock-built well-curb into w^hich water splashes from a couple of w^ell-buckets, 

 the rope suspending them being in reality the pipe which conveys the water 

 from a distant reservoir. A mass of bamboo and pine conceals three sides 

 of the water source and gives an air of sylvan retreat. Msitors are inclined 

 to follow the course of the artfully natural stream as it tumbles m cascades 

 over the rocks, or widens into pools crossed by arched rustic bridges, or 

 narrows where just a stepping-stone suffices for a crossing. In the pools 

 water-plants fiourish, and along the rocky banks are ferns, mosses, lilies, 

 and other suitable plants, with here and there an overhanging pine branch. 



The miniature lakes have the irregular shore outlines of natural lakes, 

 and lie in well-diversified country, if the term country can be applied to so 

 limited an area. Their shores are low^ in places, with grassy margins, and 

 high in others and covered with shrubbery. Here and there are little groups 

 of stunted Japanese pine trees only a couple of feet in height. The ponds 

 are really quite shallow, probably not more than a foot in depth. After 

 being dug, they are paved with stones, the paving extending up to the shore 

 margin, and the entire bottom covered with cement to prevent the accumula- 

 tion of mud. Their bottom levels are so arranged that they can be readily 

 drained and cleaned, and, being of small size, the flow of water is sufficient 

 to prevent their becoming stagnant. The rustic bridges are of proportions 

 suitable to their surroundings, but all wide enough and strong enough to 

 carry passengers in single file. 



Along the walks, sections of low bamboo fencing are created, doubtless 

 more for the purpose of ornament than to protect the tiny lawns. A high 



