THE DECORATIVE TREATMENT OF WATER. 



Water's 



many 

 applica- 

 tions in the 

 garden. 



Fountains. 



The landscape gardener, in his naturally arranged lake and waterfall, endeavours to 

 create a sense of breadth and rural simplicity, while the scholar, inspired, possibly, by 

 the classical Italian and old English examples, prefers the elegance of the circular or 

 geometrically planned pond ; and each is right in his own sphere. All schools, however, 

 agree that water in some form is desirable the Italians in their numerous cascades, 

 fountains and pools, as at the Villa d'Este ; the French in the virile and heroic 

 compositions of le Notre at Versailles, and the Japanese and English in their freer 

 but equally distinctive styles. 



It is seldom that an opportunity occurs in an English garden for formal arrangements 

 of water on the scale which gives character to so many Italian and French gardens. 

 Even in the larger public parks we feel instinctively that elaborate and theatrical displays 

 of waterworks are out of place and out of keeping with the prevailing national spirit. 

 In this country, large sheets of water are more often obtained by flooding valleys or 

 low-lying land, the resulting lake or pond having an outline which follows the natural 

 contours of the surrounding rising ground, an arrangement which suites our homely 

 landscape far better than those in which engineering feats are much in evidence. We 

 have, however, many formal arrangements of water which, though on a smaller scale 

 than the classic examples just quoted, are more suited to their environment, such as 

 the canals of Hampton Court, Chatsworth and Melbourne, Derbyshire, or the Round Pond 

 at Bushy Park. In other places where gardens with smooth lawns bound a river on 

 either side, as at Clare College, Cambridge, the river, lawns and any accompanying 

 architectural features may be grouped into one formal composition with excellent 

 results and even where only one side of the river is available for treatment, as at 

 Trentham or Drakelow, Derbyshire, a successful formal arrangement may be evolved. 



These, however, are schemes which are only adapted to large gardens accompanying 

 palatial mansions and for use in the home park, and it is in the garden near the house 

 that water is most entrancing. Fortunately there are so many ways in which it may 

 be adapted to varying circumstances that few gardens need be without it in one form or 

 another. The manner of its introduction will not only be dependent upon the character 

 of its surroundings and its position in relation to the residence, but also upon the volume 

 and pressure of the supply and whether it can be obtained on the estate or must be 

 brought from a distance, also whether it must be paid for by meter or otherwise. If 

 the supply is from a stream passing through the grounds, a good head of water would 

 suggest a series of cascades, while if the stream were one of those sleepy rivulets so 

 characteristic of the home counties, then the obvious treatment would consist in the 

 arrangement of a formal lily pond or ornamental canal in which iris, reeds, or other 

 water-loving plants might be naturalized. 



Having thus touched briefly upon the introduction of water into the design of the 

 garden, and mentioned its various forms, we may now proceed to deal with each of these 

 more in detail. 



By far the most generally useful of all these is the fountain, in one or another of 

 its many kinds, which vary from the single jet rising from a simple pond to the elaborate 

 and sculptured designs for which Versailles is famous. The choice is therefore a wide 

 one, but, as in every other feature of the English garden, while the design and degree 

 of elaboration should express a full sense of the relative importance of its position in 

 relation to surrounding features, it is far better to err on the side of too simple a 

 treatment than too great complexity and over-elaboration. 



In nine cases out of ten where a fountain is well placed, it will form part of either 

 a formal terrace scheme or the central ornament in an old English formal garden such 

 as a rose garden. In the former instance, if the position is at all exposed, it may not 

 be possible to have a rising jet, as the wind would blow it clear of the basin into which 



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