THE DECORATIVE TREATMENT OF WATER. 



it should fall, and so prevent the terraces from being used at all on its leeward side, Fountains 

 while in the case of the formal garden, which would usually be enclosed with tall clipped in exposed 

 hedges, there would be ample shelter. Neglect of the effect of winds on the fountain Positions. 

 is the cause of more failures than any other factor. If, whenever there is more than 

 the gentlest breeze, it renders all its surroundings damp, there will be comparatively 

 few occasions when it can be used, and the extent to which the water may be blown 

 is very little realized by 

 those who have not ex- 

 perienced it. To quote 

 an example which will 

 be familiar to everybody, 

 the writer has felt the 

 spray from the fountains 

 in Trafalgar Square, Lon- 

 don, at the corner of 

 Cockspur Street, on an 

 exceptionally windy day, 

 even though in this case 

 there is considerable shel- 

 ter from the surrounding 

 buildings. On an ex- 

 posed terrace, therefore, 

 it is far better to allow 

 the water to spout 

 downwards into a series 

 of basins, as in the 

 well-kno-wn example at 

 Revelstoke, or, where 

 there is not sufficient 

 pressure on the supply 

 main for this, to be 

 content with a bubble 

 fountain. One instinc- 

 tively feels that the best 

 place for a fountain is 

 an enclosed court of some 

 kind where the still air 

 might be oppressive on 

 a hot day were it not for 

 the sensation of coolness 

 and freshness imparted 

 by the falling water, and 

 it is here that the rising 



jet will be least liable to be blown about. In such cases the light feathery streams 

 may rise from the surface of the water, or where more elaboration is called for, a 

 group of statuary, such as the boy and dolphin shown in illustration No. 237 may be 

 introduced. The height to which the jet should rise and the diameter of the pond into 

 which it falls, should be carefully proportioned, and, generally speaking, heaviness in the 

 effect on the one hand and a liability to overflow on the other will be avoided by making 

 the latter very slightly more in diameter than the height of the former. At Drakelowe, 

 Derbyshire, there is a well-balanced arrangement consisting of a circular stone basin with 



FIG. 237. BOY AND FISH FOUNTAIN. 



177 



