THE DECORATIVE TREATMENT OF WATER. 



account also the surroundings and character of the margins to be reflected in the water, 

 while the reflections cast by floating clouds and the animation produced by water-fowl 

 are shared by both alike. In cases where there is any fear of a shortage of water, 

 practical considerations favour the formal pond, as its construction not only allows of 

 its being made more watertight and thus economising the supply, but also makes 

 cleaning out an easy process, a most necessary undertaking if there is the slightest doubt 

 of the supply being strong enough to keep it clean. 



The long water lagoon at Kearsney Court near Dover, of which photographs are 

 given in illustrations Nos. 235 and 236, is a notable instance of the formation of a large 

 sheet of ornamental water which seemed immediately to fall in with its surroundings. 

 The large elms and other full-grown timber trees which bordered the boggy depression 

 in which it was constructed, though not evenly spaced, or even of one kind, nevertheless 

 give an 

 avenue-like 

 effect and 

 fall natur- 

 ally into 

 their place 

 as part of 

 a formal 

 composi- 

 tion on a 

 somewhat 

 large scale. 

 Before the 

 work was 

 undertaken, 

 the stream 

 which now 

 feeds the 

 canal pass- 

 ed under- 

 ground and 

 out of sight 

 owing to 

 the porous 

 nature of 

 the subsoil. 



OPEN - AJU 

 3W1MMINO 

 BATH 

 FED BY 

 3TUCAM 



FIG. 254. AN OPEN-AIR SWIMMING BATH. 



This made it necessary that the whole of the bed of the canal should 

 be covered with a layer of concrete. It is rectangular in shape with a widened centre por- 

 tion. At each end is a bridge which spans the inlet or outlet and is to be extended by 

 means of a pergola on either side to the full width of the formal water, thus screening 

 the narrow stream above and below the canal. 



Another ornamental canal is shown in illustration No. 256 and is now in course of 

 construction on the West side of the Palace of Peace at the Hague. Here a sluggish 

 but fairly strong stream of water passes through the grounds at a level which allows of 

 any shape and size of formal pond most consistent with the plan of the gardens as a 

 whole. This pond has a length of four hundred and ninety feet, with a _ width in the 

 central part of eighty feet, and in the narrower canal part, of forty feet. 



While most formal canals are of considerable extent, sufficiently so in many cases to 

 allow of the effective use of Thames punts or Canadian canoes, they may be adapted 

 to almost any size of garden and almost any position. Thus, in illustrations Nos. 



IQT 



