FOUNTAINS. 



THE beautiful forms taken by ejected water, rising in a stately 

 column, and falling in glittering spray, have a charm of their own that 

 sometimes is in the nature of a fascination, exercised not only by 

 the water forms, but appealing to another sense by the melody of 

 rippling sound. The arrangement is almost purely artificial, and 

 the resource is most consonant with those parts of the garden 

 where nature is most directly tutored and linked with the direct 

 evidences of art. There is great opportunity for variety in design 

 and application of the beauty of water forms. 



Fountain basins differ essentially in their construction from lakes. 

 A regular form or artistic outline must be given to them, dependent, 

 it is true, on their position relatively to the house, or to the 

 surrounding ground, but signalised by its artificial character. The 

 outline is marked by a stone coping, which should possess archi- 

 tectural appropriateness to the neighbouring constructions. If the 

 ground be solid, a brick wall carrying the coping may be built to 

 a suitable depth, as at the Crystal Palace ; and the bottom of the 

 basin may be puddled. For small fountains it is usual to form 

 concrete basins, resting against a surrounding wall of brick, on which 

 the coping or kerb is imposed. The inside of such basins should 

 slope from the margin at such an angle that when ice is formed, 

 as it rises and expands, it may find sufficient room and no damage 



