CHAPTER XIX 



THE NEW WATER-GARDENING 



THE old use of water in gardens was entirely stiff and un- 

 natural. There was nothing of beauty about it. Com- 

 pletely inartistic, it served no other purpose than to 

 arouse curious stares from uncultured people when they 

 had nothing more exciting to stare at. 



The water in the old garden was generally enclosed in 

 a large basin, the upper part of which, composed of 

 masonry, stood considerably above the ground-level. A 

 fountain was often used as a centre-piece. 



Modern culture will not tolerate this use of water in 

 gardens. Water on elevated sites, with heavy masses of 

 masonry, may be necessary in reservoirs for economic 

 purposes, and then a power-house and the regular beat 

 of machinery are a suitable accompaniment. But " orna- 

 mental water " to use the stock phrase should lie on 

 sites where it would lie in nature, be encompassed with 

 beautiful vegetation, and show the least possible amount 

 of masonry. 



The flower-lover would not search for water in Nature 

 on the banks and hills. There are, of course, lakes and 

 pools high above sea-level, but they lie in hollows between 

 mountains and mounds, where they take the surface 

 water from the higher ground. And even these elevated 

 lakes are, as a rule, a species of feed-cistern for lakes at 

 sea-level, with which they are connected by waterfalls 



233 



