234 THE NEW GARDENING 



and " forces." The water-gardener, recognizing the 

 significance of these facts, and operating as far as pos- 

 sible in conformity with Nature, will not attempt to 

 force a water-garden into a place where it does not come 

 naturally, but will descend to the lower levels of his 

 domain, whither the surface-water will flow in obedience 

 to a natural law. 



Except in very small places the surface-water does 

 not, as a rule, flow away in circumstances which forbid 

 its being easily intercepted. In many it finds its own 

 lodgment within the confines of the estate, and then 

 only calls for gardening treatment. In other cases, 

 where it eventually escapes from the property, it could 

 be caught and trapped in a suitable spot selected by the 

 gardener on his level ground. 



To intercept surface-water and collect it at a given 

 spot means a system of drainage. This is economically 

 practicable in all soils where there is not less than a yard 

 depth of earth, but not where the soil lies in a shallow 

 layer over chalk or rock. A system of ground-drainage 

 for seizing on surface-water means laying 2-inch drain- 

 pipes in cross trenches two or three feet deep, and fifteen 

 or twenty-five feet apart, according as the soil is stiff or 

 friable ; and linking up these trenches with a larger 

 main drain the outlet of which is in a hollow where the 

 water will find a basin. If no hollow exists to form a 

 suitable water-bed certain modifications in the con- 

 figuration of the ground which will render it capable of 

 holding water may be practicable. Indeed, artificial 

 work may be desirable even where a natural hollow 

 exists if the latter is screened by trees or large shrubs on 

 the south and west, because if so situated it would be 

 robbed of the sunshine which is so necessary for the 

 welfare of the plants and the beauty of the garden. 



