Special Features 225 



will produce broad effects in the way of color should like- 

 wise be employed. Such would be the rhododendrons, aza- 

 leas, hardy roses, laburnums, Hlacs, etc., and, if within the 

 pleasure grounds, hydrangeas, dahlias, or even patches of 

 showy geraniums might be added. 



Smoothness and softness in the finish of the banks around 

 water should be a leading feature, and the grass should slope 

 down more or less gently to the very edge of the water so 

 that there be no hard line of earth between them. Even 

 where the plantations come down to the brink of the water 

 there can still be a strip of turf below them, that the water 

 may not wash against bare earth anywhere. 



In more secluded parts, water can be treated rather less 

 artificially, and have its banks formed of partially broken 

 ground, with rougher grass and masses of jutting rock or old 

 roots on some of the more conspicuous points. This will 

 heighten the variety and beauty of the reflections in it. But 

 it requires consummate taste and art to effect anything of 

 the sort. Gardeners in general have no notion whate^'er of 

 dealing with ground otherwise than in the commonplace 

 manner. 



Aquatic plants may be grown in any piece of water, but 

 they will be less appropriate the more artificial the water is 

 made, and will adapt themselves better to rougher and more 

 rustic accompaniments. If kept near the edge and placed 

 almost wholly opposite the more prominent points of land, 

 they will be nearly tantamount to specimen trees or shrubs 

 planted in the front of swells in lawn plantations, and may 

 be equally good. 



Stagnant water being very apt to become corrupt and to 

 evaporate largely in summer, some expedient should always 

 be contrived for retaining water in lakes and maintaining a 

 tolerably fresh supply. Thorough puddling for the bottom 



