n6 GARDENS PAST AND PRESENT 



stand to enjoy the water lilies lying calm and 

 peaceful on the clear mirror of the water in all 

 their ideal loveliness. Translate the whole pic- 

 ture into new red brick, and where would be the 

 unspeakable charm ? Still worse would be the 

 effect of stucco to cover up the crude flare of the 

 bricks, and yet how often such makeshifts are 

 allowed ! Personally, it seems to me that the ideal 

 place for water lilies, and more especially for the 

 new many-coloured varieties, would be in what 

 someone calls a stone garden, i.e. a flagged court on 

 a grand scale. Here there would be scope for con- 

 siderable architectural design, and the rich pictorial 

 forms of lily leaf and flower would be in perfect 

 accord with their setting. But this is true garden 

 luxury, and most of us have to be content with 

 simpler things. The simpler the better in the mat- 

 ter of small tanks for small gardens. No one can 

 find fault with one of square or oblong shape, or 

 a plain circle if it be preferred; though I confess 

 myself to a greater liking for the lines of the 

 " four-square," with a plain flat kerb, or one that 

 is only slightly raised above the level of the water. 

 Trefoils or quadrifoils or other devices of the kind 

 it seems, in most cases, best to avoid, for nothing 

 is wanted to call attention from the lilies in a plain 

 basin made solely in their behalf. These details, 

 however, are necessarily matters for the exercise 

 of individual taste. 



The last resource of the gardener who would fain 

 grow some, at least, of the many beautiful water 

 plants, must not be left out the barrel sawn in 

 half. Modest as it sounds, a good deal of con- 



