464 PRACTICE OF GARDENING. Part III. 



cive to vegetation. He recommends forming a large pond or basin in the centre of the 

 garden, which shall at the same time contain fish. (Brit. Gard. Direct, p. 2.) 



2428. Gardens should be near a river or brook, that they may be well supplied with water. 

 From these, Forsyth observes, " if the garden does not lie too high, the water may be 

 conducted to it by drains ; or, which is much better, by pipes, taking care to lay them 

 low enough to receive the water in the driest season, which is the time when it will be 

 most wanted. If there be no running water near the garden, and if the latter lies on a 

 declivity near a public road, I would advise to make a hollow drain, or a cut, from the 

 most convenient part of the rosd, to receive the water that washes the road in rainy 

 weather, and convey it to a large cistern, or tank, in the upper part of the garden ; this, 

 if the road be mended with limestone or chalk, will prove an excellent manure. The water 

 from the cistern, or from the river, may be conducted to the different compartments by 

 means of pipes, which, having cocks at proper places, the water may be turned upon the 

 different compartments of the garden at pleasure. Or the water may be conveyed in proper 

 channels, and turned on the compartments in the same manner as in watering meadows. 

 These pipes, channels, &c. will be a considerable expense at first ; but they will soon 

 repay it, by saving a great deal of time, which would otherwise be spent in pumping 

 and carrying water. The most convenient time for turning the water on is, in general, 

 during the night ; and in dry weather it would then be of the most essential service. 

 If the situation be such that you are obliged to pump the water from deep wells, 

 there should be a large reservoir, in which it should be exposed to the sun and air 

 for some days before it is used ; it may then be turned on as above. If the ground 

 be wet and spewy, it will be proper to make a basin of the most convenient place to re- 

 ceive the water that comes from the drains, and to collect the rain that falls on the walks." 

 (Tr. onFr. Trees.) 



2429. Water is the life and soul of a garden. Switzer observes, " it is one of the most 

 essential conveniences of a country-seat, and especially useful to kitchen-crops ; for, 

 indeed, what can be made of any ground without it ? minima mea sicut terra sine aqua, 

 is a good metaphor to express it, as it really is the soul and life of all vegetation ; and 

 whoever does not make that one of his principal considerations, deserves blame or pity." 

 Describing his design for the garden of Spy Park as to water, the same author observes, 

 " The square basins are not only designed for little stews for fish, but at each corner 

 there are clay and elm pipes, with plugs to them that go under the alley, and commu- 

 nicate themselves with the adjacent divisions or compartments, which will, in an instant, 

 float the same, because the little basins are designed to lie six inches higher than those 

 divisions or compartments ; and then the whole is so contrived by other larger elm pipes, 

 that the said little basins are filled by the canal and other conveniences." 



2430. A source of water is considered essential to a garden by most writers. London 

 and Wise, Evelyn, Hitt, and Lawrence are warm in recommending it. M'Phail ob- 

 serves, that a garden to bring the produce of the soil to the greatest perfection, " should 

 be well supplied with water, to water the plants in dry seasons." (Gard. Rem. 2d edit. 

 p. 13.) If water can be introduced, observes Marshall, "and kept clean with verdant 

 banks around it, it would be very useful where a garden is large ; but let it be as near 

 the centre as possible, being the most convenient situation. It should be fed from a 

 spring, and (if it could) be made to drip in the reservoir, because its trickling noise is 

 agreeable music in a garden to most ears." (Introd. to Gard. p. 42.) " If there be no 

 natural stream that can be conducted through a garden," observes Nicol, " water should 

 be conveyed from the nearest river, lake, or pond ; soft water being most desirable for 

 the use of the garden." (Kalcndar, p. 7.) 



Sect. VII. Form. 



2431. In regard to form, almost all the authors above quoted agree in recommending 

 a square (fig. 421. a) or oblong, as the 421 



most convenient for a garden ; but 

 Abercrombie proposes a long octagon, 

 in common language, an oblong with 

 the angles cut off (b); by which, he 

 says, a greater portion of the wall in 

 the slips behind will be on an equality 

 with the garden as to aspect. 



2432. A geometrical square is recom- 

 mended by Hitt, " set out in such a 

 manner, that each wall may have as 



much benefit of the sun as possible," that is, with reference to the compass, set out as a 

 rhomboid (c). 



2433. A square or oblong form, M'Phail considers as the most convenient. A square 

 with a semicircular projection on the north side (Jig. 417. d), or a parallelogram with a 



