CHAPTER VII 
THE TREATMENT OF WATER 
Happy indeed are they whose gardens contain a piece of 
water,—for water when properly treated is one of the 
first aids to beauty and completeness in design. It may 
be a stately lake, large enough to permit of boating in 
summer and skating in winter, or perhaps only a small 
artificially constructed tank, a home for lilies and choice 
aquatics. Water is Nature’s mirror, in which some of 
her choicest pictures are reflected; the ever-changing 
features of cloud and sky, the broken outline of hill and 
wood, and the nearer fringe of vegetation which rises 
softly from the bank. It is because water is so essentially 
a handmaiden of Nature, that we must exercise the 
greatest care and skill in our introduction of it, into 
scenes which are purely artificial in character. Water 
gardens and ‘‘ water works” have nothing in common, 
though designers of the latter will unhesitatingly apply 
the former term to their wretched creations. What 
would the beautiful old gardens of Italy be without 
their fountains ?—Torlania, Frascati, and the cypress 
terraces of D’Este, Tivoli, their charm is not to be 
equalled. But how can we reconcile to the true ideals 
of a garden, the monstrous outpourings of the great 
fountain and cascades at Chatsworth, the canals and 
fountains at Versailles and Caserta, and those very 
triumphs of ugliness the water squirts of the Crystal 
Palace? As well call Trafalgar Square a garden as 
apply the name to these freakish show places. 
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