THE FORMAL GARDEN 79 
this reason it is much better suited for a public garden visited by 
changing crowds than for a private one. 
The depression on which this portion of the formal garden stands 
is the lowest and dampest part of Kew. The soil is naturally an 
almost impervious clay. It is really in the bed of that backwater 
or inlet from the Thames which is elsewhere alluded to, and of 
which the Pond on the other side of the Palm House is the sole 
remnant, although in former times it extended into the Kew 
Road close by, and over ground now occupied by tram-lines and 
villas. 
