HERBACEOUS PLANTS 
205 
It is too deep, and the water cannot be lowered to any appreciable 
extent ; and so long as the public prefer water-fowl, the presence 
even of a few purely ornamental water-lilies is precluded. The large 
Lake, too, has many disadvantages. The supply of water for the 
garden has to be drawn from it, and, owing to the river tides being 
only high enough at new and full moon for the Lake to be replenished, 
it varies very much in level. The recurring dryness of the margins 
in hot summer weather, which is the result, makes the cultivation 
of bog-plants unsatisfactory. Then the irresistible attraction which 
water has for children leads to the persistent trampling of the banks 
when the water is low, and in spring this means the destruction of 
many young shoots unless they are guarded by wire-netting or some- 
thing else as unsightly. 
