308 
LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 
turesque bank, and cannot be excluded or taken away from 
it without detracting largely from its character. There is 
no reason, therefore, in an imitation of nature, why we 
should not make use of all her materials to produce a similar 
effect ; and although in the raw and rude state of the banks 
at first, they may have a singular and rather outre, aspect, 
stuck round and decorated here and there with large rocks, 
smaller stones, and old stumps of trees ; yet it must be 
remembered that this is only the chaotic state, from which 
the new creation is to emerge more perfectly formed and 
completed; and also that the appearance of these rocks 
and stumps, when covered with mosses, and partially 
overgrown with a profusion of luxuriant vegetation and 
climbing plants, will be as beautifully picturesque after a 
little time has elapsed, as it is now uncouth and uninviting. 
Islands generally contribute greatly to the beauty of a 
piece of water. They serve, still further, to increase the 
variety of outline, and to break up the wide expanse of 
liquid into secondary portions, without injuring the effect 
of the whole. The striking contrast, too, between their 
verdure, the color of their margins, composed of variously 
tinted soils and stones, and the still, smooth water around 
them, — softened and blended as this contrast is, by their 
shadows reflected back from the limpid element, gives 
additional richness to the picture. 
The distribution of islands in a lake or pond requires 
some judgment. They will always appear most natural 
when sufficiently near the shore, on either side, to maintain 
in appearance some connexion with it. Although islands 
do sometimes occur near the middle of natural lakes, yet 
the effect is by no means good, as it not only breaks and 
distracts the effects of the whole expanse by dividing it into 
