814 
LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 
adjoining bank for a short distance, fine little expanse* or 
pools of still water may be formed, which are happily con- 
trasted with the more rugged course of the rest of the 
stream. Such improvements of these minor water courses 
are much preferable to widening them into flat, insipid, 
tame canals or rivers, which, though they present greater 
surface to the eye, are a thousand times inferior in the 
impetuosity of motion, and musical, “ babbling sound,” so 
delightful in rapid brooks and rivulets.* 
Cascades and water-falls are the most charming features 
of natural brooks and rivulets. Whatever may be their 
size they are always greatly admired, and in no way is the 
peculiar stillness of the air, peculiar to the country, more 
pleasingly broken, than by the melody of falling water. 
Even the gurgling and mellow sound of a small rill, leaping 
over a few fantastic stones, has a kind of lulling fascination 
for the ear, and when this sound can be brought so near as 
to be distinctly heard at the residence itself, it is peculiarly 
delightful. f Now any one who examines a small cascade 
at all attentively, in a natural brook, will see that it is often 
formed in the simplest manner by the interposition of a few 
large projecting stones, which partially dam up the current 
and prevent the ready flow of the water. Such little cas- 
cades are easily imitated, by following exactly the same 
* The most successful improvement of a natural brook that we have ever 
witnessed, has been effected in the grounds of Henry Sheldon, Esq., of Tarry- 
town, N. Y. The great variety and beauty displayed in about a fourth of a 
mile of the course of this stream, its pretty cascades, rustic bridges, rock work, 
etc., reflect the highest credit on the taste of that gentleman. 
t The fine stream which forms the south boundary of Blithewood, on the 
Hudson, the seat of R. Donaldson, Esq., affords two of the finest natural cata- 
racts that we have seen in the grounds of any private residence. Fig. 41 is a 
view of the larger cascade which falls about 60 feet over a bold, rocky bed. 
