74 
DECORATIVE PLANTING. 
ears ! ” All civilized beings love flowers, and ladies often “ not 
wisely, but too well.” We will endeavor to show, hereafter, how 
they may be wisely cherished. 
Water.— Of water, we can only require that it be pure and 
clear, and in motion. The scope of this work is too limited to 
deal much with the capabilities of this lovely element in the hands 
of the landscape gardener. Only in large and expensive places can 
artificial ponds or lakes be introduced to advantage as a decorative 
element. But we protest against all those abominations made with 
water, called fish-ponds; or indeed any ponds at all where the sur¬ 
rounding earth, or the earth beneath them, is rich enough to cause 
water-vegetation, or scum, in them. To invite a clear rippling 
brook to spread itself out into a stagnant pool, is as bad as to in¬ 
veigle your most entertaining friend into “ a dead-drunk.” It is an 
outrage on nature and decency. But a brook may be made doubly 
interesting, sometimes, by obstructing it with stones ; by creating 
cascades ; by forcing it to rush and hide in narrow crevices, to 
emerge foaming with excitement; and, finally, to spread over a 
shallow bed of bright pebbles, and sparkle leisurely in the sun. 
Such brooks can be made a perpetual charm. All their beauties 
may be heightened by art, but not the art of the mill-dam, or fish¬ 
pond maker. The fish and fevers bred in such places are not of 
sufficient value to the producer to warrant the outlay. 
The needful works of art—houses, walls, fences, and decorative 
constructions—belong more to the architect than to the landscape 
gardener, and the employment of only architects of thorough edu¬ 
cation and culture, is the policy of the citizen who wishes to 
make a permanently pleasing home, and no foolish expenditures. 
The building of expensive summer-houses and arbors in ordinary 
suburban places is rarely necessary. Where grounds are large 
enough to make them real conveniences , the strong rustic cedar con¬ 
structions much used of late years (of which admirable examples 
are to be seen in the New York Central Park), are well adapted 
for shady places away from the house and the street. 
