tained, in a single season, by planting long shoots of the osier willow, or any other tree which throws out roots easily from cuttings. A simple and pleasing barrier, in good keeping with cottage residences, may be formed of rustic work, as it is termed. For this purpose, stout rods of any of our native forest trees are chosen, with the bark on, six to ten feet in length; these afe sharpened and driven into the ground in the form of a lattice, or wrought into any figures of trellis that the fancy may suggest. When covered with luxuriant vines and climbing plants, such a barrier is often admirable for its richness and variety. The sunk fence, fosse, or ha-ha, is an English invention, used in separating that portion of the lawn near the house, from the part grazed by deer or cattle, and is only a ditch sufficiently wide and deep to render communication difficult on opposite sides. When the ground slopes from the house, such a sunk fence is invisible to a person near the latter, and answers the purpose of a barrier without being in the least obtrusive. In a succeeding section we shall refer to terraces with their parapets, which are by far the most elegant barriers for a highly decorated flower garden, or for the purpose of maintaining a proper connection between the house and the grounds, a subject which is scarcely at all attended to, or its importance even recognized as yet among us. SECTION VIII. TREATMENT OF WATER. Beautiful effects of this element in nature. In what cases it is desirable to attempt the formation of artificial pieces of water. Regular forms unpleasing. Directions for the formation of ponds or lakes in the irregular manner. Study of natural lakes. Islands. Planting the margin. Treatment of natural brooks and rivulets. Cascades and waterfalls. Legitimate sphere of the art in this department. The dale With woods o'erhung, and shagg'd with mossy rocks, THOMPSON. H E delightful and captivating effects of water in landscapes of every description, are universally known and admitted. The boundless sea, the broad full river, the dashing noisy brook, and the limpid meandering rivulet, are all possessed of their peculiar charms; and when combined with scenes otherwise finely disposed and well wooded, they add a hundred fold to their beauty. The soft and trembling shadows of the surrounding trees and hills, as they fall upon a placid sheet of water-the brilliant light which the crystal surface reflects in pure sunshine, mirroring too, at times in its resplendent bosom, all the cerulean depth and snowy whiteness of the overhanging sky, give it an almost magical effect in a beautiful landscape. The murmur of the babbling brook, that "In linked sweetness long drawn out," falls upon the ear in some quiet secluded spot, is inexpressibly soothing and delightful to the mind; and the deeper sound of a cascade that rushes, with an almost musical dash, over its bed of moss-covered rock, is one of the most fascinating of the many elements of enjoyment in a fine country seat. The simplest or the most monotonous view may be enlivened by the presence of water in any considerable quantity, and the most picturesque and striking landscape will, by its addition, receive a new charm, inexpressibly enhancing all its former interest. In short, as no place can be considered perfectly complete without either a water view, or water upon its own grounds, wherever it does not so exist, and can be easily formed by artificial means, no man will neglect to take advantage of so fine a source of embellishment as is this element in some of its varied forms. Fleuves, ruisseax, beaux lacs, claires fontaines. Ah! qui peut remplacer votre aspect enchanteur ? De près il nous amuse, et de loin nous invite: C'est le premier qu'on cherche, et le dernier qu'on quitte. Vous enchantez l'oreille, et vous charmez les yeux." In this country, where the progress of gardening and improvements of this nature, is rather shown in a simple and moderate embellishment of a large number of villas and country seats, than by a lavish and profuse expenditure on a few entailed places, as in the residences of the English nobility, the formation of large pieces of water at great cost, and extreme labour, would be considered both absurd and uncalled for. Indeed, when nature has so abundantly spread before us such an endless variety of superb lakes, rivers, and streams of every size and description, the efforts of man to rival her great works by mere imitation, would, in most cases, only become iudicrous by contrast. When, however, a number of perpetual springs cluster together, or a rill, rivulet, or brook, runs through an estate in such a manner as easily to be improved or developed into an elegant expanse of water in any part of the grounds, we should not hesitate to take advantage of so fortunate a circumstance. Besides the additional beauty conferred upon the whole place by such an improvement, the proprietor may also derive an inducement from its utility; for the possession of a small lake, well stocked with carp, trout, pickerel, or any other of the excellent pond fish, which thrive and propagate extremely well in clear fresh water, is a real advantage which no one will undervalue. There is no department of Landscape Gardening which appears to have been less understood in this country, than the management of water. Although there have not been many attempts made in this way, yet the occasional efforts that have been put forth in various parts of the country, in the shape of square, circular, and oblong pools of water, indicate a state of knowledge extremely meagre, in the art of Landscape Gardening. The highest scale to which these pieces of water rise in our estimation is that of respectable horse-ponds ;-beautiful objects they certainly are not. They are generally round or square, with perfectly smooth, flat banks on every side, and resemble in tameness and insipidity, a huge basin set down in the middle of a green lawn. They are even, in most cases, denied the advantage of shade, except perhaps occasionally a few straggling trees can be said to fulfil that purpose; for richly tufted margins, and thickets of overhanging shrubs, are accompaniments rare indeed.* Lakes or ponds are the most beautiful forms in which * Simple and easy, as would appear the artificial imitation of these variations of nature, yet to an unpractised hand, and a tasteless mind, nothing is really more difficult. To produce meagre right lines and geometrical forms is extremely easy in any of the fine arts, but to give the grace, spirit, and variety of nature, requires both tasteful perception and some practice; hence, in the infancy of any art, the productions are characterized by extreme meagerness and simplicity;-of which the first efforts to draw the human figure or to form artificial pieces of water, are good examples. Brown, who was one of the early practitioners of the modern style abroad, and who just saw far enough to lay aside the ancient formal method, without appreciating nature sufficiently to be willing to take her for his model, once disgraced half of the finest places in England with his tame, bald pieces of artificial water, and round, formal clumps of trees. Mr. Knight, in his elegant poem, "The Landscape," spiritedly rebuked this practice in the following lines: "Shaved to the brink our brooks are taught to flow Where no obtruding leaves or branches grow : While clumps of shrubs bespot each winding vale Open alike to every gleam and gale : Each secret haunt and deep recess display'd, And intricacy banished with its shade. Hence, hence! thou haggard fiend, however call'd, The meagre genius of the bare and bald; |