The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California

Art Of Landscape Architecture

"I suppose the terrain to be the same in both cases. The old practice would give the line of the stream as illustrated in a; the student of nature will try to make it something like b."

"Frequently, larger and smaller promontories, as well as deep bays, tend to give the scene a natural appearance, and it is equally effective to vary the height and form of the crown or upper part of the shore. One must be careful to avoid high finish in constructing the slope of the shore in such a way as to betray the artificial work.

"An exception to this may be made in the case of the pleasure ground, but here also it would be well to strike a middle course between nature and cultivation. See c for the stiff and d for the more natural bare shore, e for the advantages of variety in the shores on both sides. The plantation supplies what is still lacking and completes the whole by the free play of the overhanging branches. It would hardly be possible to give an entirely natural appearance to an artificial shore without a plantation."

"If one would like a larger, more lakelike expanse of water, which is especially desirable in the view from the mansion, one should so treat it, partly by means of islands, partly by very deep bays, the limits of which are mostly concealed in shrubbery, that from no one point the whole mass of water can be overlooked, but that everywhere behind the thick shrubbery the water appears to flow onward; otherwise, every piece of water will appear small, even though it take an hour to walk round it. Open, grassy shores, single high trees, woods and thickets should vary the effect with broad spots where the sunlight can have full entry in order not to deprive the water of its transparency and brillancy by concealment. A lake whose shores are entirely in shadow loses much of its effectiveness, as the water reveals all its magic only under the full rays of the sun where the reflections from above appear to come from the bottom in transparent silvery clearness. I have frequently seen this very necessary rule quite ignored by unskilful gardeners.