The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California
Art Of Landscape Architecture
Islands
THE design and construction of islands in rivers and streams and lakes or ponds requires much study of the spot where they are to be made, and also the exercise of the memory to accumulate examples for consideration, which, though not exactly the same, will be helpful.
I recall for instance a wonderful afternoon, sailing through the upper reaches of Lake George, New York State. The day was showery and as the mists gathered and dispersed and the sun now came out and now disappeared, the illusions of light and shade were magical. Islands of all sizes from a few rocks to cedar-clothed hills loomed up on every side and then disappeared. Ever changing, it was like some scene in fairyland, unearthly, unreal—the mind seemed transported to a space between lake and sky where the islands had a realm of their own. There were thousands of them and the study of how many of them were growing from a few rocks into larger and larger masses of trees, rocks, soil, and grass was most instructive, most illuminating.
"Islands scattered in a large lake or judiciously arranged in the broad flowing river are of great assistance and add much to the beauty of the whole by their variety. Here, too, the example of nature must be very fully studied. It is remarkable how seldom this is the case and I can hardly remember having seen anywhere an artificial island which did not betray at first glance its forced, unnatural origin. Thus I recently found, even in the small celebrated royal gardens attached to Buckingham House, which I have highly praised elsewhere, one which represented more the picture of a pudding in its sauce, than an island built up by nature. It is true that nature sometimes indulges in peculiar freaks, but there is always je ne sais quoi, which cannot be attained by mere imitation, therefore it becomes us to follow her rules, not her exceptions.
"Generally, as I have said, artificial islands can be recognized at the first glance. Their shape is either oval or round, sloping down equally on all sides, (see Plate VII., e,) and they are planted at random in separate patches, see i. Nature forms them quite otherwise, seldom by building up, more frequently by erosion. For how is an island originated? First, either a piece of land has withstood the pressure of the flood by its height and solidity, see a; or secondly, it has been forcibly torn asunder, sec b; or it may be an eminence has been quietly surrounded by a stream in its course; or finally accumulated soil, having been borne along by the stream, remains after the flood has receded, as an island standing above low water, see c.
