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.** 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 cascades are easily imitated, by following exactly the same course, and damming up the little brook artificially; studiously avoiding, however, any formal and artificial disposition of the stones or rocks employed. (** 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 cataracts 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.)
