332 State Horticultural Society. 



trical style may be followed with pleasing effect along public boule- 

 vards, around large buildings with steeples and spires and particular- 

 ily a large building on a small area. It heightens the outline of t!\e 

 building and emphasizes its importance. Many other places might 

 be mentioned where the formal style of gardening would be effective 

 and desirable. But over large estates in rural places and suburban 

 homes where the character of the surrounding landscape retains much 

 of its natural beauty. A formal system would be entirely out of place. 

 The fault, therefore, in much of our home gardening lies not in the 

 system, but in the wrong use of that system. It is true that there are 

 many pretences toward either a formal or informal system, which are 

 complete failures. But again it is not the fault of the system, but the 

 inability of the gardener himself, who is merely a grower of plants 

 and who has not the keen perception of a natural artist. 



If we would succeed then in landscape art, we must, first of all, 

 have a special love for the beautiful in nature. We should be famil- 

 iar with our nature trees, flowers and shrubs and varying effects of 

 form, size and color. We should then begin, first with a careful study 

 of the natural resources of any given place from a landscape point of 

 view. There is no spot either among mountains at the seashore or 

 on the rolling prairies which does not have its own original beauty. 

 There may be massive trees that are impressive from their size and 

 age, which man, by one foolish act, could destroy — thus undoing what 

 it has taken nature years to develop. There will always be some- 

 thing in the contour of the land, in the plant growth or the general 

 outlook of the grounds that will be worthy of our serious considera- 

 tion. To make or to mar this lies in the province of man. 



He who succeeds in preserving the natural charms of a place, its 

 spirit, and sentiment, though he does not attain the highest perfection, 

 is far in advance of the one whose first attempt is to obliterate every 

 thing natural in order that he may substitute some stilted and artifi- 

 cial plan. 



Tho the landscape artist has given due respect and reverence to 

 nature, that is not all that remains for him to do. It is only a right 

 beginning. 



He has not the artificial features — walks, drives, fences, etc., to 

 blend and harmonize in his landscape. The walks and drives should 

 be as few as convenience will permit ; "they should neither be so 

 straight as to lack beauty, nor so meandering as to lack good sense." 

 There should be a legitimate reason for a curve in a drive. Some- 

 times there will exist naturally a, small hill, a clump of brushes, or a 

 tree that will offer sufficient reason for turning aside. Otherwise 



