504 Agricultuhal Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y. 



mentation of grounds. Every tree and bush is an individual,, 

 alone, unattended, disionnected from its environments, and there- 

 fore meaningless. Such a javd is only a nursery. 



The other plan (Fig. 151) is a picture. The eye catches its 

 meaning at once. The central idea is the residence, with a warm 

 and open greensward in front of it. The same trees and bushes 

 which were scattered haphazard over Fig. 150 are massed into a 

 framework to give effectiveness to the picture of home and com- 

 fort. This style of planting makes a landscape, even though the 

 area be no larger than a parlor. The other style is simply a col- 

 lection of curious plants. The one has an instant and abiding 

 pictorial effect, which is restful and satisfying: the observer 



151.— The proper or pictorial type of planting. 



exclaims, ''What a beautiful home this is!" The other piques 

 one's curiosity, obscures the residence, divides and distracts the 

 attention : the observer exclaims, " What excellent lilac bushes 

 these are! •' 



If the reader catches the full meaning of these contrasts, he 

 has acquired the first and most important conception in land- 

 scape gardening. The conception will grow upon him day by 

 day; and if he is of an observing turn of mind, he will find that 

 this simple lesson will revolutionize his habit of thought respect- 

 ing the planting of grounds and the beauty of landscapes. He 

 will see that a bush or flower-bed which is no part of any general 

 purpose or design — that is, which does not contribute to the mak- 

 ing of a picture — might better never have been planted. For 



