TOWN AND VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT, 839 
There are hundreds and thousands oi people who seem to be saying: 
“Our trees must be destroyed, our forests must be destroyed, our lakes must 
be destroyed.” The village improvement association says, and not yet 
hopelessly, ‘“These things must be saved.” 
PRACTICAL AESTHETICS. 
WARREN H. MANNING, LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT, BOSTON, MASS. 
The greatest art of a landscape designer, whether he be a person making 
this work his profession or a property owner doing his best to make his 
home surroundings more attractive, lies in the ability to recognize and take 
advantage of the attractive elements of existing conditions rather than in 
destroying these conditions and substituting for them mere copies of some- 
thing that has been done by others. This applies as well to the broad land- 
scapes of a public park as to the mere fragment of a landscape comprised 
within the limits of a front or back yard. 
In designing grounds of any character, one must have a regard for 
practical as well as esthetic considerations. Too often, however, it is’ as- 
sumed, and even stated, that zsthetic considerations are of no practical 
value, yet every man and woman does recognize in one way or another that 
there is a value in beauty, which is only another name for perfection. It 
may be that they only recognize the distinction between a soggy, wrinkled, 
smeared and blackened loaf of bread and one light, crisp, well rounded and 
delicately browned; or between a bitten, distorted, mildewed, off-color ap- 
ple and one that is perfect in outline, in color, and free from all attacks of 
insects and disease; or a skinny, bony, mangy, slab-sided “plug” and-a 
horse clean of limb, well rounded, sleek, healthy and full of life, grace-and 
spirit. Many persons who are keen to reeognize beauty in these forms, 
who fully recognize its value, and who would neglect nothing that would 
help to bring it about, do absolutely neglect to do anything that will tend 
to make the surroundings or interiors of their homes grow in beauty from 
year to year. Such persons will usually keep their places in an orderly and 
tidy condition, but orderliness and neatness, while they go hand in hand 
with beauty, are not beauty. You can improve the appearance of a dis- 
reputable old ‘‘plug’’ by keeping him in an orderly_and neat condition, but 
you could not thereby make him a beauty. 
That you recognize the value of orderliness and neatness, with a place 
for everything and everything in its place, goes without saying. This con- 
dition prevails in the interior of many.of the homes and farm buildings 
where the disordered exteriors do not indicate it, and you will usually find 
a clearly marked distinction between the best room, the bed room, the 
kitchen and the woodshed, with something of beauty added to some rooms 
to distinguish them from others. It is seldom that you find such clearly 
marked distinctions in the grounds about the farm buildings, however. 
Usually you do see some planting, either a few trees that are attractive as 
elements of landscape and often as individuals, if not too overcrowded, or a 
few unhappy looking shrubs and flowers, unhappy because no one cares for 
them, and uncared for because they have little reason for existence and not 
enough beauty to become an object for regard. If you will use your shrubs 
and flowers in a reasonable way, give them their place and their work 
