76 Xan^scape Hrcbitecture 



through this woods the path leads to a small knoll 

 crowned by a little group of forest trees, oaks, and sas- 

 safras. This is called the Bosca of the place where in 

 Italian fashion the family gather to meals in pleasant 

 weather. The homely vegetables and on the house the 

 Virginia creepers and grape vines keep the spirit of the 

 place unfalteringly American. No Italian gardens and 

 pergolas mar the essentially American beauty of the scene. 

 Just the Httle grove, the Bosca, with its rude table and 

 benches and quaint oven in the open made of a few stones, 

 and the herb garden, scarcely anything else Italian, and 

 yet you feel that the owner loves Italy, and remembers 

 Italy, but yet loves America still more with its brave 

 simplicity and its absolutely natural charm. 



This makes only one more instance of the supreme 

 value of the application of good landscape-gardening 

 ideas to "the genius of the place" in all coimtries and 

 times, provided the personality of the owner and his other 

 idiosyncrasies receive due consideration. In this way, 

 one may achieve, at lesser or greater expense, a home the 

 result of many aspirations bom of diverse experiences. 

 One may have an EngHsh or American or French home 

 bearing evidence of the effects of a strong personality, and 

 yet it may have a touch, by no means overpowering, of 

 a more alien, and possibly more desirable style, whether 

 it be Italian, or Japanese, or clearly semi-tropical in effect. 

 The landscape gardening thus becomes basic and imi- 

 versal in its essential quality, and is at the same time 

 full of personality and human feeling. 



