Maintenance 231 



trees and shrubs, and the grass is mown till the roots 

 are almost bare; where the presence of a stray leaf is 

 profanation, and sand is spread over the walks and 

 drives and raked and swept till they look like the sanded 

 floor of a house. The thought at once protrudes itself 

 how rich must be the man who can afford to do all this 

 superfine work. 



The kind of maintenance that is sane and sensible is 

 not neatness and cleanliness only, but high development, 

 not abnormal culture, but a happy condition of free, 

 healthy growth with the accidents and defects and 

 diseases always incident to life well looked after; 

 otherwise, nothing extraordinary, just steady, easy 

 growth that a sense of proper re-adjustment accom- 

 plishes without apparent effort, much as we find that 

 the appearance of a well dressed man or woman is not 

 noticed but unconsciously enjoyed. Such a place 

 cannot be developed under the eye of a mere specialist 

 even if he be multiplied many times. It needs the eye 

 of a master, who appreciates its possibilities and loves 

 to see the beauties of the place develop in an all-round 

 manner. It is interesting to observe how artistic de- 

 signs conceived in the early construction of Central 

 Park have been realized and that fifty years later the 

 original intention of the work is more evident by means 

 of persistent maintenance than when it was first con- 

 structed. 



In the next quotation it will be seen how a conception 

 of natural scenery, a landscape poem, was carefully 

 thought out in the beginning and constructed at great 



