DESIGN 51 



ings. Now, the Japanese garden proper is a very 

 beautiful and carefully constructed thing, the re- 

 sult of years of traditions and Oriental conven- 

 tions of life, which cannot at once be grasped by 

 the Westerner, but will richly repay a careful 

 study. 



Most of the Japanese gardens found in this part 

 of the world are treated faddishly, as stage prop- 

 erty or pieces of scenery, and consequently they 

 cannot be considered as the outgrowth of condi- 

 tions. In fact, some essentially Japanese detail is 

 often introduced into an entirely foreign scheme — 

 an Italian garden for instance — in such a way as 

 to spoil both the intrinsic beauty of the detail and 

 the whole garden scheme as well. 



If a carefully designed Japanese garden is se- 

 cluded, and so placed as to be seen by itself alone, 

 as it would be under native conditions, it can be 

 used anywhere for its individual interest and pic- 

 turesqueness. It cannot, however, be used as a 

 part of an ordinary garden scheme with any de- 

 gree of satisfaction. 



In both the formal and the informal types there 

 must be some dominant design idea with which the 

 rest of the scheme must be harmonized, and this is 

 true of all design, as has already been insisted 



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