82 LANDSCAPE GARDENING 



a vista of some sort which focuses upon a distant 

 valley and mountain, a river or a tillage. 



In designing the planting for a scheme, existing 

 axes must always be taken into consideration, and 

 where axes are to be created, not having existed be- 

 fore, they are the first things to be decided upon in 

 determining the proportions of the design. Cre- 

 ated axes are almost always found in formal 

 planting, particularly in the formal garden, where 

 their position is frequently emphasized by the 

 parallel direction of walks or drives. Sometimes 

 they will cross at right angles. Since the axis is 

 considered the backbone of the design scheme, it 

 would seem very strange to have a main drive, un- 

 less there were one on each side, run parallel with 

 it rather than along it, for this would destroy, in 

 the eye of the spectator, the idea of symmetry, al- 

 ways an essential in formal design. 



The material used will probably be grouped ac- 

 cording to the above study of axes, directing the 

 eye toward some distant object of interest. Very 

 often, however, a fountain, a statue, or a building 

 is placed at the intersection of major and minor 

 axes. In fact, anything the indi^i.dual interest of 

 which is sufficient to repay the attention may be 

 used here as an accent. 



