Editor's Introduction xxxvii 



thing very like a socialist, and not, by any means, 

 always a gardener, deeply as he is interested in 

 horticulture. He had no desire to speak unkindly 

 of any one, but always his "free spirit" de- 

 manded scope of expression. Doubtless he wan- 

 dered far afield in his musings, but if the reader 

 will only dwell for a little on some of his sen- 

 tences that seem to him, at first, discursive and 

 even possibly absurd, he will finally come to find 

 in them food for much thought. It is the man 

 Puckler whom we cannot help wishing to know 

 quite as much as his interpretation of his art. 

 He was certainly a personality. Can any one re- 

 member as strong and interesting a personality 

 among landscape architects? 



The author's treatment of his subject in his 

 book on landscape gardening is simple. He lays 

 down, or rather hints and intimates, as the title 

 of the book indicates, principles and ideas that 

 should control, in chapters devoted to the laying- 

 out of a park, to enclosures or fences, to the lo- 

 cation of buildings, to the making of country 

 estates, to trees and shrubs and their grouping, 

 to roads and paths, water features, islands, rocks, 

 grading, maintenance; all of which are illus- 

 trated by examples taken from the estate of 

 Muskau. 



He evidently did not overestimate the value of 

 plans, excellent as his own were, deeming them 

 frequently deceptive. Personal superintendence 

 of the work, supplementing and developing still 

 further the ideas of the plan, evidently for him 



