The Laying-out of a Park 15 



again or even more. Constant discipline is indis- 

 pensable in the proper exercise of any art, and 

 when means are not sufficient to treat every part 

 of a park as it should be treated, what money 

 there is had better be devoted toward the im- 

 provement of the old established features than to 

 the making of new ones. The postponing of al- 

 terations which are recognized as advisable is a 

 dangerous proceeding also, because existing faults 

 easily lead to the wrong treatment of new fea- 

 tures. 



It has been truly said that " artistic produc- 

 tion is a matter of conscience" ; hence a person 

 with an artistic conscience cannot remain con- 

 tent with parts that have been recognized as not 

 up to the standard, or as failures. Following the 

 example of Nature, which starts and completes 

 her humblest work with the same assiduous care 

 that she bestows upon her most sublime crea- 

 tions, one would rather make any sacrifice than 

 leave the blemish one has become aware of, even 

 if in itself it is but a subordinate matter. 



Although in my work at Muskau I never de- 

 parted a moment from the main idea which I 

 shall have occasion later to describe, yet I con- 

 fess that many portions have not only been re- 

 touched, but that they have been entirely changed, 

 often once, sometimes three and even four times. 

 It would be a great error to suppose that confu- 

 sion results from repeated alterations undertaken 

 with intelligence, for sound reasons and not from 

 caprice. Rather than that they should be un- 



