246 LANDSCAPE DESIGN 



pot, topiary work, even a tree with particularly striking form, while 

 seldom important enough in the design to stand as the independent 

 center of interest, or terminus of a vista, may serve, each in its own 

 way, any of the other uses which we have just mentioned. It is evi- 

 dent that in the choice of objects to be used for these purposes the de- 

 signer will be influenced by the scale relation of the object to its sur- 

 roundings, by its congruity in other respects, and by the amount of 

 dominance over its surroundings which he wishes it to express. Seats of 

 various kinds have their best use as terminal points for paths and 

 vistas : they are not interesting enough as objects to stand free like a 

 sundial, and their use as resting places makes them the natural terminus 

 of a walk. Very commonly, where a larger object is desired, or for 

 purposes of shelter, a seat may be placed against a wall and hooded 

 with a lattice, or it may form a part of an arbor or a shelter of still 

 greater pretensions. Statues in niches or wall fountains are particu- 

 larly adapted to the termination of a vista against a boundary, but 

 any object of interest which is correct in scale may complete a vista, 

 — a sundial, for instance, may serve in this way, for several paths which 

 relate to it radially, while serving also as a central point. for the whole 

 garden. 



There is always temptation to terminate any straight path with 

 some kind of vista point, but if this path is, for instance, part of the 

 rectangular path-border which surrounds a central grass plot and the 

 paths on each side of the grass plot are intervisible, then its larger 

 function in the design is that it serves thus as a border, and a vista point 

 at the end of any straight run of the border might well be a confusion 

 of the design rather than an enhancement- of it. In his use of all these 

 various objects of interest, the designer must take care that by unduly 

 accenting subordinate points, he does not destroy the main unity of his 

 design. 



