THE AIMS OF LANDSCAPE-GARDENING 13 



and shade is desirable. In a well-designed land- 

 scape there should be harmony of shapes, sizes and 

 colors. A plant with foliage like the yucca would 

 not be pleasing next to a maiden-hair fern. The 

 leaves of pieplant do not harmonize with those of 

 the rose. Magenta flowers do not go \vell with 

 scarlet. A certain amount of contrast and variety 

 give life to a landscape but if used to excess they 

 may deprive it of repose. Repetition in landscapes 

 as in painting tends to make a scene restful. 



Thus all the rules of composition that are ap- 

 plicable to paintings apply also to landscapes de- 

 signed or appropriated by landscape-gardeners. 

 A painter sometimes speaks of the "heaven-born 

 ratio of three to two," meaning that the focal point, 

 the point to which the eye continually reverts, 

 should be three units from one side and two from 

 the other side of the canvas, and the same ratio 

 from the top and bottom, instead of being in the 

 center. The same ratio serves well in design- 

 ing an actual landscape, since a tree or other sub- 

 ject placed directly in the center usually looks badly 

 (Fig. 6). The interest in any view is increased by 

 an arrangement which piques one's curiosity. In 

 illustration of this, think of woods into which one 



