60 Ube plan* 



most important is Proportion. It is necessary to make the 

 different parts proportionate in size with the size of the 

 grounds ; small groups of smaller trees and shrubs for lesser 

 places, and larger groups of larger trees and shrubs for larger 

 places. And this rule, applicable to the plantations, must 

 also be observed in the construction of drives, walks, and 

 buildings. Another important quality is Usefulness. This 

 means that everything in the garden must have a meaning 

 and a purpose, not necessarily a material use. Every curve 

 in a walk or drive must have a reason for being and a pur- 

 pose in leading to some object or other ; every shrub and 

 tree must be pleasing and appropriate in its place. There 

 must be Congruity in the different elements composing the 

 scenery ; no sudden breaks nor abnormal parts and positions 

 that cannot be accounted for, but gradual changes only ; so 

 that one part is joined to another imperceptibly, shrubberies 

 vanishing in lawns and lawns losing themselves in glades 

 and groves. Without Variety and a proper difference in 

 the various parts that compose the scenery, the garden will 

 soon become flat and uninteresting to the common mind. 

 There should be something new and interesting every day 

 and season of the year. There must be no stereotyped 

 parts. Even the same groups should wear a different ex- 

 pression at different times of the day, and much more so 

 during different seasons; abounding in flowers in spring, 

 taking the glossy and sober hues of summer, changing into 

 blazing colors in autumn, and stretching picturesque and 

 graceful crowns to the sky in winter, followed by the tender 

 tints of bud and leaf, and rich with the various flowers 

 that form an undergrowth in early spring. Variety not 



