GENERAL PRINCIPLES 19 



feature was to occasion surprise, as apart from genuine 

 pleasure, then it becomes necessary to condemn such 

 artifices in unmeasured terms. The hidden ways of 

 Nature should be sufficient mystery for the most exact- 

 ing without lowering our gardens to the level of vulgar 

 peepshows, by the introduction of mazes and freaks of 

 tree sculpture. 



The attempting of too much in a small space is another 

 fault to be guarded against, though where the designer 

 is not allowed his own way, this is often a matter of 

 difficulty. So many people when seeking the assistance 

 of the professional, impose upon him the necessity of 

 giving them " a bit of everything " in the way of design. 

 They must have a rose garden, a corner devoted to rock 

 plants, a few square feet for carpet bedding, a place for 

 water and bog plants, a pergola, and much beside, all 

 without reference to the suitability or otherwise of the 

 place for such introductions. The idea that a garden 

 wiJl never lack interest because it resembles a patchwork 

 quilt in the number of its divisions, is surely erroneous ; 

 the pleasure thus obtained is but momentary, and soon 

 ceases to become other than wearisome. We look for 

 perfection in detail, but we must also consider the garden 

 as a whole, and seek to make its various parts subser- 

 vient to one another, the several units of one well- 

 balanced plan. Undue regularity must also be accounted 

 a sign of weakness, 



" Grove nods at grove, each alley at its brother, 

 And half the garden but reflects the other ; " 



Proper balance is of course desirable, but the arrange- 

 ment of beds in well-matched pairs, or the setting of 

 vases at each corner of a lawn, is as unnecessary as it is 

 opposed to all natural laws. 



The faculty for seeing in the mind's eye, the general 

 characteristics of the garden as it will appear when laid 

 and planted, is a gift for which, if possessed, the de- 



