American Landscape Gardening 131 



If there were fewer pretenders to the landscape art in 

 1857, there was also an even less developed public taste, and 

 Mr. Olmsted could scarcely have been precipitated into a 

 field where his already recognized talent of literary expres- 

 sion could have joined to greater advantage with his appre- 

 ciation of scenery, his latent genius as an artist, and his 

 knowledge as a practical farmer. 



