NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS 



by a pall of smoke. It had formerly a magnificent Italian garden 

 with noble fountains and fine groups of statuary and other orna- 

 ments ; but these, to save them from complete destruction, have 

 had to be removed, and the garden has in consequence been deprived 

 of the greater part of its beauty and interest. Smoke is a deadly foe, 

 too, to even the simple flower garden which does not depend for its 

 effect upon architectural ornamentation, for the flowers are choked 

 and stunted by the sulphurous deposit which descends upon them, 

 and refuse to grow under such disheartening conditions. 

 Necessarily, the task of the gardener is greatly complicated by these 

 interferences, and the cost of forming and maintaining a garden 

 on elaborately formal lines is considerably increased. Architectural 

 embellishments and garden ornaments must be made of carefully 

 selected materials and must be constantly cleaned ; trees and flowers 

 which suffer as little as possible in a smoky atmosphere must be 

 chosen, and even these must be incessantly syringed to keep them 

 reasonably fresh, and generally much more attention must be given 

 to details of upkeep than is required in places where the surroundings 

 are more agreeable and the inconveniences less disconcerting. Even 

 when all this trouble is taken it is almost impossible to prevent 

 the garden looking rather bedraggled and unkempt, and of all 

 gardens that in the Italian style needs most to be kept in perfect 

 order and to have always the air of being sedulously cared for. 

 It is not surprising that the designers, finding the local conditions so 

 unsuitable for one particular kind of garden-making, should have 

 adopted another which is less troublesome to carry out and from 

 which more satisfactory results are obtainable. Even in the districts 

 where the smoke difficulty has not to be contended with, the site 

 available is often very ill adapted for a formal garden and demands 

 quite a different mode of treatment. The irregularities of the 

 ground have to be taken into account and accepted as facts which 

 determine the character of the design that is to be worked out, and 

 in a large number of cases there are already existing natural features 

 which are so definitely important that the garden has necessarily 

 to be built round them and made to agree with them. 

 Therefore, the preference for landscape gardening which is shown 

 by the designers in the north is the logical consequence of the 

 influences by which they find themselves directed. To their credit 

 it may be said that in a very large number of cases they have used 

 with remarkable skill the opportunities offered them of developing 

 picturesquely garden sites which had attractive possibilities, and 

 they have overcome admirably the difficulties involved in converting 



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