THE LANDSCAPE PICTURE 121 



should happen that any person has read the 

 author's bulletins on " Suggestions for the Plant- 

 ing of Shrubbery," China Asters," and " Culti- 

 vated Poplars," he may recognize some of the 

 sentences in the following pages. 



THE PICTURE IN THE LANDSCAPE 



The trouble with home grounds is not so much 

 that there is too little planting of trees and shrubs 

 as that this planting is meaningless. Every yard 

 should be a picture. That is, the area should be 

 set off from every other area, and it should have 

 such a character that the observer catches its 

 entire effect and purpose without stopping to 

 analyze its parts. The yard should be one thing, i 

 one area, with every feature contributing its part ( 

 to one strong and homogeneous effect. 



These remarks will become concrete if the 

 reader turns his eye to Figs 119 and 120. The 

 former represents the common type of planting 

 of front yards. The bushes and trees are scat- 

 tered promiscuously over the area. Such a yard 

 has no purpose, no central idea. It shows plainly i 

 that the planter had no constructive conception, 

 no grasp of any design, and no appreciation of f 

 the fundamental elements of the beauty of land- 

 scape. Its only merit is the fact that trees and 

 shrubs have been planted ; and this, to most 

 minds, comprises the essence and sum of the orna- 



