128 THE PLAN OP THE PLACE 



defined and too extended to give any domestic 

 air ; but here is a portion of the meadow set off 

 into an area which one can compass with his 

 affections. 



Those masses in Figs. 121, 122, have their 

 own intrinsic merits, as well as their office in de- 

 nning a bit of nature. One is attracted by the 

 carelessness of arrangement, the irregularity of 

 sky-line, the bold bays and promontories, and 

 the infinite play of light and shade. The ob- 

 server is interested in each because it has charac- 

 ter, or features which no other mass in all the 

 world possesses. He knows that the birds build 

 their nests in the tangle, and the rabbits find it 

 a happy covert. 



Now let the reader turn to Fig. 123, which is 

 a picture of an "improved" city yard. Here 

 there is no structural strength to the planting, 

 no defining of the area, no continuous flow of 

 the form and color. Every bush is what every 

 other one is or may be, and there are hundreds 

 like them in the same town. The birds shun 

 them. Only the bugs find any happiness in 

 them. The place has no fundamental design or 

 idea, no lawn upon which a picture can be con- 

 structed. 



The motive which shears the trees also razes 

 the copse, in order that the gardener or "im- 

 prover" may show his art. Compare Figs. 124 

 and 125. Many persons seem to fear that they 



