132 



THE PLAN OF THE PLACE 



dener too often works in the sphere of the arti- 

 san. There can be no rules for landscape garden- 

 ing, any more than there can be for painting or 

 sculpture. The operator may be taught how to 

 hold the brush or strike the chisel or plant the 

 tree, but he remains an operator ; the art is intel- 

 lectual and emotional, and will not confine itself 

 in precepts. 



m 



The making of a good and spacious lawn, 

 then, is the very first practical consideration in 

 a landscape garden. This provided, the gardener 

 conceives what is the dominant and central fea- 

 ture in the place, and then throws the entire 

 premises into subordination with this feature. 

 In home grounds this central feature is the house. 

 To scatter trees and bushes over the area defeats 

 the fundamental purpose of the place, the pur- 



