240 LANDSCAPE GABDENING 



harmonize with their surroundings, and the result 

 is more or less a " filing system" of living botani- 

 cal specimens, often incongruous in appearance. 



The Arnold Arboretum in Boston is an excel- 

 lent example of a well-planned botanical garden. 

 Much attention has been paid to appearances, and 

 the display elements have been judiciously feat- 

 ured. The large conifers grow under natural 

 conditions on a rocky hill, about the outskirts of 

 which the rhododendrons and mountain laurel 

 cluster, while the gentler and more fertile slopes 

 show plants of the plain-loving varieties. The 

 natural topography varies from fairly level mead- 

 ows to a rugged hill with a tumbling brook, and 

 advantage has been taken of all the natural feat- 

 ures suitable for the display of plants in condi- 

 tions which as nearly as possible duplicate their 

 native surroundings. The grades have been 

 changed only where the building of drives de- 

 manded it. This is one of the most successful so- 

 lutions of a botanical garden under ideal condi- 

 tions, but it would seldom be possible to reproduce 

 these conditions. Of course the amount of exotic 

 material employed is rigorously prescribed by the 

 climate, as it is entirely an out-of-door garden. 



In public gardens in large cities the purpose is 



