THE TECHNICS OF GARDENING. 147 



tidy. Writers upon planting have their own ideas 

 as to the fitness of certain growths for a certain 

 style of house. As regards the relation of trees to 

 the house, if the building be of Gothic design with 

 the piquant outline usual to the style, then trees of 

 round shape form the best foil ; if of Classic or 

 Renascence design, then trees of vertical conic 

 growth suit best. So, if the house be of stone, 

 trees of dark foliage best meet the case ; if of brick, 

 trees of lighter foliage should prevail. As a backing 

 to the horizontal line of a roof to an ordinary two- 

 storey building, nothing looks better than the long 

 stems of stone pines or Scotch firs ; and pines are 

 health-giving trees. 



Never mark the outline of ground, nor the 

 shape of groups of trees and shrubs with formal 

 rows of bedding plants or other stiff edging, which 

 is the almost universal practice of gardeners in the 

 present day. This is a poor travesty of Bacon's 

 garden, who only allows low things to grow natur- 

 ally up to the edges. 



From the artist's point of view, perhaps the 

 most desirable quality to aim at in the distribution 

 of garden space is that of breadth of effect in other 

 words, simplicity ; and the larger the garden the 

 more need does there seem for getting this quality. 

 One may, in a manner, toy with a small garden. In 

 the case of a large garden, where the owner in his 

 greed for prettiness has carried things further than 

 regulation-taste would allow, much may be done to 

 subdue the assertiveness of a multiplicity of inter- 



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