TO GARDENS IN THE MAKING 



secret ; even the architect must woo the stone, the 

 brick, the metal and the timber before he conquers 

 their coyness and makes them respond to his will. 

 Our mastery over the broad surfaces of the earth 

 and over the living vegetation which it nourishes is 

 even less complete, and nothing can be attained 

 until we enter into a kind of partnership with them, 

 since in return for our guidance they must needs 

 do their part in fulfilling and amplifying our plans. 

 The rules that we have made for other arts can 

 scarcely be applied here, proportion and size refuse 

 to be measured by any standard unit ; the house 

 and the countryside make the conditions for our 

 design, and as they vary in size and form, so 

 our gardens must increase or diminish in length 

 or breadth, must have important or unpretentious 

 features, or must take their cue from the sum of 

 their natural surroundings. Garden planning has 

 therefore an elasticity in its scope, it presents a 

 variety even an uncertainty which invites the 

 fancy. It lends itself to broad and noble treatment, 

 and also to an infinite ramification of detail ; and it 

 claims the aid of a hundred crafts to furnish and 

 adorn it. But with all this it has greater need of 



