FIRST PRINCIPLES 19 



On the other hand, an informal scheme is aimless 

 and wearisome unless the site is particularly endowed 

 by Nature, and is pleasantly broken up by majestic 

 trees and other natural features. The majority of 

 plants and flowers require a comparatively close 

 range of vision for full appreciation, and blooms set 

 in an enclosed garden or bordering a line of wall or 

 hedge will have a far greater effect than if they are 

 merely units in a wide and extended scheme. In 

 most sites the question settles itself from the practical 

 necessity of shelter, but the aesthetic point is of no 

 less weight. It is rarely possible to compose a 

 satisfactory picture, involving a large area to be seen 

 in its entirety from the house, and in any case it 

 will not have the same instant appeal that comes 

 from the sectional garden with its luxurious features 

 set in their proper background. 



In advising the division of the garden, it is not 

 suggested that the perspective of distance does not 

 provide one of the most delightful pleasures to the 

 eye, when it is skilfully preserved. But distance, 

 unless it is the wide survey of many miles from a 

 respectable height, requires the help of gradation. 

 A long garden, giving on to a distant walk or avenue 



