THE GARDEN PLAN 47 



treat the entire site as a formal flower garden. 

 Care, however, should be taken to keep the outlines 

 simple and to avoid the imitation of too architec- 

 tural or grandiose a design in so limited a space. A 

 certain amount of formal planning is essential to 

 give the flowers their full effect, and some fanciful 

 forms of cut yew, box, etc., are not out of place in 

 a cottage garden ; but formal design can be easily 

 overdone, and will thus defeat its own object. It is 

 an art which should conceal its art, guiding the 

 effect without obtrusiveness, introducing a quiet 

 orderliness without advertising its purpose too 

 loudly. Only in the town garden should the archi- 

 tectural lines be strongly predominant, for reasons 

 which will be discussed more fully on a later page. 



One word more with regard to the general plan. 

 It must never be forgotten in our extensions of the 

 garden scheme that it is as necessary to co-ordinate 

 every part as it is to harmonise the house with its 

 surroundings. The idea of " composition " must 

 never be absent from our minds, and the connecting 

 links : paths, walks, terraces, steps, arches, etc., must 

 be carefully thought out. It will be an advantage 

 if we can extend the garden gradually year by year, 



