14 LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE. 



universal that landscape gardening is solely a decorative 

 art, the duties of which are comprised in the grouping 

 of trees to secure the best effects of form and color, the 

 disposition of wood, lawn and water, to form an artistic 

 landscape, and the arrangement of all the details of orna- 

 ment, such as flower beds, shrubbery, rustic work, foun- 

 tains, waterfalls, etc., for the purpose of rendering the 

 place attractive. 



The evidences of this are continually brought home to 

 me in the practice of my profession. 



A man calls upon me for advice in regard to the 

 arrangement of his grounds, and tells me he has built his 

 house and made various improvements by grading and 

 clearing, and now wants me to tell him how to finish it 

 off. On visiting his place I find, perhaps, that he has 

 placed his house in a position which may subject him to 

 inconveniences which had never occurred to him, or that 

 he might have secured advantages by placing it elsewhere 

 which are impossible where it is. He has expended a 

 large sum in grubbing up what he calls underbrush, and 

 has thus destroyed the beauty of a natural wood, which 

 now consists only of a collection of gaunt, naked looking 

 stems of trees with mere tufts of foliage on their tops, 

 which by no possibility can ever be made attractive either 

 as individuals or groups. Elsewhere he has attempted 

 to improve the grade by cutting down a hill which marred 

 the even slope of the ground, but has succeeded only in 

 giving it a formal look of cheerless discomfort. This he 

 perceives, but instead of suspecting that it may be the 

 result of his own mistakes, he only imagines it to be for 



