LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE. 19 



necessities of drainage, or other possible provision for 

 health or comfort, to say nothing of possible future wants 

 to which reference should be had, many problems are 

 involved, the satisfactory solution of which demands the 

 discipline of study- and experience. Objects of utility 

 or convenience may often be secured by availing one's 

 self of natural advantages, which it would require a large 

 outlay to attain by artificial means. Present or future 

 wants may occur to the mind of one who has had the ad- 

 vantage of experience which might not suggest themselves 

 to a novice, and a professional man might find means of 

 providing for such wants which an inexperienced person 

 would never think of. All these things are comprised in 

 the essential duties of the landscape architect, independ- 

 ently of the artistic skill which enables him to preserve a 

 unity of design throughout, and thus to give an expression 

 of grace and beauty to the whole by the harmonious blend- 

 ing of its parts. The point I wish especially to impress 

 upon the reader is that this primary work is what really 

 confers character upon the place. Decorations of what- 

 ever kind may be subsequently added, and if tastefully 

 and appropriately introduced, may tend to heighten the 

 effect, or increase the attractive interest which pertains to 

 the whole, but in no case can they render a place beautiful 

 which is not intrinsically so, or atone for awkwardness, 

 inconvenience or incongruity in the general arrangement, 

 and moreover it is by no means impossible that elaborate 

 ornamentation should destroy or seriously detract from 

 the general expression otherwise conveyed, as for instance 

 by conferring an air of ostentatious display upon an other- 



