LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE. 79 



be invaluable as a means of giving to the place a distinct 

 and unique character. Even the certainty that where 

 there is life there must also be death, is never recognized 

 by such previous provision of a properly arranged place 

 of burial as would seem simply consistent with a decent 

 sense of propriety. In short, there is not the slightest 

 recognition of the existence of such an art as landscape 

 architecture. On the line of every railroad which pene- 

 trates the new regions of the West this mechanical pro- 

 cess of manufacturing and selling towns is going on, and 

 year after year they are becoming forever crystalized in 

 their angular forms by the advent of purchasers to whom 

 the deeds are passed. 



Of course " nobody is to blame." The railroad com- 

 panies must regard the interests of the stockholders, 

 which require a rapid sale and settlement of the lands, to 

 secure which they must be put at the lowest possible price, 

 and that can only be done by the wholesale process of 

 manufacture which has been described. The first pur- 

 chasers are rarely of a class to appreciate any esthetic 

 advantages which might be secured, and still less would ' 

 they be willing to pay for possible benefits to their suc- 

 cessors, and if purchasers would decline to pay the 

 increased cost of having their towns made to order and 

 fitted tastefully to the situation, the proprietors must 

 provide the machine-made article ; and thus, as in other 

 branches of manufacture, the best quality is driven from 

 the market. 



Nevertheless the fact remains, that unless a change of 

 the present system is brought about, the next century will 



