CHAPTER III 



THE LESSONS OF THE COMPETITION* 



THE problems set by the competition were by no 

 means easy. They were, in effect, to compress within 

 severely restricted areas an epitome of the art, prin- 

 ciples, and practice of garden creation. The plots 

 selected for treatment were barren of anything that 

 could assist in directing the mind toward any particu- 

 lar development, and it is with great pleasure that the 

 judges testify to the ingenuity and inventiveness dis- 

 played by many of the competitors in creating, out of 

 such slight material, so much diversity of design, and 

 potentially picturesque effects. It is inevitable, after 

 spending much time in consideration of the large num- 

 ber of plans submitted, and employing a process of 

 elimination of the worst in order to choose the best, 

 that the tendency of the judges' comments is to become 

 critical as regards all. We therefore devote our 

 remarks chiefly to the lessons to be learnt from those 

 points in which the various schemes fail, rather than 

 from those in which they succeed. 



One fact emerges from a consideration of such a 

 number and variety of ideas as to what constitutes the 

 best method of arranging a small garden namely, 

 that there were two classes of competitors, who 



* By George Dillistone and F. W. Harvey. Reprinted 

 from The Garden, October lyth, 1914, p. 510. 



c 17 



