THE THEORY OF GARDEN DESIGN 151 



providing a dry passage from one part of the garden 

 to another, should be straight so that it may be short. 

 But when a garden is designed to be a mere assemblage 

 of decorative features, flower-beds and shrubberies 

 and rosaries and rock gardens, then naturally the 

 paths will wind about from one feature to another, 

 expressing by their wanderings the designer's lack 

 of purpose. In the same way a hedge will be straight 

 if it is meant to provide a sheltered, sunny aspect, 

 and trees will be planted in an avenue or an alley if 

 they are meant to provide shade. But if they have 

 no such definite purpose they will be arranged ac- 

 cording to the whim of the designer or the fashion 

 which happens to be in favour with him. Straight 

 walks, straight hedges, and straight avenues may be 

 ugly enough, and are always ugly when they are de- 

 signed without any purpose or coherence; and it is 

 certainly true that a want of purpose can be better 

 concealed with curving lines, which is, perhaps, the 

 true reason why they have become so popular. But 

 the use of straight lines is a wholesome discipline to 

 the designer, since, if he lacks purpose, they will never 

 conceal the fact from him or from any one else, and his 

 design will look silly, if it is silly; whereas, we are 

 how all so used to naturalistic designs without use or 

 purpose that we never even ask ourselves what their 

 meaning may be. We are inured to misplaced shrub- 

 beries, but we are not inured to misplaced hedges or 

 avenues, and can still apply some principle of criti- 

 cism to them. 



