THE THEORY OF GARDEN DESIGN 153 



at all, that summer-house should surely be both use- 

 ful and beautiful, and should be placed where its use 

 and beauty will be greatest. There is something 

 prosaic and superfluous about a summer-house close 

 to a house. It should, if possible, be at the other end 

 of the garden and where it will command a good view 

 of the garden. Then the path connecting it with the 

 house will be one of the main features of the design. 

 Perhaps there may be a border on each side of this 

 path for its whole distance, so that there shall be a 

 vista of flowers all the way from the drawing-room 

 window to the summer-house. The summer-house 

 itself, also, should have its front, at least, thickset 

 with flowers, just as there should be flowers close 

 round the house. It is a common defect of purely 

 horticultural and naturalistic gardens that flowers 

 are seldom placed in them where they can be most 

 easily enjoyed by the inhabitants of the house. Flowers 

 shoulcfc be concentrated, if possible, where they can be 

 seen and smelt from the drawing-room windows, and 

 in places arranged for the comfort of human beings. 

 Sunk Dutch gardens are such places; and their formal- 

 ity is the result, not of mere fashion, but of the desire 

 to make a pleasant outdoor home both for flowers 

 and for human beings who wish to enjoy them. Their 

 clipped yew hedges give shelter to both, and the fact 

 that they sink in regular stages ensures different con- 

 ditions to suit different plants. It provides sharp 

 drainage above and moisture below. In fact a sunk 

 Dutch garden is only a kind of formalized sunk rockery; 



