12 LANDSCAPE GAR ENING. 



definite conception of what the finished product is to be, 

 but must also be attached to that ideal with such zeal- 

 ous unaltorableness that no item, however desirable by 

 itself, shall be admitted if not in strictest liarmony with 

 the pervading spirit of the work. Practically this means 

 that a definite plan must be made on paper. The unre- 

 corded ideal, even of the artist whose conceptions are 

 clearest, is sure to chano-e in time; and since it must 

 always require a considerable season to compass any 

 landscape ph-^ns, the first keynote is likely to have been 

 lost before the end is reached, and the later additions 

 are ai)t to be out of harmony with the earlier Avork. 

 The i)]sin should be drawn Avith good inks on the most 

 durable paper ; and it should be supplemented by writ- 

 ten specifications made equally durable. In both plans 

 and specifications too great care cannot be taken, nor 

 too deep a study made of tlie whole and of each of its 

 parts; for, as has already been pointed out, it is fatal to 

 leave latitude for alteration in case some parr proves to 

 have been ill-considered. These plans and specifica- 

 tions, too, cannot descend too deeply into the minutiae 

 of the composition ; for an unsympathetic treatment of 

 the smallest items may mar irreparably the grandest 

 conception. Mistake is common at this ])oint. Many 

 people, even landscape gardeners, seem to think that if 

 the p"eneral outlines of the })lan are determined by a 

 master artist, the construetion and all minor matters 

 may be left to the jilantsman, tlie florist, or the man-of- 

 all-w^ork. Plans and specnfications are not too explicit 

 if they locate every lilac bush and spiraea and clump of 

 eoliimbine, and if they demand that the lilac shall be a 

 Frau Dammami, the spiraea a prv?n'f()Iuf, and the colum- 

 bine of the variety Skinneri. 



It is no controversion of tliis statement to say, — 

 what is the undeniable fact, — that the best considered 

 plans will not always work out with exactness upon the 



