CHAPTER III. 



THE N'ATURAL STYLE. 



In the English landscape garden one sees and feels every- 

 where the spirit of nature, only softened and refined by art. 

 In the French or Italian garden one sees and feels only the 

 effect of art, slightly assisted by nature. A. J. Downing. 



The natural st^le is unquestionably the favorite in 

 England and America, and probably only less so in 

 France and Germany. This means not alone that the 

 landscape gardeners of these countries practice it in 

 preference to other styles, but also that the laity, com- 

 posed of people who only feel and do not think, have a 

 profound bias toward the natural style. To be sure, 

 these people admire pattern beds in the parks, and they 

 put into their own dooryards the most distastefully 

 unnatural objects conceivable ; but this is due to their 

 ignorance of the value of unity and their pure inability 

 to grasp the real motive of a harmonious composition. 

 In general they have a much greater, though unthinking, 

 attachment to noble trees, pretty shrubberies, green 

 lawns and cool shadows, or to a pleasant combination of 

 all these elements. 



GAINING NATURALNESS. 



A few simple rules will help to gain this natural- 

 ness, which is lost oftener by thoughtlessness than by 

 intention. Perhaps it is not strictly correct to say that 

 naturalness is gained. As a matter of fact, when a 

 house is built or a park laid out naturalness is lost to 

 some extent. But by thoughtful work we may subtract 

 greatly from the artificiality of the construction, and in 

 that sense it is true that naturalness is gained. 



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