4 LANDSCAPii GARDENING. 



if we could dissociate it from the growing of cabbages 

 and parsnii->s ; but that seems impossible with us now. 



The chief objections to the term "landscape gar- 

 dening," are that it is too long and has too large a 

 sound. By its ver}' look and sonorousness it seems to 

 suggest princely and magnificent undertakings of parks, 

 villas and hunting grounds, and to overshoot entirely 

 those small domestic concerns around which the most of 

 our life and interest center. This is the difficulty we 

 would overcome if we could get back our older and 

 plainer w^ord, "gardening." But landscajoe gardening 

 does, nevertheless, bring itself to the consideration of 

 these lowlier problems ; and it is for the sake of such 

 smaller cares that we need mosb to study its principles. 

 All persons ought to endeavor to understand the meth- 

 ods and aims of landscape art, as they endeavor to mas- 

 ter the alpliabet of literature. Good taste in gardening 

 will yield its possessor as much jileasure as good taste in 

 architecture, literature or music. And just as one may 

 cultivate good taste in literature without designing to 

 become a litterateur, so one may properly educate his 

 taste for landscape gardening with no expectation of 

 becoming a landscape gardener. 



Gardening art offers this advantage to its lovers : 

 That they can everywhere enjoy it, and that with com- 

 paratively small expense they can patronize it on their 

 own account. The poor washerwoman who has hardly 

 time to look at the statue of George Washington in the 

 city park, and scarce money enough to biiy a chromo, is 

 quite able to grow geraniums in her windows and to 

 have a pretty bed of marigolds and phloxes in the yard. 

 The opportunities to cultivate a taste for this sort of 

 landscape art lie all about us, while to only a few comes 

 the freedom of art galleries and exhibitions. How cheap 

 and simple materials may be combined to give an excel- 

 lent effect is shown in Fig. 1. 



