CHAPTER VL 



VARIETY. 



Nature puts so much variety into her reality that she is 

 more beautiiul than we can imagine by sl»eer force of quan- 

 tity ! Ten days for an artist in a mountain valley will g:ive 

 him ten views from the same point which will be entirely 

 different each day. F. Schuyler Matheios. 



Gettiamo nn rapido struardo sul vasto imperio delle arti, 

 osservlamo per jioco le produzioni di ciascuna, e resterenio 

 convitti die, nulla h bello alia ragione se non le si presenta 

 con parti varie, e queste riimite in un principo comune. 



F. Cartolano. 



Thus far we have been treating of unity, and point- 

 ing out those particular elements which are usually har- 

 monious when brought together. Unity must always 

 be placed first, as the most important quality ; for some- 

 times unity alone will make a small composition agree- 

 able. Still, if unity means uniformity, sameness, the 

 eye soon tires of it. But unity does not demand same- 

 ness. There may be unity with variety. The two are 

 not really opposecl to each other, though either one 

 would be easier to accomplish could tlie other be disre- 

 garded. Perfect unity with satisfying variety need not 

 be even a compromise ; but both tests must always be 

 applied by the gardener. It is heli^ful to the landscape 

 com])oser to remember that variety is possible in surface, 

 form, materials, color, texture, season, composition 

 and position. 



In seeking to vary the surface on which our garden- 

 ing is to be done, our attention falls first upon the three 

 simplest forms of ground, viz., the plane, the concave 

 and the convex surfaces. And we note also that tlie 

 concave and convex surfaces give in themselves a much 

 greater variety of view than is afforded by a plane. 



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