262 COME INTO THE GARDEN 



rock garden — let us consider it first as to what 

 it is, and then as to where it should be put. I 

 have already said something about its real pur- 

 p>ose and meaning — enough perhaps; but lest 

 I seem to have condemned it out and out I wish 

 to add that, where there is a collector or a 

 botanist to inspire its presence or actually to 

 need it, it is as legitimate a feature of a garden 

 as anything else. The great trouble has been 

 that its innate ugliness has never deterred from 

 giving it a prominent place — all too often the 

 center of an otherwise pleasant lawn. 



That a stone pile is ugly, when it is artificially 

 piled upon level ground where no hint of stones 

 exists and when it takes the form of an absurd 

 pyramid, there is no denying. I doubt indeed if 

 it could take any other form and be anything 

 else — but that is beside the question. Our con- 

 cern is with finding a way to deal with it that 

 will permit having it in a garden if it is desired, 

 without detracting from the beauty of the whole 

 and without renouncing even to a slight degree 

 our cherished principles and concepts. There is 

 of course one way to do all of this, and only one; 

 that is to set apart a place for it, and even to 

 emphasize this setting apart, at the same time 

 seeing to it that not until entrance is made into 

 the space is its feature suspected. It must not 



