CHAPTER IX 



WHEN TO LET WELL ALONE 



In garden arrangement, as in all other kinds of deco- 

 rative work, one has not only to acquire a knowledge 

 of what to do, but also to gain some wisdom in 

 perceiving what it is well to let alone. The want 

 of such knowledge or discrimination, or whatever it 

 may be called, is never more frequently or more 

 conspicuously shown than in the treatment of grassy 

 spaces in pleasure grounds, that are planted at the 

 discretion of some one who has not the gift of know- 

 ing what kind of placing, of what trees or shrubs, is 

 the most advisable. 



Such a one naturally says, " Here is a space of turf 

 otherwise unoccupied, let us put there a specimen 

 tree." It may be a place in which the careful and 

 highly cultured garden critic may say, " Here is a 

 space of turf, let us be thankful for it, and above all 

 things guard it from any intrusion." I call to mind 

 two good places where there is a dignified house, and 

 groups of grand trees, and stretches of what should be 

 unbroken level sward. In older days it was so ; the 

 spreading branches of the great Cedars and Beeches 

 came down to the lawn, and on summer evenings 



the shadow of a noble grove of ancient trees swept 



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