LANDSCAPE COMPOSITION 121 



full grown, are really smaller than might be expected. This effect of 

 size may also be heightened by false aerial perspective, to which we have 

 already referred.* Of course the application of this sort of refinement 

 is limited, and could readily be carried to an unprofitable extreme. 



In naturalistic design it normally happens that in any given impor- Illusions of 

 tant view the designer does what he can to enhance the character of ^^^^^^^^ 

 the pond or valley or other small naturalistic unit which forms the 

 principal part of the particular scene, f Sometimes, by judicious screen- 

 ing out of incongruous elements and careful concentration of attention 

 on those elements which are of the character intended to be brought 

 out, a special character may be given to a scene as beheld from a cer- 

 tain point of view, although it would be readily seen from other points 

 of view that this was not the real character of the region in question. 

 For instance, a small stream of water, carried elsewhere in a ditch or 

 pipe, might be expanded in the middle distance of a certain view to 

 resemble a shallow, sluggish natural stream. A pond which for pur- 

 poses of water supply had its level raised artificially higher than some 

 of the surrounding country might be made to appear much more natural 

 by so arranging the views that the retaining banks were concealed by 

 foliage, and the pond itself was approached and seen only from land 

 higher than its own surface. The desirability of this kind of effect 

 will depend on how successful it is when seen from the chosen viewpoint, 

 and on whether the occasions are so few as to be negligible on which 

 it will be seen from some position which betrays its artificiality. 



The efi^ects which landscapes have through association may be in- Associational 

 creased by suggesting to the mind associations which are interesting ^^^^^ions 

 and congruous but not properly belonging to the particular scene. 

 This was carried to an absurd degree in the time of the Romanticists, 

 when false ruins were built, and ruined forts and the tombs of imaginary 

 heroes were placed in the landscape for their sentimental eff"ect. In 

 naturalistic design a somewhat similar although much more desirable 

 thing is done where a low hill is made to appear much higher than it 

 really is by planting upon it dwarfed trees and Alpine vegetation 

 which the mind naturally associates with much greater elevations. { 



* Page 116. t Cf. Chapter V, p. 71. 



t Cf. Chapter IX, p. 166. 



