326 LANDSCAPE DESIGN 



skilled advice to a client, who directs for the client the carrying out of 

 this advice, and who serves as arbiter as to the meaning of these direc- 

 tions between the client and the person who does the construction.* 



According to the constitution of the American Society of Landscape 

 Architects, "A landscape architect, a landscape gardener, or a landscape 

 designer, in good standing is one who practices the art of arranging land 

 and landscape for use and enjoyment, whose compensation is received 

 directly from his client and not directly or indirectly from labor, plants, 

 or other material used in fitting land for use, or from persons supplying 

 the same." The reason that it is not advisable for the landscape 

 architect to be financially interested in the sale of any materials used 

 in the construction of his designs, or to take commissions from the 

 seller on any materials which he orders, is of course that he would 

 thereby be subjected to the temptation to choose his materials not for 

 their greatest value in the design but for their greatest profit to him. 

 Although any individual man might resist this temptation, all men 

 would not, and every man would be open to suspicion. Moreover, 

 it is much better that the client should know how much he pays the 

 landscape architect for his advice, and so have some idea whether 

 the service has been worth the payment, rather than know that an 

 indeterminate part of the landscape architect's payment is concealed 

 in a larger sum paid ostensibly for another thing. 

 Professional There are various different ways, suited to different circumstances, 



«^g^J in which the payment to the landscape architect may be determined. 



He may be paid, as the architect usually is, a certain per cent of the 

 cost of the work constructed in accordance with his plans, this per 

 cent being greater if the reputation of the designer is great, if the work 

 is exceptionally difficult and calls for unusual skill or application, if 

 the work is small in cost ; the per cent being less if the advice or plans 

 be not complete, or perhaps if the work be not completely carried out, 

 so that detailed supervision for finished construction is not called for. 

 It is true that this method of charge appears to put before the land- 

 scape architect the temptation to increase the cost of the work so that 

 his own profits may be increased. It is a tribute to the profession of 

 landscape architecture and especially to the professions of architecture 



* Cf. p. 332. 



