344 LANDSCAPE DESIGN 



of thought, not his own, as he may do with a plan, and we can put the 

 emphasis where we please more readily than we can in a drawing. The 

 writing of a landscape architect, like all of his work, should be a work 

 of art. He should determine, as in all designs, what ideas he has to 

 convey, what their relative importance is, what form of expression is 

 suited to their presentation. Perhaps a plain statement of the facts is 

 best, perhaps a tabulation of figures, perhaps a simile, perhaps a collo- 

 quial or chatty description like a letter. Often the final record of the 

 design will take the form of a plan or other pictorial presentation 

 accompanied by a report or written discussion for the benefit of the 

 client and a legally-drawn contract and specifications for the guidance 

 of the contractor. We should put on the plan the visual relations best 

 shown by plan, and put in the report the reasons, the unseen relations 

 of our subject. It is a common mistake to write as a report merely a 

 description of what is shown on the plan. 



In writing specifications to form a part of the contract, — the legal 

 covenant between the owner and the contractor, designating what shall 

 be done and how it shall be paid for, — it should be considered that if 

 the interpretation of the specifications comes before the courts for deci- 

 sion, they will endeavor to determine what was actually in the minds 

 of the parties at the time the contract was made, and that the more 

 logically the statements are arranged, and the clearer the diction is, 

 the less difficulty will there be. But it should also be remembered that 

 recourse to courts of law should be avoided if it is in any way possible, 

 and that for this reason also, the simpler the language is and the more 

 capable of being understood by an ordinary man, the better it will be 

 for its purpose. Speaking generally, it is reasonable to say that those 

 clauses which set forth the legal relations contemplated between the 

 various parties to the contract should be in a definite and more or less 

 stereotyped legal form,* but those clauses which describe the work to 

 be done in detail should be written in everyday language to be under- 

 stood without mistake by the contractor. 



* Refer to J. B. Johnson's Engineering Contracts and Specifications, a convenient 

 compilation of the laws on the subject for the layman. The examples are drawn 

 from the field of engineering and are applicable only with modifications to the speci- 

 fications of the landscape architect. 



