352 LANDSCAPE DESIGN 



signers or draftsmen rather than in the actual operations of grading, 

 planting, masonry construction, and so on. 



Still it is vitally necessary for the success and reputation of the 

 landscape architect that those things which require skill and apprecia- 

 tion during their final construction should be intrusted to skilled work- 

 men, while, as a matter of business, the total work of construction 

 should be so organized that at the same time the unskilled labor may 

 be employed at those straightforward and simple things at which it is 

 efficient. From the point of view of the proper utilization of labor of 

 different kinds to a definite end, any experienced landscape contractor 

 might be presumed to be sufficiently competent, or at any rate, the 

 contract may be so drawn, that if he is not, the loss is largely his. From 

 the point of view of esthetic eff^ect, however, as we have seen, there are 

 very few landscape contractors whose own perceptions can be trusted 

 far. Since it is utterly impossible in a great deal of landscape work, so 

 to draw plans and specifications that a certain definite esthetic effect 

 will be the result of their mechanical execution, it is necessary for the 

 landscape architect to have some one on the ground, whose esthetic 

 appreciation, guided by the plans, will enable him properly to under- 

 stand the result desired, and whose practical experience will tell him 

 what allowances and modifications should be made on account of the 

 particular local conditions. It often happens that the superintendent 

 from the landscape architect's office actually himself organizes and 

 directs the work of planting, if indeed he does not do some of the setting 

 out of the plants with his own hands. In the same way he probably 

 will personally direct any difficult modulation of the surface of the 

 ground in grading, because in no other way can he convey his ideas 

 accurately enough to get the result which is desired. It is usually pos- 

 sible in consultation with the contractor, to arrange the work so that 

 this expert superintendence will not be required at all times, but it is 

 quite impossible to forestall the chance of its being required at any 

 time. If the landscape architect really means to do the best his cir- 

 cumstances allow on any given job, he must provide for this expert 

 superintendence or at least for its availability at short notice constantly 

 from the beginning to the end of the work. If the landscape architect 

 does all this superintending himself, it is plain that he cannot carry on 



