THE PRINCIPLES OF GARDEN-MAKING 



the work he carries out be quite prepared to be guided by circum- 

 stances. The house is his one immutable fact, from which all that 

 he proposes to do must start ; his study of the site is next in 

 importance, and in this study it is well that he should not forget 

 that the character of the site can be equally well preserved whether 

 it is a formal or a landscape garden that he lays out upon it. The 

 one thing that is at all costs to be avoided is that shameless torturing 

 of nature to fit her to a mere pedantic and unintelligent convention 

 which was practised by the men who made landscape gardening a 

 century or so ago as formal as the worst examples of degenerate 

 precision in garden design. 



It must also be remembered that success in landscape gardening 

 comes from consideration of many small details as well as from 

 correct observance of large principles. Not many designers are 

 fortunate enough to have at their disposal a site which needs nothing 

 more than simple regulating and bringing into shape, one which 

 has most of its beauties ready-made. Even when the general 

 features of the ground lend themselves well to effective development 

 there is almost always much to be done in the way of filling up and 

 improvement before the right artistic result is obtained. Unsightly 

 objects outside the boundaries of the garden have, perhaps, to be 

 hidden by judicious planting, or the outlook from the house has to 

 be improved by the removal of trees which block the view ; the 

 existing vegetation has to be thinned to give the house more light 

 and air, or has to be made more dense to afford protection from cold 

 winds. Practical questions, like the provision of a tennis lawn, or 

 a kitchen garden, have to be taken into account, and such neces- 

 sary adjuncts to the house have to be dealt with discreetly so that 

 they may fulfil their purpose adequately and yet not seem obtrusive 

 or out of place in a well-imagined scheme. It is in the planning 

 of a garden which is picturesque and yet of practical utility as a 

 pleasure ground that the designer can best prove his capabilities ; 

 by his distribution of the details, which are of definite importance 

 to the owners of the place, he shows to what extent he has mastered 

 the essentials of his craft, and by his manner of harmonising these 

 details with what may be called the pictorial intention of his plan 

 he gives the measure of his artistic perception. 



There is another matter which must receive from the landscape 

 gardener a considerable degree of attention, a matter which is more 

 important than it might appear to be at first sight. If, as seems 

 reasonable, naturalistic gardening is regarded as being more or less 

 akin to picture painting, it follows that it is subject to some of the 

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