1900.] essays. 85 



equally good. " Beauty is not absolute," it is said, ' ; and 

 what we see is, to a certain extent, the reflex of our own 

 minds."* John Burroughs says: "If we think birds, we 

 shall see birds wherever we go; If we think arrow-heads, as 

 Thoreau did, we shall pick up arrow-heads in every Held." 



So it is that one person will see beauty in a landscape where 

 another will not, while, if we really wish to see beauty, we can 

 find it in nearly every tree and bush. 



There are, however, certain general rules which we must 

 follow to obtain satisfactory results, and these we will now 

 consider. 



PLANNING THE PICTUKE. 



In developing and beautifying any tract of land, whether for 

 park or private grounds, a landscape gardener always takes an 

 account of stock, so to speak. In other words, he makes a most 

 careful survey of his ground and the materials upon it, noting 

 every existing topographical, arboreal and floral feature, every 

 water-course, lawn and dell. He then makes use of everything 

 that can be incorporated into his design, not only saving much 

 expense, but often preserving features that nature can fashion 

 better than man, and trees that could not be equalled by many 

 years of cultivation. It is a grave mistake to clear everything 

 off the ground and then call in the landscape gardener. 



1. Make grounds appear attractive from house. 



2. Give place attractive appearance from street. 



The very first thing to be done, then, is to make a thorough 

 examination of the place and to note its prominent features, good 

 and bad. Every tree, knoll and ravine must be considered. 

 It is just as necessary to take into account the character of the 

 adjoining property, so that in our ultimate arrangement we may 

 obliterate, by planting, all the undesirable features of our 

 neighbor's yard and preserve for our own pleasure the glimpse 

 of yonder lake, meadow, cliff, or mountain. 



Let us see if we can dispense with any of the existing fences ; 

 perhaps we can replace some of these with hedges. The com- 



* Bailey, lectures. 

 7 



