XXXVII. LANDSCAPE GARDENING 



THE growing of trees, shrubs, and flowers for their combined or 

 mass effects in lawns and parks, etc., is termed landscape garden- 

 ing. It is eminently a fine art and is worthy of serious study. It is 

 true that we cannot all become professional landscape gardeners, 

 but we can give some attention to the work in laying out our lawns 

 and in planning our homes. We may not be able to afford the 

 services of an experienced landscape gardener, but this does not 

 justify us in leaving our yards perfectly bare and in making no 

 effort to improve and beautify them by setting out a few trees and 

 shrubs. When trees and shrubs can be had at such little expense, 

 there is no good reason why we should not beautify our lawns. It 

 is not enough to simply set out trees here and there, but there must 

 be some order and system about the arrangement. 



The Design. We must have a plan or a design towards which 

 we must work in grouping our trees and shrubs. One of the car- 

 dinal qualities of artistic composition in landscape gardening is 

 unity and another is coherence. By unity we mean that some one 

 idea shall prevail throughout, although it may not be immediately 

 apparent to every observer. All the details must be subordinate 

 to this one idea, and every item of composition must be added with 

 this thought constantly in mind. In addition to unity we must 

 also have coherence. Thus a number of objects of the same sort 

 placed together may secure unity and yet at the same time not 

 satisfy the eye as to the arrangement. Another quality is neces- 

 sary, and this is coherence. Our objects must be grouped so that 

 they harmonize. Even many dissimilar objects may be frequently 

 grouped together in self-satisfying unity if they have some obvious 

 underlying connection by which they cohere. To secure thorough 

 unity and coherence, the entire work in landscaping should be under 

 the control of one person, who should have from the start a clear 

 conception of his problem. 



The Plan. In every case it will be found best to have a definite 



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