558 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



is displayed the utmost resource of the 

 artist and variety of treatment, as con- 

 sistently as though the true solution of 

 the problem of each part had been 

 found without effort. When conditions 

 are at their best, after rainy weather or 

 in the early morning or evening, there 

 is a wonderful air of calm beauty per- 

 vading it all, so that one marvels more 

 and more that such a thing with such a 

 sentiment should exist in New York 

 City. 



Now, if you travel in any rural dis- 

 trict, you will find in all directions the 

 raw material or the motive from which 

 Central Park is made. There will be 

 trees and bushes, meadows and rolling 

 ground, buildings and bridges, rocks 

 and water, each in its way more or less 

 beautiful because of the beauty of many 

 or most of the details, the cheerfulness 

 and vitality of it all : in short, because 

 it is the country, as big and free as all 

 out-of-doors. But, though there is much 

 pictorial beauty, it will be seldom that 

 you find a scene, small or large, that 

 composes well. By composing well I 



mean not only showing orderly ar- 

 rangement, just proportion, good lines, 

 and so on, but conveying the impression 

 of a complete picture, "carrying 

 through" as it is called. This is the 

 quality that conveys an impression of 

 unity to the mind, that gives the ef- 

 fect of simplicity to the most complex 

 design, and may be seen in a book cover, 

 a Corinthian column or a church fagade. 

 Re.nember, I am not speaking of the 

 untouched country, but of the country 

 altered by man mainly for the purposes 

 of agriculture. There will be a piece 

 of meadow with trees on it, but they 

 will be too scattered or too crowded, or 

 a border of them will have a gap in it 

 or a group extend too far or not far 

 enough. A piece of ground of naturally 

 good shape will be partly in meadow 

 .Mid partly plowed up, and a wall or 

 fence will divide it just where it is 

 best placed to interrupt the flow of line 

 of the earth's surfaces. Houses, barns 

 and other buildings will be scattered 

 wherever the convenience of their 

 builder dictated, but with little or no 



A WINTER SCENE IN CENTRAL PARK. 



