INTRODUCTION 



gardens, and various other inappropriate and in- 

 excusable combinations. In the second offense the 

 mixture of materials it is here pointed out that 

 stone work, brick work, concrete work, rustic work, 

 etc., should not be allowed to appear on the same 

 property. Not that it is necessary that absolutely 

 everything should be of stone or brick, or of any one 

 sort of material, but that too much variety only 

 breeds discord. That there should be harmonious 

 relations between the various forms of garden em- 

 bellishment and utility when it is desirable to use 

 more than one kind of material. In considering the 

 third offense overcrowding it is evident that a 

 small place may be made as much of a gem as a 

 large one, but it will be by the selection of just the 

 right features which are suitable to it, and not by 

 attempting to put everything in landscape garden- 

 ing and garden architecture upon one small prop- 

 erty. Selection is here the keynote ; and if a, few of 

 our wealthy people with large estates would also bear 

 this in mind, the result would be simpler and far 

 more pleasing. There is no excuse for the owner of a 

 spacious garden, lawn, and woodland to overcrowd ; 

 neither should the owner of the small place attempt 

 to display in compendium form a sample of every 

 kind of scenery and accessory that his fertile brain 

 can conjure to decorate his limited acres. In the 



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