The Natural Style in Landscape Gardening 



ral forces of growth. The mere fact that there are 

 some "natural" gardens without form and void 

 cannot stand against the structural possibilities of 

 this style. There are also a great many geometri- 

 cal gardens in which the structure is merely fortu- 

 itous or wholly inarticulate. 



The first structural problem in designing in the 

 natural style comes with the division of the ground 

 into various compartments. If we are dealing with 

 a park of any size, there will be perhaps a piece 

 of woodland here, beyond it an open field to be de- 

 voted to golf, on the other side a section for a picnic 

 ground, then a little children's playground, and 

 finally an area for public music and festivity. 

 These divisions will follow the natural features of 

 the topography and the social demands of the situ- 

 ation, but they are to be made with great care. 

 Frederick Law Olmsted used to give particular 

 thought to this part of his study and it is very in- 

 teresting to go over the plans of Mount Royal 

 Park, Montreal, Franklin Park, Boston, or Jack- 

 son Park, Chicago, for examples, to see how these 

 divisions were made and what clever names he in- 



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