THE JAPANESE GARDEN 183 



It is precisely this piece of worse than waste which 

 the Japanese florist would seize upon and transform 

 into a beautiful and harmonious garden. Entire and 

 perfect in itself, it would add a new and beautiful feature 

 to the establishment. 



The Western gardener should hasten to acknowledge 

 that in the sense of order, proportion and completeness 

 the Japanese is his superior. It is not uncommon to see 

 in the gardens of the West a large and bold scheme of 

 treatment, and an admirably grown collection of plants, 

 marred by what might be termed a " ragged end." Some 

 alien and incongruous element is allowed to obtrude 

 itself. The scheme of the garden is not worked out to 

 the last detail. The same gardener who will grow a 

 magnificent assortment of Roses, herbaceous plants, 

 Carnations, shrubs and other of the great things of the 

 garden will frequently allow empty seed pockets, old 

 flower-stakes and prunings to lie littered about the paths, 

 and will permit his " rubbish corner " to become a con- 

 spicuous congested mass of unseemly and ill-smelling 

 corruption. 



In this respect, if in no other, the methods of the 

 Japanese are worthy of study. Whatever opinions we 

 may hold as to his style, we are bound to admit that it 

 is coherent, proportioned and well-finished. We may 

 say that the garden which he makes is neither formal 

 nor natural, that it is a hybrid construction, and that 

 the handiwork of the gardener is plainly discernible in 

 the efforts which he has made to copy nature ; but we 

 must acknowledge that it is really a garden. 



When the Japanese makes a garden he takes care to 

 attempt no design which he cannot carry through. 

 Rather than leave his task incomplete and imperfect he 

 will content himself with an area which the Western 



