Theory and Practice in Landscape -Gardening. 79 



THEORY AND PRACTICE IN LANDSCAPE-GARDENING. 



On Plantixg. : — It appears to be the belief of many professing to be 

 landscape-gardeners, that the reading about the subject, or the accumulat- 

 ing of designs for laying out places, will make them able to do the thing 

 in the right way ; but this is not so, unless combined with great practical 

 experience, which alone enables them to understand the theories of good 

 writers. Besides this, a thorough knowledge of practical gardening is neces- 

 sary, as also of the trees, shrubs, and plants suitable for use, and their 

 cultivation. 



Without a full understanding of the theory, which can only be obtained 

 by long practice, reading, even of the best books, will teach very little ; 

 most of them affording very little practical information. 



Without a complete practice, and without the knowledge of trees and 

 shrubs, theory will never be applied in the right way. 



Practice alone, without theory, may perhaps better enable a person to 

 work to good advantage, if he follows a sort of routine by copying other 

 plans ; but will only succeed where the new field to be laid out offers some 

 analogy with some other, the arrangements of which may be more or less 

 imitated. 



A theorist, without the knowledge of the material to be employed, — I 

 mean trees and shrubs, and ignorance of the way to handle them, — will 

 not even be able to imitate others. 



Roads, drives, and walks, the laying-out of which must certainly be un- 

 derstood by the landscape-gardener, are not exactly in the line of the art ; 

 but their location is certainly so. 



You can find plenty of intelligent workmen who comprehend the grad- 

 ing, and who can establish roads and drives by themselves as well as 

 under the guidance of so-called artists. 



The staking-out of roads and drives, as aforesaid, requires the practice 

 of the landscape-gardener : but the rules are not exactly positive ; and, if 

 the workman himself cannot do it, many a gentleman with some judgment 

 and taste, by considering the locality closely, will accomplish it to his 

 satisfaction. 



