94 Landscape Gardening 



i8. Adaptation. — Notwithstanding all the rules hitherto 

 furnished, there is a principle yet to be considered, which can 

 alone give them their proper weight, and ensure their being 

 of any real use, and that is — adaptation. In every place 

 that can be met with, or conceived of, there are always 

 peculiarities which should influence the disposal of the various 

 parts, and give their cast and coloring to the whole design. 

 And it is in the adaptation of particular styles, rules, or 

 modes of treatment to the circumstances or objects actually 

 existing, that the credit of the landscape gardener and the 

 satisfaction of the owner can alone be attained. 



Very seldom will it be found that a garden is without some- 

 thing or other that may be regarded as a fixture. Buildings 

 and the position of their entrances and windows, trees, swells 

 or variations in the surface of the ground, external gates or 

 entrances, fences, and numberless other things may be 

 already on the ground, and it may not be desirable to remove 

 them. The scenery of the outlying country will ordinarily, 

 likewise, be beyond the reach of the designer. It will be 

 needful then to fit in every part of the plan to what is really 

 on the ground and must be retained there, not neglecting to 

 take advantage of everything that can be made to give 

 greater effect, or to keep out of sight such objects as may be 

 considered deformities. Dealing cleverly with difl&culties, so 

 as to leave no evidence that they have had to be encountered, 

 is not the least or the lowest merit of landscape art; and, as I 

 have frequently heard remarked, it is out of awkward and 

 apparently intractable irregularities that a competent designer 

 may generally create the most characteristic and remarkable 

 beauties. 



While deliberating on this subject, the shape of the ground, 

 its aspect, the nature of its surface, the wants and tastes of 

 the family, the character of the neighborhood and the prob- 



