1 66 Landscape Gardening 



range of this work, I now return to the subject of architec- 

 tural gardening. Its distinctive principles are as follows: a 

 strict observance of rule; a prominent indication or exhibition 

 of art; the maintenance of a decided harmony and connection 

 with the house and other architectural objects; the adoption 

 of regular figures; the employment of rigid, formal, and exotic 

 plants; the necessity for flat and even surfaces, with the use 

 of terrace banks or extremely regular slopes; and the produc- 

 tion of a conspicuous character of dignity and repose. 



The proper field for architectural gardening is the imme- 

 diate neighborhood of the house; as an accompaniment to 

 particular styles of architecture, especially the Italian; in 

 connection with detached architectural structures, as temples, 

 plant-houses, etc.; within the circuit of the flower garden, 

 parterre, rose garden, etc. ; in the gardens attached to a palace, 

 mansion, or first-class vUla, rather than to a small vUla or 

 cottage residence; the kitchen garden; and, where the cir- 

 cumstances are favorable, the town garden. 



There are certain incongruities and defects which fre- 

 quently attend the practice of architectural gardening and 

 which should be sedulously avoided. Some of these are the 

 mixture of inharmonious styles; the use of rustic or unarchi- 

 tectural ornaments, except in remote parts, and where they 

 will not be observed as constituents of the general scene; the 

 placing of terrace walls or other construction on a sloping 

 bank, or where they have shehdng ground immediately 

 below them; the extension of a formal mode of treatment 

 into the park; generally the obtrusion of a flower garden 

 into the view from the principal windows, unless it be on a 

 lower level than the base of the house; an avenue or row of 

 trees that crosses any main line of view, or one on the sum- 

 mit of a hill that forms the line of horizon; a curved avenue, 

 unless it be obviously laid in the arc of a circle; a ground line 



