PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION vii 



both sides. The first point to be cleared up 

 was the confusion between horticulture and de- 

 sign, and, having handed over horticulture to 

 the gardener, the question of design came fairly 

 within the province of the architect. In the 

 attempt, however, to dislodge a tradition of bad 

 taste, a somewhat polemical treatment was neces- 

 sary. The occasion for this no longer exists, 

 and I have therefore omitted the preface to the 

 second edition. Indeed the danger at this 

 moment is rather that one trick of design should 

 be substituted for another, and that in our 

 admiration for certain beautiful old gardens we 

 should attempt to reproduce them blindlv under 

 impossible conditions. There are, for instance, 

 sites which make a purelv formal garden out of 

 the question ; and others in which, even if it 

 were possible, it would not be desirable ; and it 

 would be as absurd to make the desperate 

 attempt as is that favourite device of the hind- 

 scape gardener who cannot resist the manufacture 

 of a hummock in order that he may wind his 

 path all round it. For in design we want not 

 only a sense of beauty, but also common sense ; 

 and the amateur should be on his guard against 

 abstract rules and recipes. What looks well in 

 one place may look very ill in another, and when 



