CHAPTER X 



CONCLUSION 



The disregard of conditions which the land- 

 scape gardener shows in deahng with the 

 house and garden is even more conspicuous in 

 his treatment of pubhc grounds. For some 

 inscrutable reason the laying out of public 

 grounds is usually left either to the engineer 

 or to the landscape gardener. The engineer is, 

 no doubt, a man of ability and attainment, but 

 there is nothing in his training to qualify him 

 to deal with a problem which is in the main 

 artistic ; and the landscape gardener makes it 

 his business to dispense wiih serious design. 

 The result is that our public spaces are seldom 

 laid out on any principle at all. For instance, 

 a London square is an entirely artificial affair. 

 It is bounded by rectangular blocks of buildings, 

 and straight roads and fences. It would only 

 be reasonable to adhere to this simple motive ; 

 but hand this over to the landscape gardener 

 and he will at once set to work to contradict 



