INTRODUCTION xv 



have, too, what no other nation possesses, beautiful fresh 

 grass-lawns and wide-branching trees. One thing, how- 

 ever, we still lack, and that is skill in garden design, 

 in the proper selection and arrangement of architectural 

 features, tree-planting, and the right treatment of the lie 

 of the land. We should be nearer perfection did we 

 possess some of that sense of restraint which keeps the 

 Japanese from growing flowers merely for their own sake 

 and restricts their choice to those only which fit in best 

 with a general wide scheme of arrangement. That they 

 are great flower-lovers is proved by their delightful 

 habit of taking family holidays to view the plum, peach, 

 and cherry blossoms, followed by the wistaria, paeonies, 

 azaleas, irises, the lotus-flower, chrysanthemums, maples, 

 bamboos, and pine-trees. All these are venerated by 

 them, but above all and through all their appreciation of 

 beauty in bud and leaf is the study of line and propor- 

 tion. We see this in their smaller miniature gardens as 

 much as in their larger ones, for everything trees, stones, 

 mountains, and all have to be in careful proportion to 

 the size of the house. Garden design would appear to be 

 an art particularly suited to those sons and daughters of pro- 

 fessional men who, having travelled much in foreign lands, 

 have had ample opportunity of seeing the most perfect 

 works of art, the best statuary, and the finest pictures, and 

 thus have almost instinctively acquired a true sense of 

 the value of form and line. As time passes, and the 

 garden-lovers of England realize more than they do now 

 that their craft is not complete without serious study of 

 the sister art of garden design, a centre of learning will no 

 doubt be formed whence it is to be hoped there will emerge 

 English Du Cerceaus and Le Notres having much of the 

 well-balanced judgment of our Repton. Then each piece 

 of ground, whether it be large or small, will possess its own 

 true individuality, and the cottage and castle gardens will 



