The Formal Garden 39 



us arises an artist capable of making far more beautiful pictures 

 on the landscape than he is the better content to paint on canvas; 

 and so the limitation of art by the artists themselves continues to 

 be a fruitful source of our artistic poverty. Very few excellent 

 models inspire the garden makers in this new land. For nearly 

 a hundred years garden making went out of fashion. The worthy 

 formal gardens here can be counted on the fingers of one hand. 

 But art out-of-doors shows encouraging signs of waking from 

 its long sleep, and the few really competent designers are meeting 

 with refreshing encouragement at last. 



Perhaps it would be as futile as it is undesirable to servilely 

 copy even the best Renaissance gardens, nevertheless we may, with 

 the greatest profit, learn from them how a house and garden may 

 become an integral part of the landscape, whether it be situated 

 in Italy, New England, Illinois, or California, for happily the 

 principles of their making are of universal application. What 

 we chiefly need is the informing spirit; with it alone shall we learn 

 how to meet our problems as successfully as the Italians met theirs. 

 Even in Italy methods were necessarily adapted to various situa- 

 tions. The Roman's pleasaunce, overlooking the broad Campagna, 

 was given a majestic breadth and simplicity of treatment in har- 

 mony with its environment, whereas, farther north, where the land- 

 scape is less imposing, compensations were offered in the wealth 

 of garden details. The designer invariably took the cue for treat- 

 ment of a place from the adjoining landscape. So must we learn 

 of him. 



A room that is not lived in never possesses the charm of one 

 that is, however correctly furnished it may be. And so our gar- 

 dens will never be what they might easily become until we make 

 of them outdoor living-rooms after the good Old World custom. 



