FINAL CONSIDERATIONS 257 



for carrying out the work if the staff is to undertake 

 it, (5) an estimate of cost. 



THE WORK IN PROGRESS 



THE ground may, with advantage, be in the garden 

 designer's hands before the builders come on 

 the spot, because the orchard and the park are as 

 a rule sufficiently removed from the house to be 

 safe from the building operations, and every year 

 tells with trees. This is fitly undertaken by a 

 garden contractor, and is quite distinct from struc- 

 tural work, for which a separate specification and 

 contract is needed. In putting the latter out to 

 contract it is customary to give preference to the 

 builder employed on the house. His tackle is on 

 the spot, which generally enables him to give the 

 lowest quotation, and even if he does not, it may 

 pay in the end to have him, as a double set of 

 workmen may lead to complications. But when 

 planting has to be done, a trained gardener-fore- 

 man is required. Builders' men are often capable 

 of planting trees properly, but to sort out shrubs 

 and plant by a plan is laborious and slow if every- 

 thing has to be identified by its label, and long 

 exposure out of ground may have fatal effects on 

 shrubs and trees. Herbaceous stuff is even more 

 difficult to sort and plant ; and no one would question 

 the need of skilled gardening knowledge where an 



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