The Natural Style in Landscape Gardening 



phatically declared. Thus when I find it necessary 

 to praise the natural style, to allege some neglect 

 of it, and to make some comparisons in its favor, 

 these statements must not be taken to reflect ad- 

 versely on any other style nor to indicate a partizan 

 opinion. 



To trace fully the development of the idea of 

 a natural style in gardening would be exceedingly 

 interesting, but it would require a great deal of 

 time and space. Fortunately a complete histori- 

 cal review is not necessary to our present purposes. 

 It is essential to observe, however, that the natural 

 style has meant very different things at different 

 times. A^early every reformer has advertised his 

 own work as more natural than his predecessors, 

 or as a "return to nature." The garden of Eden 

 is described as designed in the natural style. 



Batty Langley was one of the most interesting 

 of these reformers, and it is worth while now to note 

 what was his idea of the natural style. The plate 

 used as an end paper in this volume, from his book, 

 will show pretty clearly what he had in mind 

 when he announced his "New Principles of Gar- 



13 



