The Natural Style in Landscape Gardening 



than to know the properties of benzine or the names 

 of golf clubs or the uses of gunpowder. 



It is not difficult to see that this spirit of the 

 landscape is different from the spirit of architec- 

 ture. Thus any one who is capable of a spiritual 

 conception of any sort can readily accept the prin- 

 ciple that, while the formal garden should be ani- 

 mated by the architectural spirit, the informal gar- 

 den should live by the spirit of the landscape. 



We are all so much unaccustomed to thinking in 

 spiritual terms, and the significance of this idea is 

 so essential, that it will be well to spend a little 

 more time upon it. For purposes of illustration 

 let us imagine ourselves sitting on the pasture fence 

 in the friendly sunshine of a warm June afternoon. 

 Before us there spreads, let us say, the rolling green 

 pasture lands, interspersed with scattered oaks, and 

 in the midst a dimpling deliberate river. In the 

 shade of the trees the well-fed cows rest and rumi- 

 nate. Over all stretches the quiet blue sky, deep- 

 ening to a purpling haze along the distant horizon 

 as the afternoon wanes. It is a landscape which 

 appeals to every physical sense. We rejoice to 



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