TEXTBOOK OF LANDSCAPE GARDENING 
heard Fritz Kreisler play selections from Bach has felt that that 
classical and difficult music was made much clearer and more 
intelligible through the interpretation of the great violinist. 
In like manner the professional landscape architect should be 
first of all an artist, capable of seeing, feeling and understanding 
better than the average man the beauties of the landscape, and 
capable, too, of interpreting these beauties to others. Obviously 
this is not an easy matter either to practice or to explain, but it is 
none the less of the greatest importance. 
Practical Study 
For the beginner the most fruitful study can be directed to 
forming an intelligent acquaintance with the landscape, beginning 
with the landscape which surrounds him in his own home. 
The pupil ought to become personally familiar with as many 
types of landscape as practicable. Such types are almost endless, 
but the following list includes what seem to be most important: 
Plains and prairies. 
Mountains. 
Hills. 
Forests. 
Lakes. 
Rivers. 
The sea and the seashore. 
The cultivated fields. 
Besides these are many others, some merely sub-divisions of 
those enumerated above, others quite independent, such as brooks, 
deserts, volcanoes, glaciers, etc. 
The student must begin by mastering the landscape of his 
own home. This means that he must know it in detail and must 
love it supremely. If his own home landscape seems dull and unin- 
spiring, no matter where it may be, he will never be able to appro- 
priate and spiritually assimilate any other landscape. Let each 
276 
AS oP eh 
