FIRST PRINCIPLES 17 



companionship ; and its flowers, instead of being 

 spread in scattered beds across the turf, should 

 mingle their luxuriant growth in enclosures set apart 

 for them, or fill wide borders beneath high walls and 

 hedges and along the sunniest of the walks. Not 

 only should natural foliage be preferred in general 

 to that which is strange to the district, but it is well 

 to extend the preference to the building material of 

 which walls, terraces, steps, garden-houses — and 

 even the house and outbuildings themselves — are 

 made. Limestone, sandstone, chalk, flint, brick and 

 tile, all have their peculiar suitability to their native 

 places. So, by natural, restful, and simple means 

 the garden shall arise from the countryside like a 

 favoured child, more richly clad than its brother 

 glades and meadows ; and where the cultivated 

 meets the wild land, some pleasant boundary can be 

 set, — some quiet ditch of fern or sheltered path, or 

 a " wild garden," can be planned between the wood- 

 land and the well-trimmed walks. 



The second group of considerations counsels the 

 designer to avoid all inordinate display, and to cultivate 

 ■privacy with that ample protection and shelter which 

 makes for the maximum of usefulness and beauty in the 



