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40 Hints on Landscape Gardening 



a bench for the weary without a rest for the back, 

 although Rousseau recommends all this. Such 

 grounds should represent Nature, it is true, but 

 Nature arranged for the use and comfort of man. 

 If one can bring within the park a manor house 

 with its fields adjoining, a mill or a factory, this 

 will give it only the more life and variety, which 

 is much to be recommended; on the other hand, 

 one must be careful not to overdo it. In order to 

 avoid the latter, one should endeavor to separate 

 the different elements by a harmonious arrange- 

 ment of the various parts of the whole, and not 

 mingle them awkwardly with one another. 



The fields, for instance, should be massed in 

 the farm and not scattered all over the park; 

 everything should be allotted its distinct place 

 and maintain its peculiar characteristics, and the 

 transition should be appropriately defined. But 

 if various objects have already approached too 

 near each other, or if they are required for other 

 purposes, then, in order to avoid overloading 

 and confusion, let everything be given as much 

 as possible the same character. In my park,' for 

 example, a fisherman's hut leaning against high 

 oaks is set beside a lake formed by a branch of 



' I will repeat here that I so frequently refer to my own park, not 

 in a spirit of boastfiilness, but because I can, of course, find no better 

 illustrations for my theories, and I am also obliged to describe, as act- 

 ually existing, things which are not in reality completed, but which are 

 in process of construction and determined on the plans, as far as I have 

 made them, because they have been sufficiently tried. I must do this 

 for the sake of brevity, and also because I should otherwise have to 

 wait ten more years before publishing this book, in which time, I hope, 

 it might appear superfluous. 



