4 Xan5scape arcbitecture 



in a fountain by the side of a simple alcove. This 

 is all. Never for an instant will the people of Damas- 

 cus attempt to separate the idea of bliss from these 

 wild gardens and rushing waters." 



At the same time Prince Puckler would probably 

 remark on the trim artificiality and formahsm of Ver- 

 sailles, and of even the Bois de Boulogne, which many 

 years afterwards Napoleon III asked him to treat 

 professionally. 



Forget it if we will, and despise it as we may, in 

 spite of our seeking after the striking and unusual, there 

 is in the minds of most of us an instinctive love of the 

 natural and simple. Often as we go about our duties 

 and pleasures, there are bits of simple natural scenery 

 which, if we think a moment, we will find most agree- 

 able. These sensations are not necessarily the result 

 of special knowledge. We like these scenes because 

 the mind is constituted to like them. Doubtless, more- 

 over, this appreciation of such scenes has always been 

 consciously or unconsciously felt by intelligent beings 

 whether they are wild or cultivated, provided they are 

 not merely imitative, that is provided they are de- 

 veloped on natural lines. 



"An imitation of nature, however successful," 

 says Calvert Vaux, "is not art; and the purpose 

 to imitate nature, or to produce an effect which shall 

 seem to be natural, and therefore interesting, is 

 not sufficient for success in the art of lawn planting, 

 which depends on a happy combination of many 



