XIII 



MAINTENANCE 



" 1 T is quite impossible to plant a large extensive 

 I park so that it can present the same picture 

 when full grown as it did at the beginning, only 

 on an altered scale, and the objects in it are for ever 

 after in the right relation to one another, — since 

 nature cannot be calculated so accurately and it 

 would also take too much time. 



"Here we meet with the drawback of our art, in a 

 certain sense — though it may also be regarded as an 

 advantage. For it is impossible to create a finished, 

 permanent work of art in landscape gardening, such 

 as the painter, sculptor, and architect are able to 

 produce, because our material is not inanimate, but 

 living; we can say of the landscape gardener's art, 

 as of all nature's own pictures, as Fichte said of the 

 German language, "It is about to be, but never is." 

 That is, it never stands still, can never be fixed and 

 left to itself. Hence a skilful guiding hand is al- 

 ways necessary for works of this kind. If the hand 

 is lacking too long they not only deteriorate, they 

 become something quite different, but if the hand is 



226 



