290 Xan&scape Hrcbitecture 



elements. They are desirable so far as they aid the 

 essential elements in inviting the observer to rest or 

 move forward in one way or another, as shall most 

 conduce to his recreation. They are undesirable in so 

 far as they tend to weaken, divide, blot, or make 

 patchwork of the essential features of the natural 

 landscape. 



"The first consideration, then, in a truly critical 

 study of the size, form, and place in the park of any 

 required construction for the accommodation of vis- 

 itors was originally, and always should be, that the 

 degree of display which may be allowed in it should 

 correspond, as nearly as other considerations will 

 permit, with the importance of the need it is designed 

 to meet : this being measured not only by its average 

 value to each user, but with regard also to the number 

 of those who will have occasion to use it. " 



Bridges in landscape gardening are in reality what 

 Olmsted and Vaux term an accessory, and not an essen- 

 tial artistic necessity of the landscape design. As a 

 feature of the landscape, their artistic necessity is not 

 felt when compared with the elements of trees, shrubs, 

 water and grass spaces; — but the accessory of first im- 

 portance is the passageways that lead the observer to 

 the different views of the landscape picture, and the 

 bridge forms part of these passageways. There is no 

 question, howevei", that more than most other accesso- 

 ries in the landscape, the bridge may be so used as to 

 give a charm and variety which may be kept in harmony 



