CHAPTER III 
THE LESSONS OF THE COMPETITION* 
THE problems set by the competition were by no 
means easy. They were, in effect, to compress within 
severely restricted areas an epitome of the art, prin- 
ciples, and practice of garden creation. The plots 
selected for treatment were barren of anything that 
could assist in directing the mind toward any particu- 
lar development, and it is with great pleasure that the 
judges testify to the ingenuity and inventiveness dis- 
played by many of the competitors in creating, out of 
such slight material, so much diversity of design, and 
potentially picturesque effects. It is inevitable, after 
spending much time in consideration of the large num- 
ber of plans submitted, and employing a process of 
elimination of the worst in order to choose the best, 
that the tendency of the judges’ comments is to become 
critical as regards all. We therefore devote our 
remarks chiefly to the lessons to be learnt from those 
points in which the various schemes fail, rather than 
from those in which they succeed. 
One fact emerges from a consideration of such a 
number and variety of ideas as to what constitutes the 
best method of arranging a small garden—namely, 
that there were two classes of competitors, who 
* By George Dillistone and F. W. Harvey. Reprinted 
from The Garden, October 17th, 1914, p. 510. 
c 17 
