Introductory 



In the garden itself no inharmonious features 

 should be introduced, or they will detract from 

 the beautiful work which nature is always ready 

 to do at your bidding. 



I have seen gardens, in which the utmost care, 

 and no little expense, has been lavished in 

 securing a splendid succession of bloom, utterly 

 marred by the presence of garish and trumpery 

 accessories, or of objects which, even if not in 

 themselves inartistic, are out of place amidst 

 the flowers by reason of their pretentious char- 

 acter, or of their disproportion with their 

 surroundings. 



I have seen other gardens, in which the 

 designer has permitted his fancy to run riot in 

 fantastic manner, resulting in the use of mean- 

 ingless curves and trivial eccentricities, or has 

 indulged in a too rigid adherence to symmetry 

 and stiff geometrical forms. 



In such cases the gardener mistakes the 

 artificial for the artistic, and subordinates his 

 flowers to their surroundings, a practice that 

 is obviously opposed to the true purpose of 

 gardening. He regards his flowers as the child 



