14 MANUAL OF GARDENING 
explains the subject admirably. One reason why the picture 
appeals to us more than the landscape is because the picture 
is condensed, and the mind becomes acquainted with its entire 
purpose at once, while the landscape is so broad that the 
individual objects at first fix the attention, and it is only by a 
process of synthesis that the unity of the landscape finally be- 
comes apparent. This is admirably illustrated in photographs. 
One of the first surprises that the novice experiences in the use 
of the camera is the discovery that very tame scenes become in- 
teresting and often even spirited in the photograph. But there 
is something more than mere condensation in this vitalizing and 
beautifying effect of the photograph or the painting: individual 
objects are so much reduced that they no longer appeal to us 
as distinct subjects, and however uncouth they may be in the 
reality, they make no impression in the picture; the thin and 
sere sward may appear rather like a closely shaven lawn or a 
new-mown meadow. And again, the picture sets a limit to the 
scene; it frames it, and thereby cuts off all extraneous and con- 
fusing or irrelevant landscapes. 
Theseremarks are illustrated in the esthetics of landscape gar- 
dening. It is the artist’s one desire tomake pictures in the land- 
scape. Thisis done in two ways: by the form of plantations, 
and by the use of vistas. He will throw his plantations into 
such positions that open and yet more or less confined areas 
of greensward are presented to the observer at various points. 
This picture-like opening is nearly or quite devoid of small or in- 
dividual objects, which usually destroy the unity of such areas 
and are meaningless in themselves. A vista is a narrow opening 
or view between plantations toa distant landscape. It cuts up 
the broad horizon into portions that are readily cognizable. It 
frames parts of the country-side. The verdurous sides of the 
planting are the sides of the frame; the foreground is the bottom, 
and the sky is the top. It is of the utmost importance that 
good views be left or secured from the best windows of the house 
