THE FIELD OF CRITICISM 



no sign nor mark to repeat his name to 

 the thousands who thoughtlessly enjoy 

 his labors. It is well-nigh impossible to 

 discover the existing works of particular 

 landscape architects. It would require a 

 directory and a chart to do it; and it seems 

 hardly necessary to remark that such a 

 directory has not yet been compiled. 



In many places where good works of 

 landscape gardening exist, it seems to be 

 a point of professional etiquette to keep 

 the neimes of the designers a secret. 



Another difficulty lies in the fact that 

 a landscape gardener's picture is not 

 finished when it leaves his hand. Nearly 

 always the lapse of years must be waited 

 for its completion. Sometimes a generation 

 must pass; and it would be hard in any 

 case for the artist himself to say just at 

 what moment his masterpiece gave the 

 fullest expression of his original design. 



What is even worse is the positive 

 infraction of the design by ignorant or wil- 

 ful meddlers. A gardener, a park superin- 

 tendent, a half-baked engineer, or a thrifty 

 contractor executes the artist's design. 

 Sometimes he executes it to death. This 

 work is often performed ignorantly, often 



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