GENERAL PRINCIPLES 19 
feature was to occasion surprise, as apart from genuine 
pleasure, then it becomes necessary to condemn such 
artifices in unmeasured terms. The hidden ways of 
Nature should be sufficient mystery for the most exact- 
ing without lowering our gardens to the level of vulgar 
peepshows, by the introduction of mazes and freaks of 
tree sculpture. 
The attempting of too much in a small space is another 
fault to be guarded against, though where the designer 
is not allowed his own way, this is often a matter of 
difficulty. So many people when seeking the assistance 
of the professional, impose upon him the necessity of 
giving them “a bit of everything” in the way of design. 
They must have a rose garden, a corner devoted to rock 
plants, a few square feet for carpet bedding, a place for 
water and bog plants, a pergola, and much beside, all 
without reference to the suitability or otherwise of the 
place for such introductions. The idea that a garden 
will never lack interest because it resembles a patchwork 
quilt in the number of its divisions, is surely erroneous ; 
the pleasure thus obtained is but momentary, and soon 
ceases to become other than wearisome. We look for 
perfection in detail, but we must also consider the garden 
as a whole, and seek to make its various parts subser- 
vient to one another, the several units of one well- 
balanced plan. Undue regularity must also be accounted 
a sign of weakness, — 
“« Grove nods at grove, each alley at its brother, 
And half the garden but reflects the other ; ”— 
Proper balance is of course desirable, but the arrange- 
ment of beds in well-matched pairs, or the setting of 
vases at each corner of a lawn, is as unnecessary as it is 
opposed to all natural laws. 
The faculty for seeing in the mind’s eye, the general 
characteristics of the garden as it will appear when laid 
and planted, is a gift for which, if possessed, the de- 
