INTRODUCTION ix 



plans of French chateau gardens there are indications of 

 features which became much more accentuated in Le 

 N6tre's work a century later. In his treillage hedges 

 Le N6tre improved upon the wooden berceaiu: which his 

 predecessor had made use of ; and so we may learn how, 

 by careful study of the past work of the great leaders, 

 and by building upon the good foundations laid by 

 them, success is achieved. This lesson was known to 

 the great garden artists of former days : now we have so 

 few leaders in the profession that owners of gardens 

 are often obliged to choose between the guidance of a 

 nurseryman and their own intuition. It is but natural 

 that they should find the latter preferable, because in their 

 travels through foreign lands, from their acquaintance 

 with beautiful pictures and fine gardens, they have 

 acquired a knowledge of what they want to possess. 

 The nurseryman's education is too often confined to the 

 growth of plants, and rarely includes artistic colour- 

 arrangement or true garden-making as studied by the 

 man who is on a level educationally with the architect. 



The time has come when the standard of beauty in 

 gardens has reached such a height that we require more 

 educated, more artistic, more thoroughly trained and 

 competent men and women to take up this delightful 

 profession of garden-making. There are vast openings 

 waiting for them, not only in the planning of small or 

 large private gardens, but also in the arrangement of 

 public parks, and again in the study of forestry aild fruit 

 culture. More intelligent directing heads are wanted in 

 the "growers'" departments, too; but for the artistic, 

 garden-making side of horticulture an even higher 

 standard is set, and at the moment the competition 

 is limited to a few. 



If there were more true professional artists of garden- 

 making, there would not be so many of those strangely 



