Doc. No. 5.) 36 



(Lljt |1l;.n 



The art of ornamenting and preparing ground for pur- 

 poses of pleasure, has undergone many changes since it 

 first becamea study, and within the past century lias l>een 

 marked by a most rapid progression. The earlier efforts 

 were characterized by a desire to make nature assume a 

 strictly artificial appearance, giving to every scene an air 

 of formality and symmetry, a seeming attempt to apply the 

 rules of architecture to landscape, under the impression, 

 that the greatest effect was thereby produced. Later 

 years have developed a clearer conception of the true 

 nature of taste, and has given rise to a modern style, 

 winch is based upon the maxim, that " the greatest art is 

 to conceal art." 



These two styles, "the natural" and " the artificial/* 



modified in different countries by national characteristics, 

 and the pecularities of climate, have originated the various 

 schools of art, such as the Italian, the Dutch, the French, 

 and the English, which have been followed, to a greater or 

 less extent by all those who have had any pretension as 

 professors in this particular field. In England, under the 

 auspices of landed wealth and a liberal government, and 

 through the studies of Kent, Repton and Loudon, improv- 

 ing upon the efforts and profiting by the errors of two 

 centuries, it has reached a high degree of perfection; in 

 Germany, by the energy and genius of Puckler MuskaU, it 

 has changed the neglected suburbs of ancient cities into 



