A COMMON FAULT IN GARDEN MAKING, 



treatment of ground surface is common 

 in France and some of its worst effects 

 may be seen in the ChampsElysee,which 

 is full of false lines, stiff banks, and 

 beds made at impossible 

 angles, and this poor re- 

 sult is ill-concealed by 

 the beauty of the trees 

 and the good planting. 

 In valleys like those of 

 the Thames and the 

 Seine we only lose by 

 altering the natural lie 

 of the ground. There is 

 no planting, either of 

 flower or shrub, that is 

 one whit advanced by 

 the creation of artificial 

 mounds, in a valley 

 where the soil is gene- 

 rally good. The art of 

 too many present-day 

 landscape - gardeners 

 consists very largely in 

 this artificial chopping 

 and changing of sur- 

 face, often at great ex- 

 pense and with any- 

 thing but a gain in real 

 effect, and nowhere is 

 the ugliness of these 

 exaggerated distortions 

 more seen than in many 

 of the public parks and 

 gardens, both here and 

 abroad. It is true that 

 where the ground is na- 

 turally broken, a slight change in surface 

 may sometimes open up hidden beauty 

 and give better effect, but to create arti- 

 ficial mounds for the mere sake of avoid- 



ing a flat surface is a false idea of art. 

 And whenever it is necessary in grading 

 forwalksorany other purpose, to change 

 existing surfaces, special care should be 



BASE OF BEECH IN KNOLE PARK. 



taken to avoid this earthing up of tree- 

 stems, which not only hides one of their 

 finest features, but is often fatal to cer- 

 tain kinds of trees. 



