Aims and Methods 



true of spots where Nature has contented 

 herself with few species, for such spots have 

 an unusually distinct character of their own, 

 an unusually well-marked individuality. 



In such spots what is an owner or his 

 gardener likely to attempt ? Most often to 



make up," as he would say, for Nature's 

 niggardhness — to supply the deficiencies of 

 her limited nursery. He strives to repro- 

 duce, on a soil unfit for the purpose and 

 amid inappropriate surroundings, the varied 

 and luxuriant effect of the average inland 

 country-place. And, as a consequence, he 

 misses the chance to get a good result which 

 would be characteristic of the country-side 

 where he has chosen to make his home, and 

 gets only a bad imitation of results proper 

 to very different regions. 



A true artist would go to work in quite 

 another way. He would accept Nature's 

 frame, outlines, and materials, and paint his 

 pictures according to her local specifications. 

 He would strive to re-unite her scattered 

 excellences," but not all of them, and not an 

 assortment chosen at random — only such as 

 she herself mig-ht here have brous^ht harmo- 



41 



