The Art of Gardening 



grudge man's skill its major share. In short, 

 the landscape-gardener's task is to produce 

 beautiful pictures. Nature supplies him 

 with his materials^ always giving him vital- 

 ity, light, atmosphere, color, and details, 

 and often lovely or imposing forms in the 

 conformation of the soil ; and she will see 

 to the thorough finishing of his design. 

 But the design is the main thing, and the 

 design must be of his own conceiving. 



It is easy to see that this is true when 

 formal, ^^architectural" garden-designing 

 is in question. But it is just as true of nat- 

 uralistic landscape - work. Nature seldom 

 shows a large composition which an artist 

 would wish to reproduce ; and if by chance 

 she does, it is impossible for him to repro- 

 duce it. Practical difficulties hedge him 

 narrowly in, and appropriateness controls 

 his efforts even more imperiously than those 

 of other artists. His aim is never purely 

 ideal ; he can never think of beauty, or even 

 of fitness, in the abstract. He may practise 

 with abstract problems on paper, but with 

 each piece of his actual work Nature says to 

 him : " Here in this spot I have drawn a 



IS 



