Formal Flower-Beds 



borders of the city than in the much costHer 

 and showier ornamentation of their Pubhc 

 Garden. 



Surely we ought not to go astray so often 

 in so simple a matter as this. Surely it is 

 easy to see that formal flower-beds must be 

 demanded — or at least supported and ex- 

 plained — by some measure of formality in 

 neighboring things. An architectural ter- 

 race may be planted with them, although a 

 naturalistic lawn may not ; while they can- 

 not look well in the centre of a freely 

 treated park-landscape, they may in some 

 spot, defined by meeting paths, near the 

 line where the flowing features of the park- 

 design meet the symmetrical features of the 

 street ; and in very small open spaces in a 

 city, where trees and shrubs could hardly 

 flourish, we might use them much more often 

 than we do. In short, they are artistic 

 whenever they look as though they belonged 

 in the place where they lie ; and this leads 

 us to the fact that they are especially artis- 

 tic vrhen they look as though this place be- 

 longed to them — as though it had been pre- 



147 



