Formal Gardening 



all the grass is shorn, and all the flowers 

 are set in pattern-beds. Within the pre- 

 scribed shapes and lines she must grow her 

 flowers and foliage as she will ; and she 

 must supply light and shadow and the at- 

 mospheric envelope. And, on the other 

 hand, artificial, formal elements must enter 

 into every landscape which man's foot is to 

 tread and man's eye is to enjoy as a work of 

 art. We must always have roads and paths 

 and the non-natural curbs or edges of grass 

 which they imply. In private grounds we 

 have a house as the very centre and focus 

 of the scene, as the very reason for its artis- 

 tic treatment ; and in public parks we have 

 minor buildings, bridges, steps, and many 

 other artificial preparations for human com- 

 fort. No garden can be absolutely artificial, 

 and none can be absolutely natural ; and 

 this is enough to show that the elements 

 theoretically proper to the one style may 

 sometimes be very freely introduced in a 

 general scheme which we class as belonging 

 to the other style. 



There is, for instance, a beautiful park 

 near the city of Dresden. It is about a 



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