Formal Gardening 



are in the country, but merely to suggest the 

 country ; not to assume rusticity, but to 

 typify it ; not to affect naturahiess, but to be 

 craftily, carefully, poetically naturalistic. 



The Thiergarten in Berlin is probably 

 the finest naturalistic urban park in all Eu- 

 rope. Some of its portions are vvilder- 

 looking, more distinctly naturalistic, than 

 any parts of Central Park. But through its 

 whole breadth runs a wide formal space, with 

 straight drives and walks, richly adorned 

 with works of sculpture, and appropriate- 

 ly planted. And so it always must be : 

 useful, and therefore artificial, features are 

 required in all pleasure - grounds, now of 

 a large and bold and again of a less obtru- 

 sive sort ; and the franker the expression 

 of their purpose, the better as a rule the 

 result will be. 



We do not yet realize the fact, but when 

 grounds are small the formal style, in some 

 of its phases, is more easily managed than 

 the naturalistic. And this is not the only 

 reason why I wish that it were more often 

 attempted by American hands. 



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