Formal Gardening 



disposed garden sometimes met the eye 

 among these would-be naturahstic gardens ; 

 or, to speak more exactly, among these gar- 

 dens which reveal no desire to follow any 

 style that can be fitted with a name — which 

 are merely irregular in the worst meaning 

 of the word. Whatever the designer's suc- 

 cess might be in bringing beauty out of his 

 formal scheme, the result would show at 

 least that he had had some scheme in mind, 

 some plan, some intention, some definite 

 idea ; and where good results are almost 

 entirely lacking, even a visible good inten- 

 tion excites approval. 



Where villa-grounds are large enough to 

 demand a drive-way to the door, a straight 

 avenue symmetrically bordered by trees 

 might often advantageously replace the road 

 w^hich now winds about on level soil simply 

 because someone has thought curves always 

 essential, and which therefore cuts up the 

 space without the excuse of either increased 

 usefulness or increased beauty. Such an 

 avenue would imply, of course, some meas- 

 ure of formality in its immediate neighbor- 



177 



