Four Trees 



ing willow. If it came by the way of the 

 rivers of Babylon, that may excuse its pres- 

 ence in a garden which is planned as a 

 symbolic exposition of sentiment, but not 

 in one which is planned as a work of art. 



I have, indeed, seen one or two Japanese 

 pictures where a weeping willow looked 

 very well. There it overhung a cascade; 

 and it looked well because the falHng lines 

 of water harmonized with its own lines — 

 because, so to say, the cascade excused its 

 abnormal shape. If you have a little cas- 

 cade, then, plant a little weeping willow ; 

 or if you have a big waterfall, encourage a 

 weeping willow to grow big beside it ; but 

 do not allow one to shed its tears in the 

 centre of your lawn, or to mingle its weak 

 pendulousness with the sturdier, more normal 

 forms of the trees in your foreground group 

 or your forest-like plantation. It can never 

 form an accent, like the Lombardy poplar ; 

 it can only form a contrast and, almost in- 

 variably, an inharmonious one. It is out 

 of all relation with soft round-headed trees, 

 and still more with angularly spreading or 

 aspiring trees. 



279 



