Art Out-of-Doors 



at the gaudy vulgarity of our coleus-beds ; 

 when we see pretty things huddled together 

 in ugly masses, or ugly plants set in con- 

 spicuous solitude, sure of admiration be- 

 cause they are novelties — in all these cases 

 we may comfort though not excuse ourselves 

 by knowing that, over the water, we should 

 see just the same things and even more of 

 them. 



The most instructive things which Europe 

 offers to an American eye are her exam- 

 ples of architectonic gardening — the magnifi- 

 cent formalities wrought by Le Xotre and his 

 followers in France and Germany, the beau- 

 tiful old semi -formalities of which many rel- 

 ics still remain in Italy, and the small city 

 squares which modern Frenchmen design so 

 well. ]\Iost of Europe's best lessons in nat- 

 uralistic gardening can, I think, now be read 

 in Germany. Some admirable work of this 

 sort has recently been designed in France. 

 But in France it is, perhaps, more often in- 

 jured than in Germany by the introduction 

 of inharmonious details. And certainly the 

 fine traditions of the so-called English style 

 have been much better and more generally 

 see 



