THE GENERAL PLAN OR THEORY OF THE PLACE 23 



sky-line, the bold bays and promontories, and the infinite play 

 of hght and shade. The observer is interested in each because 

 it has character, or features, that no other mass in all the world 

 possesses. He knows that the birds build their nests in the 

 tangle and the rabbits find it a covert. 



Now let the reader turn to Fig. 9, which is a picture of an 

 ''improved" city yard. Here there is no structural outline to 

 the planting, no defining of the area, no continuous flow of the 



13. An open treatment of a school-ground. More trees might be placed in the 



area, if desired. 



form and color. Every bush is what every other one is or may 

 be, and there are hundreds like them in the same town. The 

 birds shun them. Only the bugs find any happiness in them. 

 The place has no fundamental design or idea, no lawn upon 

 which a picture may be constructed. This yard is fike a 

 sentence or a conversation in which every word is equally 

 emphasized. 



In bold contrast with this yard is the open-center treatment 

 in Fig. 13. Here there is pictorial effect; and there is opportu- 



