THE PROFESSION OF LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



35 



wasting much time upon unnecessary matter. To a person whose tempta- 

 tion to embark on the career is solely the love of gardening, the idea of 

 mastering two or three other pursuits seems appalling and unnecessary — 

 unnecessary it certainly would be for him. The chances are that he will 

 refuse to enter upon such subjects, and that if he does not decide to 

 abandon his aspirations he will devote himself to a system of gardening 

 which affects to despise the so-called extravagances of constructional 

 effort, and confine himself to a sphere of activity which is strictly 

 limited. 



It really seems unnecessary to emphasise such a point as the value to 

 any young man of having his business education mapped out, and directed 

 by proper advisers, especially when he is preparing for a profession which 

 numbers among its supporters such a large number of highly skilled 

 amateurs. 



Foreign critics of our educational methods might possibly recognise 

 landscape gardening as our national art from the fact that it is practically 

 untaught in this country. 



There are a few centres of enlightenment devoted to horticulture in 

 which the subject is treated, I believe, as an important branch of 

 gardening, but I have been unable to discover any educational 

 institution which adequately recognises it as affording professional 

 possibilities, distinct from horticulture. It is certain that many earnest 

 young men who desire to adopt the career are at a complete loss as to the 

 best means of doing so. Some of them have been blindly through a long 

 course of horticultural study, and at the end have found themselves 

 lacking in many essential qualifications. 



There are, of course, considerable difficulties in the way of providing 

 education on an adequate scale, but if the gardening-world were unanimous 

 in demanding it, an important step would have been taken towards their 

 removal. 



It is an obvious criticism that with so much difference of opinion 

 among garden designers, as to what constitutes beauty in a garden, it 

 might be difficult to hit on a form of teaching which would meet with 

 enough general approval to warrant the experiment. After a century or 

 so of controversy, however, the matter seems to be simmering down 

 sufficiently to render practicable a sort of " Cowper Temple " settlement. 



A good deal of hard language has been uttered against both formal 

 and informal gardens by men whose prejudices incline them towards 

 one or the other, but each form of art seems to have thriven upon abuse, 

 and become unshakeably established. Whatever his personal preferences 

 may be, however, a landscape gardener' with a catholic practice must be 

 competent to deal with all sides of the question, and the education of a 

 student must accordingly be shaped on the basis that landscape gardening 

 is, in its essence, an eclectic art. 



Thinking it would be interesting to know something of what was 

 being done in other countries in the matter of education, I have sought 

 for information from some eminent gentlemen, who have given it to me 

 with the utmost kindness and readiness. 



In Germany the subject of landscape gardening is not included in the 

 curriculum of any University. Instruction in the art is given, however, 



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