Formal Flower-Beds 
grounds. Under these conditions formal 
flower-beds are in place ; under other con- 
ditions they are out of place. 
Unfortunately, this is to say that, as we 
most often see them used, they are decided- 
ly out of place — decidedly injurious to the 
scene which they are supposed to ornament, 
and, therefore, ugly things of which no sen- 
sitive eye can approve. We constantly see 
them in grounds which have been laid out 
according to a naturalistic, unsymmetrical 
scheme. No position could be worse for 
a formally outlined bed than one where all 
the surrounding lines, alike of gravel-walk, 
of free -growing shrub, and of untrimmed 
tree, are varied and naturalistic in effect. 
And no position could be worse for a mass 
of brilliant color than in the centre of a 
stretch of bright green, shaven turf. It 
ruins that air of unity, repose, and breadth 
which is the real aim when a lawn is cre- 
ated, while the wide carpet of green throws 
its own colors into such undue relief that it 
becomes as inartistic as a chromo hung on a 
strongly tinted wall. 
It is not only in small villa-grounds that 
143 
