Formal Flower-Beds 
these hideous eccentricities could be matched 
in other places in the West ; and in the East 
we find at least the ordinary pattern -bed 
misused in lamentable fashions. 
I do not know that the Public Garden in 
Boston offers the worst instance of this mis- 
use, but it is the one with which I am most 
familiar. It is a delightfully situated piece 
of ground, with a gently modulated surface 
and a pretty sheet of water, and it is well 
laid out in a naturalistic way. Some of its 
architectural details are poor, but these 
would not disturb us much if, year by 
year, the gardener could be pursuaded to re- 
strict his efforts in the way of bedding-out. 
One-tenth as many bright-hued beds would 
produce ten times as good an effect. In the 
centre of the garden there is a straight path 
which crosses a stone bridge. Along this 
path and in one or two other places stiff 
and brilliant beds are appropriate. But 
everywhere closely set along the edges of the 
winding paths and near the base of freely 
grouped trees, and isolated in the centre of 
stretches of lawn, they ruin the charm of 
what might be peacefully verdant, genuinely 
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