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 Notre 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. Most 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 
366 
