T he prevalent idea that the best 
decorative gardening is simply 
an imitation of pleasing natural 
scenery, is partially incorrect. If 
an imitation of Nature were the only aim, 
if she were simply to be let alone, or repeated, then a prairie, 
a wild forest, an oak-opening, a jungle, or a rocky scene, would 
only need to be inclosed to seem a perfect example of landscape 
gardening. All these forms of Nature have their peculiar beauties, 
and yet these very beauties, when brought into connection with our 
dwellings, are as incongruous as the picturesqueness of savage 
human life in streets or parlors. All civilization is marked by the 
CHAPTER I. 
ART AND NATURE. 
AH nature is but art unknown to thee ; 
All chance, direction which thou canst not see.” 
Pope. 
