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is apt to be misunderstood and resented. 
But after due consideration the judges 
decided to select for criticism such of 
the entries as appeared to illustrate best 
points of most general application, it not 
being possible within the length of a 
report to discuss every one in detail. 
The criticism was quite frank — the only 
kind that seemed worth giving — as im¬ 
partial as possible and such as would 
have been made in private conversation 
without any idea of printing it. And 
as far as is known to the judges, it was 
received in good part, although some of 
it was, no doubt, not very easy to endure 
when so much thought and money had 
obviously been spent on the work. But 
if the criticism be analyzed it will be 
found to contain more praise than blame, 
not merely on the average, but in almost 
every individual case. Where defects 
were dwelt upon they were such as could 
be amended at relatively 
small trouble and cost. 
The layout or disposi¬ 
tion of parts was in 
nearly every case more 
or less good and the mis¬ 
takes were in details, 
generally of planting, 
easy to alter or replace. 
The underlying prin¬ 
ciples of garden design 
are the same as those of 
any other kind of de¬ 
sign ; but the materials 
or media are so different 
from others that it takes 
a good deal of study 
and experience to dis¬ 
cern how the principles 
apply. As in the case 
of architecture, sermon 
writing or symphony 
composing, one must set 
about a garden with a 
definite conception, a 
clear idea of what is in¬ 
tended and the kind of 
sentiment it is meant to 
produce in those who see 
it. You cannot make up 
the design of a garden 
as you go along, though 
you may to a greater or 
less extent make up the 
details. Then the afore¬ 
said definite conception 
must be adapted to the 
condition, the size, shape 
and general character of 
the ground and sur¬ 
roundings and 1 the 
things that will grow 
there. The design 
ought, in fact, to rise out 
of the conditions, not be 
imposed on them. The conditions, of 
course, include what the owner hap¬ 
pens to want or prefer. So out of these 
two sets of things—what the owner 
wants and what he can with consistency 
have in that particular place—the fin¬ 
ished product should evolve. He may 
desire an enclosed garden, greenhouses, 
pergolas, statuary and so forth, or a 
mere setting to the house of lawn and 
trees or shrubbery; he may desire some¬ 
thing very elaborate or very simple, for¬ 
mal and informal or both, and any of 
them might be quite appropriate; but in 
any case they must be consistent. If the 
ground is hilly and irregular, the layout 
will plainly be very different from that 
of a flat area; and if there are good sized 
trees, the treatment is likely to differ 
considerably from that of a bare lot. A 
few good trees may be sufficient to fur¬ 
nish the lawn and make a setting for the 
house; whereas, if there 
are none a shrubbery 
arrangement would sug¬ 
gest itself for the sake 
of quick effect, and the 
ultimate expression be 
entirely different. There 
are nine and thirty ways 
of writing tribal lays 
and every one of them 
is right, states Mr. Kip¬ 
ling, and it is the same 
with gardens. But 
whichever of the mne 
and thirty is selected, it 
must “carry through” 
and be complete in in¬ 
tent or it will not be 
right. It must not be 
made of parts added to 
one another in a hap¬ 
hazard way, no matter 
how beautiful they may 
be in themselves. It 
must be complete and 
consistent in the same 
way as a well designed 
table, building, or poem, 
are consistent and com¬ 
plete, every part being 
necessary to the whole 
and nothing being ad¬ 
mitted merely because 
the designer happens to 
like it. The way to get 
a thing like this latter, 
whether it is a tree, 
bush, plant, statue or 
anything else, into a gar¬ 
den without violence is 
to make the garden or 
part of the garden to fit 
it, not to drag it in 
whether it belongs 
or no. 
II The outlining of these beds provides the de¬ 
sign lacking in the rose plantings themselves 
III The growth of trees here adds materially to the advantage of the place; the low 
growing material, however, is not thoroughly consistent with it 
IV At the right of this picture is the flower garden shown in No. I. From this 
aspect it is too small and restless for the mass of the house 
