The whole scheme of the garden is to secure vistas back and forth along the zig-zag path through the growth of cedars. At the end of each 
vista there is some architectural feature such as the seat or the fountain shown 
A Garden of Vistas 
A STRIKING EXAMPLE OF WHAT MAY BE SECURED VERY INFORMALLY BY THE 
JUDICIOUS CUTTING OF PATHS THROUGH A SMALL GROVE OF EVERGREENS 
by Charles Edward EIooper 
Photographs by the author 
T HE informal garden began with Eden. Later, when man 
had become an independent and self-satisfied unit, he 
perpetrated the Japanese, Italian, Eng¬ 
lish and other artificial gardens. 
The little Jap bowed down to nature 
and said, “Most Honorable Mother, I 
will make my garden in thy image." 
And because of this and because both 
nature and the artificial details were a 
part of his religion and meant some¬ 
thing to him, he has done far better 
than the rest of humanity. 
The Italian hypnotized nature and 
produced by artifice a beautiful thing, 
as cold and colorless as the marble with 
which he overloaded it. To-day it is 
bearable and often pleasing, but only 
from the fact that nature and time have 
in a measure reclaimed it. 
When the Englishman made his 
garden, he reached for an axe and 
started in to reform the dame. When 
he had hacked a rooster out of one tree, 
a hatbox out of another and constructed 
an avenue flanked by numerous strings 
of sausage standing on end, he rested. 
“See; is it not beautiful?’’ And his kin 
said, “Magnificent!’’ 
The ordinary garden is composed of 
bits stolen from nature and in their ad¬ 
justment more or less defiled. But why steal—why defile? The 
old lady is naturally wild—but friendly. Cultivate her friend¬ 
ship ; learn her ways and whims and 
when she has gotten confidence enough 
to come anti eat out of your hand, don't 
clap a dog collar on her and tie her up 
to a clothes-post in the yard. Don’t try 
to tame her; let the relationship be one 
of friendship if you expect her to exert 
her individuality and help. Tame her, 
and she loses the former and is less 
than useless for the latter. If you ex¬ 
pect to drive nature, you’ve got a balky 
horse, and if you want your load pulled, 
you'll pull it yourself, which is not what 
you are after. The Japanese under¬ 
stand this well; hence their relation 
is one of partnership, with nature al¬ 
ways senior. To illustrate the point 
still further, let us take some old 
houses, abandoned, fallen to decay. 
Many of these old houses when new 
were very ugly in design. We make 
this assertion boldly, knowing it to be 
so—but, let it be never so bad and com¬ 
monplace, when turned over to the 
master hand of Dame Nature, what 
happens? The ungainly detail loses 
its prominence; the jarring outline 
loses its rigidity Gradually the thing 
The shortest vista of all is across the little pond 
towards a white marble seat, set like a gem 
against the evergreens 
