Garden-Craft Old And New

CONTENTS.


CHAP. PAGE

I. THE THEORY OF A GARDEN 1

II. ART IN A GARDEN 28

III. HISTORICAL AND COMPARATIVE SKETCH 41

IV. THE STIFF GARDEN 70

V. THE "LANDSCAPE-GARDEN" 98

VI. THE TECHNICS OF GARDENING 133

VII. THE TECHNICS OF GARDENING (_CONTINUED_) 153


ON THE OTHER SIDE.

VIII. A PLEA FOR SAVAGERY 183

IX. IN PRAISE OF BOTH 202




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.



A GARDEN ENCLOSED _FRONTISPIECE_

PLAN OF ROSARY WITH SUNDIAL TO FACE P. 156

PLAN OF TENNIS LAWN, TERRACES, AND FLOWER
GARDEN 158

GENERAL PLAN OF THE PLEASAUNCE, VILLA
ALBANI, ROME 160

PLAN SHOWING ARRANGEMENT OF SUNK FLOWER
GARDEN, YEW WALK, AND TENNIS COURT 164

PLAN OF SUNK FLOWER GARDEN AND YEW
HEDGES 166

PLAN SHOWING ARRANGEMENT OF FOUNTAIN,
YEW WALK, AND FLOWER BEDS FOR A
LARGE GARDEN 180

PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF GARDEN IN THE PRECEDING
PLAN 180

PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF A DESIGN FOR A GARDEN,
WITH CLIPPED YEW HEDGES AND FLOWER
BEDS 182




GARDEN-CRAFT




CHAPTER I.

ON THE THEORY OF A GARDEN.

"Come hither, come hither, come hither;
Here shall he see
No enemy
But winter and rough weather."


Some subjects require to be delineated according to their own taste.
Whatever the author's notions about it at starting, the subject somehow
slips out of his grasp and dictates its own method of treatment and
style. The subject of gardening answers to this description: you cannot
treat it in a regulation manner. It is a discursive subject that of
itself breeds laggard humours, inclines you to reverie, and suggests a
discursive style.

This much in defence of my desultory essay. The subject, in a manner,
drafts itself. Like the garden, it, too, has many aspects, many
side-paths, that open out broken vistas to detach one's interest and
lure from the straight, broad terrace-platform of orderly discourse. At
first sight, perhaps, with the balanced beauty of the thing in front of
you, carefully parcelled out and enclosed, as all proper gardens are,
the theme may appear so compact, that all meandering after side-issues
may seem sheer wantonness. As you proceed, however, it becomes apparent
that you may not treat of a garden and disregard the instincts it
prompts, the connection it has with Nature, its place in Art, its office
in the world as a sweetener of human life. True, the garden itself is
hedged in and neatly defined, but behind the garden is the man who made
it; behind the man is the house he has built, which the garden adorns;
and every man has his humours; every house has its own conditions of
plan and site; every garden has its own atmosphere, its own contents,
its own story.

So now, having in this short preamble discovered something of the rich
variety and many-sidedness of the subject, I proceed to write down three
questions just to try what the yoke of classification may do to keep
one's feet within bounds: (1) What is a garden, and why is it made? (2)
What ornamental treatment is fit and right for a garden? (3) What should
be the relation of the garden to the house?

Forgive me if, in dealing with the first point, I so soon succumb to the
allurements of my theme, and drop into flowers of speech! To me, then, a
garden is the outward and visible sign of man's innate love of
loveliness. It reveals man on his artistic side. Beauty, it would seem,
has a magnetic charm for him; and the ornamental display of flowers
betokens his bent for, and instinctive homage of beauty.