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LANDSCAPE GARDEN

I. Introduction, History and Design

^S^GAR^DEN PRESS

D avenjDor t , ~-^ Io\<?eL

Fig. 1 — An Italian garden in which an architectural use has
been made of plant material without giving an expres-
sion of an over-formal garden composition

LANDSCAPE GARDEN SERIES

HISTORY AND DESIGN

BY
RALPH RODNEY ROOT, B. S. A., M. L. A.

THE GARDEN PRESS

DAVENPORT, IOWA

PREFACE TO THE LANDSCAPE GARDEN SERIES

"I never had any other desire so strong and so Hke to
covetousness, as that one which I have had always, that I
might be master at last of a small house and a large
garden." - — Abraham Cowley, 1618-1667.

GARDENING is one of the most inexpensive and entertaining
pastimes the year round. The gardening year is divided into
four regular seasons: winter, or planning time; spring, or plant-
ing time; summer, or enjoyment time; autumn, or the season for the
harvest of vegetables and fruits. A study of the average home grounds
in America seems to show that few people have grasped the principles
of garden design or have given to this phase of home making the atten-
tion that it deserves.

The object of the Landscape Garden Series is to sei-ve as a guide
to garden care and planning. It is not the object of the authors to
cover each subject, of this series, in an exhaustive manner, but rather
to include in these books such information as will be found helpful in
planning and caring for private places.

It has been the endeavor of the writers of this series to avoid senti-
mental effusions upon incidental details of gardening. Such articles
and books upon the subject of^ gardening have done untold good in
arousing interest in this fascinating pastime, but it has seemed to the
authors of this series that their inspirational literature is not supple-
mented frequently enough by clear exposition of the fundamental
theories of good planning, and by practical information as to how these
ideas may be carried out.

The material in these booklets has been arranged so that each
phase of landscape work can be studied conveniently and the separate
books used as a part of the garden equipment. There is necessarily

75508

6 LANDSCAPE GARDEN SERIES

some duplication in the various papers of the series. It was thought
best, in many cases, to permit this dupHcation, especially when such
repetition assists in driving home certain fundamental principles.

If through these books a desire can be created for better designed
home grounds, and if these books will assist the home owner in mak-
ing this desire a reality, the authors will feel well repaid for the thought
and care which has been required in the arrangement of the material.

OUTLINE
LANDSCAPE GARDEN SERIES

BOOK I. HISTORY AND DESIGN

Chapter —
I. History
II. Design

BOOK II. PLANNING THE HOME GROUNDS

Chapter —

I. Introduction.

II. Developing the Landscape Plan

III. Locating the House

IV. Walks and Drives

V. The Division of Areas

VI. The Public Area
VII. The Private Area

VIII. The Service Area

IX. Insuring Tasteful Expression

BOOK III. PLANTING THE HOME GROUNDS
Chapter —

I. The Function of Planting Material in Landscape Design

II. Types of Planting

III. Classification of Plant Materials

IV. Plant Composition

V. Sources of Plant Material

VI. Planting Design for Home Grounds

VII. Sincerity in Planting

8 LANDSCAPE GARDEN SERIES

BOOK IV. PLANTS FOR THE HOME GROUNDS
List—

I. Evergreens for Formal Planting

II. Deciduous Plants for Formal Planting

III. Evergeens for Informal Planting

IV. Deciduous Plants Suitable for Informal Planting

V. Woody Plants Enduring Shade

VI. Plants for Ground Cover Under Trees

VII. Trees for Street and Avenues

VIII. Trees not to be Used for Street Trees or Near Home

IX. Plants for Congested City Districts

X. Low and Trailing Plants for Covering Slopes and

Preventing Erosion

XI. Plants for Unprotected Places Along Lake or River Fronts

XII. Plants Adapted for Various Soil Conditions

XIII. Plants for Rock Gardens

XIV. Plants for Water Gardens

XV. Plants with Special Interest in Twig, Leaf and Fruit

VII. Shrubs Valuable for Flowers in Order of Bloom

XVII. Vines for Special Purposes

XVIII. Perennials

XIX Bulbs

XX. The Best Annuals for General Use

BOOK V. PLANTING AND MAINTENANCE
Chapter —

I. Listing, Selecting and Ordering

II. Soil Preparation

III. Planting

IV. General Maintenance
V. Pruning

VI. Insect Enemies and Fungous Diseases

OUTLINE 9

BOOK VI. CONSTRUCTION— ARCHITECTURAL
FEATURES

Chapter —

I. Grading, Drainage and Lawns
II. Walks and Driveways

III. Walls, Fences and Gateways

IV. Garden Structures
V. Pools

VI. Furnishings and Garden Features.

BOOK VII. GARDEN DESIGN

Chapter —

I. Introduction
II. Design

III. Types of Gardens

IV. Use of Gardens

V. Garden Color and Material

BOOK VIII. BEAUTY IN THE VEGETABLE GARDEN

Chapter —

I. At the Gate
II. The One Best Place

III. The Design Attractive

IV. Border Pathways

V. The Magic of Architecture

BOOK IX. COUNTRY PLACES

BOOK X. THE HOME AND THE CUT
Chapter —

I. The Home and the City
II. Organizmg for City Improvements
III. Appendix

Copyright, iqsr
•V L. n: RAMSEV

CONTENTS

I. History 10

II. Design 26

CHAPTER I

\/-^

HISTORY

THE enjoyment of designing, building, and caring for gardens,
together with the pleasure of studying natural landscape has been
since the earliest times a favorite subject for authors and students,
so that we have very good data for the study of the growth of land-
scape gardening from the earliest times up to the present date.
Although many of the earlier gardens are no longer existing, and
many styles of landscape gardening have lasted only for comparatively
short time, each of these has left behind it something worth being
copied, so that many of the gardens we see at the present time com-
bine features that were used in the earliest gardens. While the gar-
dens of the different countries differed a great deal both in their
arrangement and the plant material used and in the use of the gardens
themselves, we find in many cases the same features, such as water.

Fig. 2 — Gateway. An American Estate

D. H. HILL LIBRARY

North Carolina State College

12

LANDSCAPE GARDEN SERIES

walls and walks, being used in such a way as to take advantage of the
climatic conditions or the particular use required of each.
Egyptian Gardens
In the earliest gardens of which we have a record — those
of ancient Egypt, — we have fairly accurate data back to 3000 B. C.
in records on an Eygptian tomb, — on that of Amten, — we find a carved
inscription which gives us an excellent idea of the arrangement and
planting of these early gardens. This particular garden contained an
area of almost 1 30 thousand square feet, in which was located a
dwelling house and the necessary service building, with the whole
scheme arranged in such a way as to make the best possible use of
the land. Provision was made for shade by the use of trees, and cool-
ness by the use of pools of water.

Many of the ideas of early Egyptian gardens were taken to Persia
where the garden became more decorative, and we find here water
used for the purpose of reflection, the trees being used more for their
flowers and odor.

Roman Gardens
The best of the earlier gardens were those of the Romans, in
which we find combined the best ideas of the Egyptians, Persians and

'aBH''^''^^^ '^^i^'r*^^3Bm

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Fig. 3 — An English Estate

HISTORY 1 3

Greeks. The larger of the Italian gardens were located on the hill-
sides which required the use of terraces, and the garden was made
very decorative by the use of steps and ramps and balustrades.'!
Fountains were provided on the terraces starting at the top of the gar-
den and playing down the terraces until the lower level was reached,
where the water was caught in large pools where it was used for
reflection.

The most of the planting in these gardens was for the purpose
of adding to the architectural features of the whole scheme. The
house and grounds were made a single composition in arrangement,
and for the first time we have the whole landscape brought in as part
of the composition by the framing in of attractive views which could
be seen from the garden. A special provision of the arrangement of
these gardens was the use of axis lines in such a way as to give balance
and formality so as to give the gardens greater decorativeness and
beauty. With the fall of Rome the gardens in Italy began to decline,
but there still were many of the beautiful gardens of the villas. Among
the most attractive of the gardens are those of the Villas d'Este
Aldobrandini, Lante and Medici.

English Gardens
A country in which the idea of gardening has been developed to
a very high degree is that of England. We have several different
styles of gardening, the most important among the early ones being
the Tudor Gardens, where we have the garden developed as a thing
by itself, and in many ways similar to the Egyptian gardens. An
arrangement of walls and gates protected these early castle gardens
which contained the vegetables, flowers and herbs for the family who
lived in the castle adjacent.

The Elizabethan gardens which followed closely upon that of
Tudor, were located in such a way as to have more architectural rela-
tion to the house. These gardens became more decorative and were
very similar to our present day flower gardens, having quite a little
formality of arrangement and a use of plant material to secure rather
broad effects.

The real Elizabethan gardens begin with the 1 6th century and
continue through until the middle of the 1 8th, thus making the date of

14

LANDSCAPE GARDEN SERIES

Fig. 4— Villa D'Este, Italy

HISTORY 15

Elizabethan gardening from 1550 to 1750, covering a period of about
200 years in garden planning. We have traced the development of
the English garden from the castle garden, the outgrowth of which
was the Tudor garden, and now we have come to a period of garden-
ing in England which we will find to be very distinctive.

Up to this time the general care of the garden, such as it was,
had not occupied very much of the owner's thoughts, but with the in-
troduction of many new species and varieties of plants from other
countries, particularly Holland and America, we find a new type of
gardening, with the interest centered largely in the plants, taking a new
lease on life, and the owners devoting much of their time to their gar-
dens. (TAgain an analogy may be dravvn between gardening and
history, or more properly speaking, between the history of a country
and its gardening proclivities. The time of the reign of Elizabeth
and the succeeding kings found England in a comparatively wealthy
state, particularly the reign of Elizabeth, for one of her chief policies
was frugality, and her reign was marked by increased resources;
therefore, during this prosperity and freedonn, from wars, the people
were given the opportunity as well as the means to improve their gar-
dens, and to turn their attention to the more peaceful pursuits. Jl It was
cutomary at this time for the garden owner to know the names of
practically all of the plants that were contained in his garden, and to
superintend the laying out of the beds.

i At the time of the castle garden, because of the many wars which
occurred, the gardens were more utilitarian than aesthetic. The tran-
sition from this period to the Tudor period shows an increase of plants
used for their beauty as plants, but the gardens were still mainly prac-
tical. The garden arrangement now consisted of a large sunken gar-
den, in which all the plants were grouped, both flower and vegetable,
but with the introduction of the Elizabethan Garden, we find the
tendency developing to separate the flowers from the vegetables, and a
m.ore definite arrangement of the garden parts as to use. For instance,
the vegetables were now planted in the kitchen garden, which was
carefully screened from the more private parts of the estate. The
plants which were used for their decorative values appeared now in
the flower gardens and in mass planting, pleached alleys, bowling
greens, and all the other garden features which we have come to

16

LANDSCAPE GARDEN SERIES

associate with the Ehzabethan garden, became more distinctly set
apart, each in its proper place. Plants were selected now for special
characteristics which they exhibited, such as time of bloom, color of
blossoms, or leaf and height. J

Soil and soil conditions became of much more importance than in
former times and the location of the planting groups was very carefully
studied ; much attention was given to the arrangement of the garden
area as to color, and plants were grouped according to this medium.
At this time, many plants were brought over from America and many
wild plants were introduced into the gardens, the great care was exer-
cised in the placing of these plants, so that the proper soil conditions,
or those as nearly like that to which they had been accustomed, might
be provided for them, thus insuring the best results in the matter of
acclimatization. This is the only style of gardening that has ever been
developed in which the plant material was used in just this way.

The growth of the English garden was never one of quick changes,
but rather a gradual development. At this time the garden was strictly
in connection with the house, the architectural details being repro-

Fig. 5 — A well designed American garden, showing old world influence

HISTORY 1 7

duced in the embroideries in the portieres, the shape of the garden fol-
lowing as closely as possible that of the house, — in short, the garden
was as close a replica of the house as was possible.

These gardens were usually built on one of three sorts of locations,
on a hillside with the house at the top and the terracing towards the
bottom of the hill, on a hillside with the house at the bottom, and the
terracing going up the hill, and on practically level ground. A feature
was made of the terrace wall and we find in gardens where the
topography was practically level that a terrace was provided and the
terrace wall made quite an important feature in the design of the
garden. Some time the wall was ornamented and not covered with
vines, in other cases a hedge was planted along the wall or it was cov-
ered with roses or vines. The terrace walls were supplied with but-
tresses to support the terrace, which were used as a sort of division
into areas for the garden space, and this was made use of in the plant-
ing scheme. For instance, in the space between two buttresses, which
made sort of a niche, the planting would follow a color scheme of
perhaps blue; in the next two red would predominate as a color; the
next two would be planted again with blue, and so on ; also sometimes
various ornaments such as statues, vases, etc., were placed in the^e
niches. These same color schemes would be carried out on to the next
garden terrace in gardens where there were several terraces, and where
possibly the line of color was continuous from one terrace to the next.

This terrace in a way, superseded the mount, altho the mount was
still used. With the larger growth of the garden, it became necessary
to provide a better means of surveying the garden as a whole, which
the mount could no longer provide, and, therefore, the terrace was
utilized for this purpose and was so placed as to give a view of the
whole garden and as much of the surrounding scenery as the owner
wished to include.

Broad walks made of sand, turf, gravel, etc., which were called
"forthrights" were laid out on a plan corresponding to the plan of the
building to connect the various parts of the garden, thus dividing them
as the walls of the house divide the house into rooms. Smaller walks
running parallel to the terrace were provided. The spaces which were
made between these walks were filled in with parterre beds and
flower gardens, edged with stones, box or other plants of a like nature.

18 LANDSCAPE GARDEN SERIES

Fig. 6 —An English estate with open lawn and pleasing composition of archi-
tecture and planting

The patterns employed in these beds in many cases were similar and
sometimes exact reproductions of the details of the architectural deco-
ration of the house. Many geometrical features were used.

In many instances these terrace walls were planted as wall gar-
dens, or covered with hedges or fruit trees. There were usually three
gates to the estate, the postern or field gate, the main gate through
which the owner and his family and usual guests entered, and a
special gate used only in the case of visits by royalty or guests of
higher rank. These gates were ornamented with vases, etc. Many
of these gates were of wrought iron and represent some of the finest
types of this art which have ever been produced.

The mount was usually provided with an arbor and some seats,
but in the cases of the very wealthy garden owners elaborate banquet-
ting houses were erected thereon. Sometimes when a masque was to
be given, or a pageant (for this age delighted in such festivals),
temporary structures, which were covered with vines and made of
some flimsy material, were erected for the occasion.

Many of the gardens had mazes or labyrinths, and quite often
these were supplied with trick or surprise fountains which would sud-
denly play, thus giving the lost one a thorough wetting.

Fig, 7 —A temple on a lake

Topiary work was much used in these gardens, having been intro-
duced into England at the time of WiHiam and Mary, from Holland,
where it was carried to great extremes. Many quaint designs were
worked out in yew and box, such as the twelve disciples, reindeer
hunts, various goddesses and gods at play, etc.

20 LANDSCAPE GARDEN SERIES

The use of pools was not as general as that of fountains. Nearly
every garden had a "grand fountain" in the center of the formal gar-
den. Many small surprise fountains were arranged in various parts
of the gardens, as iron trees whose twigs would suddenly rain streams
of water on the persons walking beneath, sundials which suddenly
jetted up water when one stopped to read the time of day, etc.

The greatest characteristics of the people of this time was their
love for growing plants for decoration and for the plants themselves.

It was the excesses for gardening, particularly in the use of topiary
work that caused the springing up of what came to be called the
"naturalistic" style of gardening, but before this area of gardening
began, there came what was much more harmful to beautiful gardens
than a war could ever be, — a period which we have come to call the
"period of garden craze". At this time the influence of the gardens
on the continent became more marked. People began to lose all
originality of style and slavishly copied these gardens. Not content
with copying the details of these gardens, they introduced the whole
garden into their estates and came to be content with no less than four
or five different styles. This garden craze period came about 1 675
and lasted until the time of Repton.

The first type of continental garden to influence the English gar-
den was the Italian garden and with its influence was brought the worst
features of the rococo period. Loggies, vases, fountains, carpet bed-
ding, etc., appeared at this time as did also grottoes and other water
features. Little attention was paid to the proper arrangement of these
details, the aim being simply to include them.

Because the French gardening had received much of its stimulus
from the Italian example, although worked out on different lines, never-
theless the French influence was largely responsible for the influence
of the Italian garden, because the later French and Italian gardens
were both addicted to rather florid ornaments.

Through the French also came the Dutch influence with its excessive
use of topiary and bedding plants. The Dutch was much like the
French in general. The French gardening at this time was character-
ized by large, open areas, artificial hills and valleys; that is, they

HISTORY 21

simply made the topography suit their needs, and this soon became the
prevalent style in England.

Versailles, the famous palace of the French kings, near Paris,
France, was designed by Le Notre in the seventeenth century, and
is a distinct and characteristic achievement of the period of Louis XIV
and set the fashion for some time until displaced by the English style.

With the introduction of these three types of gardens, many more
freakish styles were introduced, and an attempt was made to introduce
into England, a kind of garden in which all the elements were to be
symbolic, such as the stepping stones, trees, etc., of the Japanese gar-
den. The idea of the garden owners at this time seems to have been
for each man to try to outdo his neighbor in the creaticn of as many
styles of gardens, all on one estate, as he could conceive. The be-
holder was led from one style to another, French, Dutch, Italian,
Chinese, Japanese, etc., and as a last enormity, they even tried to
create gardens symbolic of mythology, caves, grottoes, gardens depict-
ing the terrors of the lower regions, etc. The visitor to these gardens
was supposed to view each one with increasmg awe and amazement
and no doubt they did.

In about 1 750 a man by the name of Kent made his appearance
in gardening work jand from that time dates the worst affliction that
has ever been visited upon gardening. His idea was to create a natu-
ralistic effect, nothing was to be artificial — everything was to be as in
its wild state. He was a landscape artist and had been engaged to
paint an estate and when the owner saw how he had "beautified and
improved" it, he was engaged to carry out these suggestions on the
ground and thus started the period known as the naturalistic. H'^.
was followed by Sir Uvedale Price, an author, and Lancelot Brown,
commonly known as "Capability Brown", from his habit of speaking
of the capabilities of places upon which he was engaged. None of
these men were trained in architecture or even in horticulture, and yet
to their unskillful hands were entrusted beautiful old gardens that had
existed for centuries and bade fair to become as softened and mellowed
by time as the old Italian villas. They proceeded to tear out all that
they possibly could of the old garden features, destroying all formal
portions and replacing them with native flora as much as possible,

11

LANDSCAPE GARDEN SERIES

Fig. 8— Well designed architectural detail from an Old World garden

HISTORY

23

even going to the length of planting dead trees and training streams to
meander. The house opened directly out into what was supposed to
resemble a virginal forest — undisturbed by nature, and there was no
transition provided for the various portions of the grounds. Kent's
favorite style was the Chinese and he tried as closely as possible to
imitate their ideas about gardening, but he was not successful in this
as in his informal idea, for the elements of gardening had no symbolism
to a people such as the English, whose very ideals of life were of a
formal order.

Sir Humphry Repton
In 1803 a man appeared who was destined to begin the work of
reformation and in a measure bring gardening in England out of the

Sir HUMPHRY Repton.

F.g. 9

chaos into which it had fallen. This man was Humphry Repton, a
man of great talent both in architectural drawing and in the knowledge
of horticulture. PHe was educated both in England and in Holland;
and it is supposed that he learned a great deal from the Dutch gardeners
and their love of plants, which later led him to take up this profession
with so much success. His father prepared him to be a merchant, which
he was for several years until misfortune overtook him and he retired
to his country place. Here he lived for many years taking a great
interest in agricultural work and the beautifying of his home grounds.
On the death of Price and Brown he became the foremost man in the
profession in England, and in fact was the first man to consider his

24

LANDSCAPE GARDEN SERIES

Fig. 10— Many of the small architectural features used in American gardens are
replicas or adaptions of famous European examples

work along these lines as a profession. He adopted the title of "Land-
scape Gardener" and was conceded even by Price to be at the head
of his profession.

He believed in an organized plan, using plant materials to help
create the desired effect; and he believed in using the materials of the
problem in the best possible way to enhance the plan. He was
the creator of what we now call the English lawn, a broad stretch of
turf with plants in masses about the building and the corners, but not as
straggly specimens dotted over the lawn, as had been the case in the
time of Kent.

He believed the fundamental of design in landscape gardening to
be as follows: The entrance drive, which might be elaborate or sim-
ple, as depended on the taste of the owner; the service portion which
should be concealed from the rest of the house, and the pleasure gar-
dens which he considered as an outdoor room to the house. Consid-
ering an estate as a composition, he divided the distance as follows:
immediate foreground which to him included part of the house, the
middle distance with its tree groups to aid the view, and the view

D. H. HILL LIBRARY

North Carolina State College

HISTORY 25

itself which included the whole vista of the garden scheme. He
always considered the garden as very closely related to the house —
as a part of the house plan. '

Today we find the owners of these old estates in England grad-
ually restoring them to their former wonderful beauty and grandeur.
Much of this restoration is due to the influence of Repton and his
writings. In America we have suffered from this naturalistic fever,
but happily our gardens are not so old nor so elaborate that much
harm has been done.

CHAPTER II
DESIGN

COMPOSITION in any artistic work may be defined as the
putting together of lines, masses and colors, — for the purpose
of securing harmony. The first requirement for good com-
position is the arrangement of the several elements used in the design,
with the idea of their decorative value being secondary. A line may
be defined as the boundary of shape; a mass as the area within the
line. To understand well the requirements of a good design, we must
understand the relation of lines, masses, and colors. The fundamental
lines of a design are the lines of construction.

In the early American architecture, especially in the colonial
house, we have a good illustration of the fundamental lines of con-
struction of the building employed as a decorative element in the
composition. The use of heavy timbers in the frame work of the
house, and the emphasis of these lines on the outside as a decorative
element in the composition, divides the space of the outside of the
building into pleasing areas.

The first requirement of a composition of this kind is the spacing
of the main lines. The ground work or basis of the composition is
the spaces themselves, and their relation to each other. In a simple
garden plan in which the garden occupies a square, and the problem
is the arrangement of the walks and areas for the cultivation of flow-
ers, the number and width of the paths will determine the shape and
size of the flower beds. In this plan, which is essentially formal, we
have the emphasis on the lines. In the informal plan, in which we
have practically the same sized space divided up into areas which vary
in shape according to the location of the walks, we have the emphasis
on the spaces themselves, and the interest is here centered on the gen-
eral shape, size, and the location of the spaces with reference to each
other.

HISTORY

27

Fig. 1 I — A modern American garden

' In the analysis of any garden plan, the same principles apply that
are used in the study of a picture. Here we study a composition just
as an arrangement of lines which are the boundaries of the spaces. In
any good composition one type of line predominates. For instance,
in a composition in which the fundamental lines are horizontal, all
other lines in the composition are subordinated to these. On the other
hand where the main lines are vertical, we have the other hnes of the
composition subordinated to the vertical. In any picture or plan, the
arrangement of lines becomes a source of pleasure to the observer if
the composition has been well worked out. We have in all composi-
tion two types of pictures, the one which is known as the representa-
tive, and the other as the decorative. In the representative type, the
pleasure or interest to be derived by the observer will depend upon the
understanding of the meaning of the picture. In the other type, the
decorative, the arrangement becomes the source of pleasure. To be
satisfactory, both should have good composition.

A view of a landscape to be satisfactory, should have some definite
limitations. In all landscape work, the views count as pictures, to be

28 LANDSCAPE GARDEN SERIES

seen from different points. There are three types: first, the formal
vista, in which the interest is usually in the materials used in the long
lines which border the vista, the view at the end becoming secondary.
Second, the informal vista, in which the view itself becomes the inter-
esting feature, and the plant materials or architectural features used to
frame the view are secondary. The third type, or panorama, consists
of a formal composition in which the different areas furnish the in-
terest.

For the purpose of study any composition may be analyzed as
possessing all or part of six principles or requisites: opposition, transi-
tion, subordination, repetition, symmetry, and variety,)

This analysis of composition may be applied equally in both city
and country. The only difference is in the things to be seen, although
the same elements of composition are there. In analyzing a composi-
tion we divide it, or it divides itself, into three sections: foreground,
or immediate view; middle distance (just beyond the foreground, or
a litde less importance) ; and the distance, or background. Any pic-
ture, illustration or view, or in other words, any composition has these
three main elements.

We see in a, composition the following elements: line, notan or
value, and color. We recognize objects first by outline. When we
see our friends coming down the street, while they are yet too far
away to recognize them by the color of their dress, or by any other
means, we recognize them by their form or ouUine. Thus in composi-
tion of any kind, we recognize the objects portrayed because we have
learned that this or that outline — combination of lines — is this or that
object. We next recognize the value or shading of the composition,
whether it be light or dark. For instance, if the sky be overcast, we
say it pictures rain; if the sun be shining brightly, and the general
effect of the composition is that of light, it denotes clear weather to
us. Then, too, the light and shade, or value, serves to bring out the
salient features in the composition, — to draw our attention to that
which it is most important that we should see. The third means of
recognizing the objects in a composition, is color.

Composition is the art of forming a whole by uniting different
parts. Composition is divided into the following parts: opposition.

DESIGN

29

Fig. 12— A charming feature upon a country estate in America

which means the meeting of two Hnes to form an angle and which
gives accent where they "oppose" each other; iransition, the break-
ing up of hnes forming angles so that the interest may center on cer-
tain accented points,— often done by the use of curved lines; sub-
ordination, the subordinating of certain lines in order to bring out cer-

30 LANDSCAPE GARDEN SERIES

tain lines, — may be accomplished by repetition or by the use of dif-
ferent types of lines ; repelition, the use of the same type of line over
and over to aid in subordination ; symmetry, the use of parallel lines
and axes; variety, the arrangement of lines of different types to break
up the sameness, — may be accomplished by use of different lines or
using lines in different w^ays.

The danger in composition is usually that of securing too much
variety and detracting from the repose of the picture.