the habit of eating scattered grain and crumbs. Of course, the greatest
caution must be exercised that in the use of such highly poisonous
materials, accidents do not occur with other animals or with
human beings.

* * * * *

_The planting is part of the design or picture._

If the reader catches the full meaning of these pages, he has acquired
some of the primary conceptions in landscape gardening. The suggestion
will grow upon him day by day; and if he is of an observing turn of
mind, he will find that this simple lesson will revolutionize his habit
of thought respecting the planting of grounds and the beauty of
landscapes. He will see that a bush or flower-bed that is no part of any
general purpose or design--that is, which does not contribute to the
making of a picture--might better never have been planted. For myself, I
would rather have a bare and open pasture than such a yard as that shown
in Fig. 9, even though it contained the choicest plants of every land.
The pasture would at least be plain and restful and unpretentious; but
the yard would be full of effort and fidget.

Reduced to a single expression, all this means that the greatest
artistic value in planting lies in the effect of the mass, and not in
the individual plant. A mass has the greater value because it presents a
much greater range and variety of forms, colors, shades, and textures,
because it has sufficient extent or dimensions to add structural
character to a place, and because its features are so continuous and so
well blended that the mind is not distracted by incidental and
irrelevant ideas. Two pictures will illustrate all this. Figures 10, 11