them in the same town. The birds shun them. Only the bugs find any
happiness in them. The place has no fundamental design or idea, no lawn
upon which a picture may be constructed. This yard is like a sentence or
a conversation in which every word is equally emphasized.

In bold contrast with this yard is the open-center treatment in Fig. 13.
Here there is pictorial effect; and there is opportunity along the
borders to distribute trees and shrubs that may be desired as individual
specimens.

The motive that shears the trees also razes the copse, in order that the
gardener or "improver" may show his art. Compare Figs. 14 and 15. Many
persons seem to fear that they will never be known to the world unless
they expend a great amount of muscle or do something emphatic or
spectacular; and their fears are usually well founded.

[Illustration: Fig. 14. A rill much as nature made it.]

[Illustration: Fig. 15. A rill "improved," so that it will not look
"ragged" and unkempt.]

It is not enough that trees and bushes be planted in masses. They must
be kept in masses by letting them grow freely in a natural way. The
pruning-knife is the most inveterate enemy of shrubbery. Pictures 16 and
17 illustrate what I mean. The former represents a good group of bushes
so far as arrangement is concerned; but it has been ruined by the
shears. The attention of the observer is instantly arrested by the
individual bushes. Instead of one free and expressive object, there are
several stiff and expressionless ones. If the observer stops to
consider his own thoughts when he comes upon such a collection, he will