to the planting. The object of landscape gardening is _to make a
picture._ All the grading, seeding, planting, are incidental and
supplemental to this one central idea. The greensward is the canvas, the
house or some other prominent point is the central figure, the planting
completes the composition and adds the color.

[Illustration: Fig. 53. An enclosure for lawn games.]

The second conception is the principle that _the picture should have a
landscape effect._ That is, it should be nature-like. Carpet-beds are
masses of color, not pictures. They are the little garnishings and
reliefs that are to be used very cautiously, as little eccentricities
and conventionalisms in a building should never be more than very
minor features.

[Illustration: Fig. 54. Sunlight and shadow.]

Every other concept in landscape gardening is subordinate to these two.
Some of the most important of these secondary yet underlying
considerations are as follows:--

The place is to be conceived of as _a unit._ If a building is not
pleasing, ask an architect to improve it. The real architect will study
the building as a whole, grasp its design and meaning, and suggest
improvements that will add to the forcefulness of the entire structure.
A dabbler would add a chimney here, a window there, and apply various
daubs of paint to the building. Each of these features might be good in
itself. The paints might be the best of ochre, ultramarine, or paris
green, but they might have no relation to the building as a whole and
would be only ludicrous. These two examples illustrate the difference