technical abilities of the new nation. While tastemakers and creators of great estates did turn to Europe for guidance and example in the period discussed, inevitably, many of the imported styles were transformed when absorbed into the new and challenging environment of the New World, with its immense tracts of land, severe climatic conditions, and vast regional differences. This book will address the history of garden design only as it pertains to ornament, inasmuch as the appropriateness of garden ornament is intrinsically linked to that of landscape design in general. Keywords: American gardens; origins of American taste; Europe for guidance.
long occupancy (as in the case of those who long ago settled in unoccupied territory) or through conquest (is in the case of those who took it in war) or by due process of law, bargain, or purchase, or by allotment. On this principle the lands of Arpinum are said to belong to the Arpinates, the Tusculan lands to the Tusculans; and similar is the assignment of private property. Therefore, inasmuch as in each case some of those things which by nature had been common property became the property of individuals, each one should retain possession of that which has fallen to his lot; and if anyone appropriates to himself anything beyond that, he will be violating the laws of human society. But since, as Plato has admirably expressed it, we are not born for ourselves alone, but our country claims a share of our being, and our friends a share; and