Where  the  predilection  for  some  grazing  animal  to
fill  out  the  suggestion  of  the  pasture  is  too  strong  to
be  suppressed,  the  cow's  place  is  often  given  to  some
more  or  less  inadequate  substitute,  such  as  deer,  ante-
lopes, or  some  such  exotic  beast.  These  substitutes,
although  less  beautiful  to  the  pastoral  eye  of  Western
man  than  the  cow,  are  in  such  cases  preferred  because


Pecuniary  Canons  of  Taste  135

of  their  superior  expensiveness  or  futility,  and  their
consequent  repute.  They  are  not  vulgarly  lucrative
either  in  fact  or  in  suggestion.
Public  parks  of  course  fall  in  the  same  category  with
the  lawn ;  they  too,  at  their  best,  are  imitations  of
the  pasture.  Such  a  park  is  of  course  best  kept  by
grazing,  and  the  cattle  on  the  grass  are  themselves
no  mean  addition  to  the  beauty  of  the  thing,  as  need
scarcely  be  insisted  on  with  any  one  who  has  once
seen  a  well-kept  pasture.  But  it  is  worth  noting,  as
an  expression  of  the  pecuniary  element  in  popular
taste,  that  such  a  method  of  keeping  public  grounds
is  seldom  resorted  to.  The  best  that  is  done  by
skilled  workmen  under  the  supervision  of  a  trained
keeper  is  a  more  or  less  close  imitation  of  a  pasture,
but  the  result  invariably  falls  somewhat  short  of  the
artistic  effect  of  grazing.  But  to  the  average  popular
apprehension  a  herd  of  cattle  so  pointedly  suggests
thrift  and  usefulness  that  their  presence  in  the  public
pleasure  ground  would  be  intolerably  cheap.  This
method  of  keeping  grounds  is  comparatively  inexpen-
sive, therefore  it  is  indecorous.
