SOCIETY OP NORTHERN ILLINOIS. 361 



LANDSCAPE GARDENING IN ITS APPLICATION TO 



PUBLIC PARKS. 



BY J. A. PETTIGREW, SUPERINTENDENT LINCOLN PARK, CHICAGO 



To the landsca 

 the times are hig 

 public parks are 



To the landscape gardener and the aboriculturist, the signs of 

 the times are highly encouraging. On every hand we find that 

 public parks are being established, or that the preliminary steps 

 are being taken, having this end in view. A wave of sympa- 

 thetic feeling on this subject is sweeping over the country. The 

 American public, energetic and progressive in public work, now 

 demand that places shall be set apart for rest, recreation and 

 instruction. It behooves us, then, to be up and doing to meet 

 this popular demand to educate ourselves in the work necessary 

 to meet these requirements, to be able to grasp the possibilities 

 of the art in its application to the designing and planting of 

 public parks. 



It is to be hoped the day is not far distant when state govern- 

 ments to preserve spots wealthy with nature's beauties, will 

 preserve them by providing for their purchase and maintain- 

 ance, and dedicating them to the public use. What opportunity 

 would then be presented for the grandest conceptions of the 

 designer! Imagine a tract in the Adirondack region — its nat- 

 ural beauties harmonized and made available by the hand of a 

 genius. 



A paper on this subject must, of necessity, be brief, and 

 limited to a few general ideas. No arbitrary rules can be framed 

 for guidance in landscape gardening; location, climate, topo- 

 graphy and surroundings of the site chosen for a park — all have 

 to be studied by the designer. 



Should the ground to be improved be possessed of any natural 

 beauty, endeavor to give full expression to it. Masses of wood- 

 land may be the natural adornment of the landscape, covering a 

 larger space than can be embodied into a harmonious feature. 

 The treatment of this requires taste and judgment. Such should 

 be cut up into groups, carefully designed to retain any desirable 

 natural feature already possessed. 



The thinning in the groups or masses should be done grad- 

 ually; light and air introduced will encourage feathering out. 

 This elimination, continued judiciously from year to year, finally 

 will tend to give each tree a certain individuality, without im- 

 pairing its blending in the group. 



In the formation of groups from natural woodland, greater 

 skill and judgment is required than in planting groups on new 

 ground. While desirous of saving fine specimens in opening the 

 mass, yet it must not interfere too much with the object to be 

 attained, which is to produce banks of foliage as points of rest 

 for the eye, with a promise of more beyond, as evidenced by the 



