478 



HORTICULTURE 



April 3, 1909 



Brides, Uridesmaids and Richmond. 

 Don't fool with the American Beauty; 

 let the Beauty specialists attend to 

 them. 



If roses must be grown in a small 

 way give them as many of the advan- 

 tages that they receive on larger 

 places as possible. Acquire as much 

 knowledge as can be gained from read- 

 ing and jiractical experience and then 

 see how large a percent of this know- 

 ledge can be put into practite. 



AMERICAN LANDSCAPE ARCHI- 

 TECTURE. 



Professor F. A. Waugh of Amherst 

 spoke before the Massachusetts Horti- 

 cultural Society on February 20, on 

 "American I^andscape Architecture." 



The art of landscape gardening is 

 now well established in America, ho 

 said. A considerable number of pro- 

 fessional landscape gardeners serve a 

 constantly widening circle of clients, 

 and a new and higher standard of 

 public taste is being raised. It Is 

 worth while to ask the questipa 

 whether In landscape architecture we 

 have achieved anything worthy of our 

 time, anything responding to the spirit 

 ot the twentieth century, anything 

 flistinclive, representative, national, 

 American. 



"This," he said, "is precisely the 

 question T seek to raise. My subject is 

 uot 'I.,andscape Architecture in Ameri- 

 ca,' but 'American Landscape Architec- 

 ture.' The former subject is quite 

 worth while, but it leads straight to 

 the latter. We ought to study what- 

 ever landscape architecture there may 

 be in the land, but finally we want to 

 know what there is in it that is 

 American." 



An Unworked Field for Criticism. 



Continuing, the lecturer said the field 

 of landscape architectu'-e criticism is 

 almost un Known; and this fact pre- 

 sents unquestionably the greatest 

 handicap under which the art labors. 

 The landscape architects themselves 

 appear to be not only blind to this 

 defect, but they seem almost to pre- 

 sent an organised opposition to every 

 Improvement in this direction. 



He considered the refinement which 

 criticism has brought to literature. "A 

 progressive literature without constant 

 criticism is an impossibility. Most 

 productive writers recognize this. They 

 welcome intelligent criticism, even 

 when it rests heavily on their own 

 works. Some writers and all publish- 

 ers industriously cultivate criticism. 

 In like manner the arts of acting, 

 painting, sculpture and music enjoy 

 the stimulus and direction of a well 

 organized criticism. On every hand, in 

 every art (except only landscape archi- 

 tecture) criticism is welcomed and the 

 critic is recognized as filling a position 

 of legitimate service." 



An Attitude of Disapproval. 



Professor Waugh here gave interest- 

 ing facts concerning his own corres- 

 pondence with landscape architects in 

 America. Some data and some valua- 

 ble expressions of opinion have been 

 secured, he said, but the big result of 

 the whole Investigation Is to show the 

 very general and hearty suspicion in 

 which all such inquiries are held. 

 Some landscape gardeners politely but 

 firmly refused to give any Information 

 regarding their own works or any- 

 body's else. 



"Let us understand now and ever- 



more," said he, "that this attitude is 

 wrong and harmful. The right way 

 is to welcome and assist criticism. 

 Well-informed, intelligent criticism 

 will clear the air, will set a standard of 

 taste, will foster a wider and better 

 appreciation of our gracious art, will 

 tend to the improvement of technique, 

 will set higher ideals before our pro- 

 fessional workers, and in a thousand 

 ways will help both the makers and 

 the enjoyers of landscape pictures." 



The speaker then passed to a con- 

 sideration of American works and 

 workeis, through the Colcnial period, 

 the ante-bellum period, the post-bellum 

 period and the present time, which, he 

 said, is marked by a wide development 

 and popularization of the art, and by 

 many skiUuI workers and "an unprece- 

 dented eclecticism in style." 



Downing and Olmstead Compared. 



He told of Andrew Jackson Downing, 

 "by all odds the first .American land- 

 scape gardener, ' who was a nursery- 

 man before he became a gardener. 

 .Uidged by the number of and char- 

 acter of his disciples, this name is the 

 most illustrious in the entire history ot 

 American argrlculture, horticulture or 

 gnrdening, Professor Waugh declared. 

 ITe aimed at the informal or "natural" 

 style, which, however, was apt to he 

 constrained and stiff and far short of 

 the present day style. 



Frederick Law Olmsted, the leading 

 designer of the period after the Civil 

 War, was spoken of at length, aud 

 some of the public places he beautified 

 were described In words of praise. 

 "Of these." said the speaker, "the best 

 known are the World's Fair at Chicago 

 (especially the Wooded Island and 

 Lagoon), Mount Royal Park, Montreal; 

 Piltmore, N. C, and the railway sta- 

 tion grounds of the Boston & Albany 

 Railroad. If wo add to this list Frank- 

 lin Park, Boston, and the Muddy River 

 Parkway we have a reasonably repre 

 sentative selection of hi.=-, best auil 

 most characteristic work. 



"Olmsted introduced a new apprecia- 

 tion of natural scenery. He first 

 taught us to admire Nature in her own 

 dress. Downing was a lover of natural 

 landscape, but this element of his 

 character was not brought strongly 

 forward in his landscape gardening. 

 Adaptation to site and surroundings 

 was the keynote of Olmsted's work, 

 and this also amounted to a new dis- 

 covei-y in landscape art. He discovered 

 the native flora. Gardeners every- 

 where v/ere planting .Tapanese magno- 

 lias, purple beeches and Camperdown 

 elms. Olmsted turned boldly, and not 

 without violent opposition to the com- 

 mr>nest roadside shrubs. With the 

 richest indigenous flora of any country 

 in the world, we were still planting the 

 spncies and varieties o£ European 

 nurseries. We may remark further 

 that this use of the native flora was 

 the one Olmstedian principle most 

 quickly acclaimed and adopted by 

 others. 



Use of Native Plants. 



"The native plants were used in 

 large quantities. Common dogwood 

 and viburnums were put in by car- 

 loads. For the first time in the his- 

 tory of landscape art. plants were 

 adequately massed. This principle wag 

 not carried to extreme, however; and 

 in fact It has not yet received the de- 

 velopment which it merits. Indigenous 



plants were given their natural en- 

 vironment. Much attention was given 

 to the development of this principle, 

 especally by some of the followers of 

 Olmsted. 



"His roads were peculiar and char- 

 acteristic—and peculiarly and charac- 

 teristically successful. A considerable 

 part of their success is due to their 

 adaptation to the contour of the land. 

 He appears to have been the first 

 conspicuously to adopt the principle of 

 rythm in natural landscape composi- 

 tion, though any artist composing free- 

 ly and with a proper feeling for his 

 work will inevitably follow this meth- 

 od more or less. This method cannot 

 be formulated in a sentence, but every 

 artist at least will understand what It 

 signifies." 



The Opportunities In America. 



In conclusion Prof. Waugh said: 



"Landscape gardening now enjoys 

 unprecedented opportunities in Ameri- 

 ca. These opportunities come both 

 through the presence here of many ex- 

 cessively wealthy patrons of the art 

 and through the democratic patronage 

 of municipalities and public institu- 

 tions. 



"The old controversies over styles 

 have been hushed and instead of them 

 we now enjoy a remarkably catholic 

 taste aud eclecticism of treatment. We 

 have all grades of the natural style, 

 every shade of adaptation of the Italian 

 style, examples of the Japanese style, 

 and hundreds of excellent works which 

 meet the requirements put upon them 

 frankly and adequately without refer- 

 ence to any set "style." This break- 

 ing away from set and conventional 

 styles indicates that American land- 

 scape gardening has now taken root 

 in its own soil. The services of the 

 profession have passed largely from 

 private into public fields. The leading 

 problems now are not private estates 

 of gentlemen, but municipal parks, 

 playgrounds, and city planning. So 

 broad a field of benevolent human- 

 itarianism was never before opened to 

 any art. 



The Outlook. 



"My own judgment is that American 

 landscape architecture, as it comes 

 more and more to its proper estate, 

 will be influenced more and more by 

 the native !andscai)e. It will conform 

 Itself in a larger and more fundament- 

 al way to the topography and the 

 scenery of the continent. American 

 landscape architecture will some day 

 utilize the boundless resources of 

 natural scenery. Niagara Falls must 

 some day be the center of a public 

 park. The Yellowstone geyser region 

 is already reserved and should some 

 day be developed by the skilled hand 

 of a competent landscape architect. 

 The big trees fall Into the same order. 

 And some day the Rocky Mountains, 

 the great plains, the Florida Ever- 

 glades, the Great Lakes, the Mississip- 

 pi and the Hudson, Lake Champlaln 

 and the Adirondacks must all be open- 

 ed up TO public use as a past genera- 

 tion opened up the coal mines of 

 Pennsylvania, the forests of Wisconsin 

 and the gold veins of California. Here 

 Is the most magnificent opportunity 

 that landscape architecture ever had, 

 and this is the field in which this 

 greatest of all arts will become finally, 

 magnificently and characteristically 

 American." 



