290 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[October, 



C031MUNICA riONS. 



LANDSCAPE GARDENERS. 



BY J. C. CHELSEA, MASS. 



Mr. Editor : — In the June number of the 

 Monthly I found an article headed " Who shall 

 lay out our Ornamental Grounds," wherein quer- 

 ies are put and suppositions made, many of 

 which I submit has very little to do with the 

 Bubject in hand. 



Any one who appropriates to himself the 

 name of Landscape Gardener, must be aware 

 that he assumes a profession of no mean preten- 

 sions ; and as your correspondent justly observes, 

 many that are known to be good gardeners in 

 the general acceptation of the term, would not 

 pretend to .class themselves with "landscape 

 gardeners." Nevertheless, if a gardener has 

 taken a pride in his profession, and has' had an 

 opportunity to study it in all its branches, I can 

 see no reason why the services of an engineer 

 should be required in locating and constructing 

 a drive, forming a terrace, building a wall, or ar- 

 ranging a system of drainage. 



Through a lengthened experience in conduct- 

 ing svich work, T have uniformly done my OAvn 

 engineering, and in some instances on places of 

 great extent. In mj' opinion no one should un- 

 dertake the duties, and incur the responsibilities 

 of the " landscape gardener," without first hav- 

 ing a good, general knowledge of civil engineer- 

 ing. 



Again, if we are not to apply to the gardener 

 to make a lawn, arrange a parterre of flowers, 

 and to prune trees and shrubs, to whom can we 

 go for assistance? This is surely supererogation, 

 it being part of the duty of the gardener, and 

 with which the engineer is not expected to be 

 conversant. 



Your correspondent also says : " I have known 

 a gardener than whom there was none superior 

 in his line, to try persistently to make water run 

 up hill,'" &c. What secret is there in making 

 water run up hill if you have a good supply at 

 the foot of the hill ? With a good hydraulic ram 

 properly placed you can send water up hill any 

 reasonable distance, and in any direction you 

 choose. 



Again, he says: "I have known a gardener, 

 thoroughly competent in all the work devolving 

 on him as a gardener, from the management of 

 an orchid house to a potato patch, that ruined 

 the natural beauty of a place through his inex- 



perience of the principles of taste." In such a 

 case the employer was more to blame than the 

 employee. This reminds me of the assertion 

 of a " landscape gardener," now deceased, who 

 seemed to take pleasure in undervaluing all gar- 

 deners, whatever their abilities or qualifications, 

 that the most of them might be good enough for 

 sodding a bank, planting cabbage, or hoeing a 

 potato patch ; but I presume there are as good 

 fish in the sea as has yet been caught, and that 

 men qualified for their duties as landscape gar- 

 deners will make their appearance when re- 

 quired. 



Your correspondent states : " By the wording 

 of signs, cards and circulars, many seemed 

 ashamed of the term gardener, and hence called 

 themselves Landscape Architects, Landscape En- 

 gineers," &c.; but he justly remai'ks that a name 

 that was good enough for Repton, Loudon, Down- 

 ing, Kemp, &Q., is good enough for their fol- 

 lowers. 



I have exceeded what I intended to say, but I 

 may be excused for stating that, as I give designs 

 for laying out grounds, and also for horticultural 

 buildings, I do not hesitate to style myself Land- 

 scape Gardener and Horticultural Architect. 



Chelsea, 22d July, 1876. 



RHODODENDRONS. 



BY H. W. S. WODENETHE, FISIIKILL ON HUDSON, N. Y. 



Mr. S. B. Parsons, in your September issue, in 

 his article on Centennial Rhododendrons, while 

 criticising the plants exhibited by Mr. Waterer 

 under the tent, as being too tender for this cli- 

 mate, concludes by saying : " There are Rhodo- 

 dendrons, however, which are perfectly hardy in 

 our American climate, and doubtless Mr. Waterer 

 has them. These high colors are not, however, 

 found among them, but belong to sorts which 

 are adapted only to greenhouse culture." 



Surely Mr. Parsons must have forgotten that 

 the finest collections in this country, Mr. Hunne- 

 well's, at Wellesley and Mr. Rand's, at Dedham, 

 besides many others around Boston, such as Mr. 

 Sargent's, at Brookline— all came from Mr. Wat- 

 erer. Some of these collections consist of several 

 thousand plants in many varieties, all doing 

 under the heavy mulch treatment of eight to 

 ten inches of dead or decaying leaves, quite as 

 well as the same plants do in England. 



I have for many years grown the annexed list, 

 with only the slight protection in winter of ever- 

 green branches on the nortlnvest side, and 



