460 



horticulture: 



April 6, 1907 



VICTORY HAS MADE GOOD ... 



Plac* your orders early for rooted cuttings. Prices $6 per lOO, SSO.OO per lOOO. DISCOUNT FOR CASH WITH OROER 



CUTTMAN & WEBER 



Grower 



Lynbrook, L.I.,N.V. 



The Wlioleiale Florist 

 of New York 



43 W. 28 St 



ITALIAN GARDENS. 



(Abstract of a lecture by J. K. M. L. 

 Farquhar before Massachusetts Horti- 

 cultural Society. 

 The oldest form of Italian gard?u is 

 undoubtedly the courtyard garden, con- 

 sisting of a geometrical arrangement 

 of the court into formal beds and bor- 

 ders with convenient paths laid in mo- 

 saic or paveu, and embellished with 

 statuary, sculpture, sundials, fountains 

 and stationary wash-basins of marble 

 or bronze. Pompeii had numerous gar- 

 dens of this class, several of which 

 have been restored by the Italian Gov- 

 ernment, and it is interesting to see 

 the attendants turn the water on the 

 fountains through the system of pyri- 

 form lead pipes which did service 2,000 

 years ago. 



The courtyard garden is of Oriental 

 idea — enclosed for protection, sur- 

 rounded by an arcade on three or four 

 sides of its rectangular area, and fur- 

 nished with benches and other acces- 

 sories to comfort. It was a garden 

 for the family to live in, serving the 

 same purpose as the small garden in 

 the rear of the city houses of Japan, 

 or the high-walled gardens of China, 

 and like these existed for the family 

 rather than for the passer-by. 



The second step in garden evolution 

 Is stfen in the hillside gardens. These 

 occur chiefly throughout central Italy 

 and mark a more advanced state of 

 civilization, when personal security had 

 become established, and when a wall 

 ten or twelve feet in height affordeil 

 ample protection to the inmates of the 

 villa. The hillside villa was usually 

 rectangular, the house occupying the 

 highest ground in the rear. The 

 ground was arranged in a series of ter- 

 races which were usually separated by 

 parapets frequently surmounted by bal- 

 ustrades. One terrace could be ar- 

 ranged with arched recesses in the re- 

 taining walls, in some of which were 

 erected statues for ornament and in 

 others benches where one might en- 

 joy a sun bath quite protected from 

 any chilling breeze. Another terrace 

 would be an extensive pergola, afford- 

 ing a pleasant, shady promenade which 

 the summer sun could not penetrate, 

 and where the inmate might listen to 

 the dripping water from the fountains 

 on a terrace yet below. It was in these 

 hillside gardens that the great possi- 

 bilities of landscape effect dawned up- 

 on the designer. The immediate en- 

 vironment, often uninviting, had to be 

 obscured. If the protecting wall 10 or 

 12 feet high was insufficient screen. It 

 could be supplemented by a screen of 

 cypress, the fine foliage of which dis- 

 linguished it from the pines and firs, 

 and the graceful tapering form of 

 which carries the gaze of the observer 

 to the distant surroundings. 



It must be noted that through these 

 stages of development the Italian gar- 

 den remained strictly formal, and its 

 lines were made to harmonize with 

 those of the architecture to which It 

 was linked. It had three chief ele- 

 ments — marhle, water and the foliage- 

 flowers were Incidental. 



An enlargement of the hillside villa 

 marked the third stage of evolution, 

 and brings us to the elaborate garden 

 of the Renaissance. The terrace was 

 broadened into an elaborate geometri- 

 cally arranged area, in which were dis- 

 posed sculpture, statuary, sundials and 

 Ijenches of marble. Flower beds were 

 arranged in elaborate geometrical de- 

 sign, and numerous architectural fea- 

 tures were introduced, such as well- 

 neads, pergodas, fountains, cascades, 

 and other oinaments. It is this en- 

 larged garden, in its great variety of 

 character and feature, yet always rig- 

 idly formal, that has aroused so much 

 interest and the desire on the part of 

 many garden lovers in this country to 

 reproduce it here. 



About Naples we find the slopes of 

 the hills covered with compact walled 

 villas arranged with convenient paths, 

 a few cypresses standing like sentinels 

 about the house, here and there an 

 olive, orange or lemon tree, and an 

 abundant growth of figs and grape- 

 \ ines. 



In Rome, the \illas average larger; 

 I hey are more elaborate and contain 

 a greater variety of trees, shrubs and 

 plants. The celebrated villa Borghese 

 is a beautiful public park with fine 

 drives, interesting groves of umbrella 

 i>ine, hedges of ilex and boxwood, the 

 latter frequently forming a background 

 for statuary. It is well kept and con- 

 tains numerous elaborate flower beds. 

 Flower beds are frequently arranged 

 with a statue for a centrepiece. Such 

 a bed in the Borghese has for its cen- 

 tre an unknown statue found in the 

 Forum; for its edging coral rock, in- 

 side of which were planted rows of 

 white-leaved gnaphalium, pink ivy- 

 leaved geraniums and white Paris 

 daisy, in the order named; behind 

 these followed blue ageratura, balsams, 

 scarlet salvia, African marigolds, can 

 nas, dahlias, New Zealand flax and 

 Abyssinian banana. The only thing 

 Italian in character in such a flower 

 bed is the statue in the centre; the 

 floral treatment is borrowed from 

 western Europe and is quite out of 

 place. In Rome there are many beau- 

 tiful water gardens and one is often 

 surprised at the great effects produced 

 with a comparatively small flow. 



In southern Italy a large portion of 

 the villa is generally devoted to fruit 

 culture, especially figs and grapes. 

 The latter are supported on live elms 

 or poplars, whose trunks and short 

 pruned limbs serve as trellises. 



Florence undoubtedly holds first 

 place foi' beautiful environment and 

 fine villas. The famous Boboli garden 

 of the Medici family is one of the lar.g- 

 est and best preserved. It is entered 

 through an avenue arched with ilex 

 trees, leading to a vast amphitheatre 

 at the rear of the Pitti Palace. It con- 

 tains many fine avenues, which are 

 perfectly straight, and to me much less 

 interesting than the beautiful Rampa 

 farther up the hill. The Rampa is a 

 public driveway leading along the face 

 of the mountain, lined on both sides 



with charming villas and commanding 

 a fine view of the city and its sur- 

 rounding mountains. Its culminating 

 point is the Piazza Michael Angelo, a 

 magnificent terrace affording a com- 

 manding view of the vast amphithea- 

 tre-like landscape in the city of art, 

 forms the arena. 



In Florence and northwards, garden 

 arrangement has suffered encroach- 

 ment of the ideas of western Europe, 

 and it is only in the mere neglected 

 gardens that the architectural features 

 of the Ifith century remains. Many of 

 the older villas have been occupied by 

 foreigners, and foreign ideas, chiefly 

 French and English, have been intro- 

 duced. The architectural garden, too, 

 affords little opportunity for elaborate 

 floral display, and it has been ruth- 

 lessly modified to overcome this limi- 

 tation. Whenever we find elaborate 

 .garden decoration, it follows French 

 ideals, the only dilference being that 

 I he colors harmoaize better and the 

 designs are more graceful in form than 

 the French. 



The grounds of the Milan Exposition 

 last year were profusely planted with 

 formal flower beds and borders all of 

 refined and tasteful arrangement, but 

 there was not a single example of the 

 eld Italian style of planting. The Ital- 

 ian garden of the 16th century is vir- 

 tually a thing of the past. It is not 

 built in Italy now and in but rare in- 

 stances are the old ones kept up. Ex- 

 pense of construction and maintenance 

 seems to stand in the way. There is 

 also a taste for more lavish floral dis- 

 play, to which the arrangement of the 

 old garden is not adapted. We also 

 find In the north of Italy occasional 

 fine examples of natural gardening. 

 In these the most notable feature is 

 the skill with which the gardener uses 

 water in his composition. In Ameri- 

 can gardens we have hardly used wa- 

 ter; we use it in otir parks — why not 

 in our gardens? 



The best examples of Italian gar- 

 dens in this country are much more 

 floral than perhaps any in Italy. There, 

 the flowers are a secondai'y consider- 

 ation, here the garden exists for them. 

 .\ natural garden is a much better 

 home for flowering plants than an 

 architectural one on the Italian plan; 

 yet there are many features of the 

 Italian garden which' may be profitably 

 introduced here. It will be prudent to 

 sav, however, that it should never be 

 attempted upon a small scale or where 

 there is any thought of economy. It 

 is expensive to build, expensive to 

 plant and the most expensive of all 

 gardens to maintain. Yet (here are in- 

 stances where a modified Ita.lian gar- 

 den may be advantageously introduced 

 It may be made a suitable setting for 

 an imposing residence, and its features 

 may add much to an architectural de- 

 sign. The present method of using ce- 

 ment, where cut stone was formerly 

 used, will reduce the cost of construc- 

 tion. Almost any kind of stone may 

 be closely imitated by mixing the 

 stone, crushed, with the outer layer 



