May 11, 1907 



HORTICULTURE 



625 



Russel willows are best; it is nuite a" 

 common thing to cut them oft about 

 6 or 8 feet above the ground, then let 

 the quiclily formed new limbs spread 

 in every direction. I think this effect 

 is quite fine. In a row or gronii the 

 trunks will always grow in many 

 directions and they are varied and 

 Interesting and picturesque. 1 do not 

 care for weeping willows. Sassafras 

 trees as they grow along the Connecti- 

 cut and Rhode Island shores, are 

 about the most picturesque and decora- 

 tive trees that I know of, unless per- 

 haps an occasional old red cedar that 

 has been blown and twisted by the 

 winds. The trees that I have seen in 

 Connecticut have gracefully curved 

 trunks, a solid mass of foliage, and 

 finely, decorative contours. I should 

 thihk they would be excellent to use 

 in a formal garden in the place of 

 cypress. The tupelo is a little allied 

 to the sassafras in the aiipearance 

 of the thick mass of foliage and 

 twisted trunk. They grow in a very 

 symmetrical form wlien standing alone 



ledgey location. Red cedars are rather 

 stiff and formal when young, but when 

 they get old and some of the limbs get 

 broken and others twisted about by 

 the winds they are very Japanesque 

 and paintable. The late afternoon sun 

 shining on them produces an effect ot 

 unusual richness of color and in the 

 moonlight they are still beautiful 

 silhouetted against the night sky. The 

 more rocky a place is the better they 

 seem to like ft. and often they fasten 

 themselves to a ledge where there 

 scarcely seems to be any soil. 



In Gilpen's book on landscape archi- 

 tecture he describes a very charming 

 layout, in which he lays much stress 

 upon the beauty of the architectural 

 foreground. The house he speaks of 

 stands on the brink of a chalky cliff 

 and commands a rich middle distance 

 of park scenery with an extensive 

 view of the sea beyond. By adding a 

 foreground of low shrubbery or group.s 

 of blossoming plants or by framing 

 the picture with rightly placed trees 

 a striking and beautiful composition 



Unconventionally Decorative 



Group of Sassafrjis. 



but the foliage is so beautiful that 

 they are attractive in spite of their 

 regularity. They turn tlie most bril- 

 liant color of anything in nature in 

 autumn and are fine to plant on the 

 borders of an oak, hickory, or chest- 

 nut forest for the fine autumnal effect. 

 White, yellow, and pitch iiines, and 

 red cedars are the only evergreen 

 trees that I have seen that I care for. 

 Spruce and hemlock look too much 

 like toy trees and only look good 

 when they have been decorated by a 

 snow storm. White pines are rapid 

 growers and when planted in groups 

 rise with straight shafts and send out 

 graceful, tufted, horizontal branches 

 every few feet at irregular intervals 

 and make fine decorative trees. The 

 foliage of the pitch pine is a somewhat 

 yellower green and the trees in these 

 parts do not gi'ow very large but 

 are of interesting shape. They gener- 

 ally grow on poor sandy soil or a 



is produced. The strong contrast of 

 trees in the foreground or of a parapet 

 with its decided form of light and 

 shade would greatly increase the aeiial 

 softness and mystery of the distance. 

 A word in support of the necessity 

 of a terrace. In many instances where 

 the ground has a continuous slope and 

 the whole scene jeems to be sliding 

 away (from the point ot view of a 

 picture) and the eye runs away from 

 the important objects, the terrace 

 would make a level line which inter- 

 rupts the slope and gives balance. A 

 clump of trees would also have the 

 same effect. A terrace lends dignity 

 to a house. Gilpen recommends plant- 

 ing a few Lombardy poplars near the 

 buildings which makes a number of 

 vertical lines to balance the many 

 horizontal lines in most houses. This 

 gives stability to the composition. In 

 going to work to change a layout or to 

 make a planting scheme, make a sketch 



of existing conditions from iaipoirant 

 points of view and o; important views. 

 Then in the sketches make such 

 changes as will insprove the composi- 

 tions, then make the changes in 

 nature. The edges ot plantations or 

 forests are the parts that require a 

 great deal of skill and attention. 1£ 

 you get the edges fln°ly adjusted in 

 every way the rest of it will tak: 

 care of itself. He recommends plant- 

 ing roses, i)aeonies, hollyhocks, to 

 soften the edges and leaving the grass 

 long also helps. A good suggestion for 

 laying out a scheme for planting is to 

 lay down evergreen branches on the 

 ground and view from various points 

 and arrange until you have a good 

 shaped bed and which composes well 

 with things around it, then mark it 

 and plant. Large branches stuck in 

 the ground are good for getting tree 

 locations. 



Hide the drives and walks as much 

 as possible, only allowing them rarely 

 lo appear, just to give variety in light 

 anc! shade. I do not mean to hide 

 them with high shrubbery; low shrub- 

 bery will do pretty well and will not 

 cut off the view from the road. Use 

 such shrubs as have a color and in- 

 teresting appearance in winter as well 

 as summer. In estates where cattle, 

 deer, or sheep are allowed to graze on 

 part of the grounds, the part near the 

 house or the more ornamental part 

 with the shrubs and flowers, has to be 

 separated by some kind of artificial 

 barrier from where the cattle are. 

 That which is most in favor is a woven 

 wire fence with galvanized iron posts 

 all of which is quite inconspicuous and 

 can not be seen at all from a little 

 distance. A low wall can be made 

 very attractive or the common stone 

 wall or stone fence as seen in New 

 England pastures, when built over un- 

 dulating ground and allowed to twist 

 about and over the ridges and vine 

 clad in places and broken with clumps 

 of blackberry, huckleberry, sumac, 

 and barberry and an occasional tree 

 or group. Trees and shrubbery should 

 be ))lanted in irregular figures, which, 

 as the sun moves around, gives con- 

 stant variety of light and sliade and 

 form and color. In regard to paths, 

 they should wander about where the 

 pleasant prospects are; that is, those 

 that are for promenade. The ones 

 that are for utility should go fairly 

 direct so as to serve that purpose. A 

 walk should at least be wide enough 

 so that three people can walk abreast. 

 Six feet is about as narrow as it is 

 practicable to make them. If a path 

 should go along a river or around a 

 pond, if the nature of the ground per- 

 mits, it should approach near the edge 

 only at intervals, but where beautiful 

 scenes can be viewed there the walk 

 should go. Do not smooth off the 

 surface of the ground too much. The 

 wrinkles and humps and hollows in 

 old mother earth are interesting and 

 full of character and should be recog- 

 nized as a good fortune rather than 

 things to be gotten rid of. 



Suggestions for the Wild Garden. 



The term wild garden is applied to 

 the placing of perfectly hardy plants 

 where they will become established 

 and take care of themselves. The way 

 planting is usually done, is to stick 

 out a lot of subtropical plants In beds 

 which bloom brilliantly through one 

 season and with the first frost they are 

 killed and have to be dug up and the 



