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HORTICULTURE 



December 11, 1909 



A MODEL OF FORMAL GARDEN- 

 ING. 

 Those who would lay out an estate 

 after the fashion of the formal garden 

 may well takB lessons from the mag- 

 nificent effects obtained at Miramar 

 near Trieste, the home of the lU-lated 

 Maximilian of Mexico. Miramar, as 



tion. Appreciating this fact, many 

 cities of this country have reserved 

 and acciuired considerable land tor 

 park purposes: have improved, and 

 are maintaining the same in the best 

 possible condition. First in this mo%e- 

 ment were the cities along the At- 

 lartie coast, out by and by the idea 

 moved west and we have magnificent 

 park and boulevard systems in the 

 middle west. 



Railroad Gardening. 



the name might indicate, lies next the 

 sea, and this serves as basis for the 

 plan.. „ _ ^ 



Up from the beach tne first terrace 

 slopes gently, almost imperceptibly, a 

 hollow square. At the center there is 

 a formal, circular flower bed. Thence 

 north, south, east, west, walks of pav- 

 ing stretch. At either side these lead 

 to stairs of stone, ascending to the 



heights. A railing of heavy pillaring 

 helps here wonderfully. On the top, 

 too one has this heavy rail. 



Miramar's great charm, however, is 

 the porches along the sea. These, by 

 simple addition of a trelllsed root, are 

 covered with vines of varied sort, 

 through whose leaves the sunlight fil- 

 ters Miramar is an almost unoccu- 

 pied chateaux. It ranks, however 



among the most ^Plf ^lY^, "^ ^" 

 continent. FELIX J. KOCH. 



LAND DEVELOPMENT FOR CIVIC 



BEAUTY. 



Alistract from a paper read before the 

 National Laud Congress at (.W^S';. , ^°- 

 veml-cr 18. 1909, by E. F. A. Relnisch, 

 Topeka, Kans 



We are just beginning to under- 

 stand the mission of the landscape 

 gardener, the importance of his work 

 and the value of the park as a means 

 of instructing and familiarizing the 

 public with the possibilities and beau- 

 ties of the art of landscape develop- 

 ment We are educating the people 

 to appreciate the beneficial influence 

 of the beautiful outdoors on the moral 

 as well as the physical conditions of 

 society. We have learned to realize 

 that beside the esthetic our parks have 

 a great economic value in as much as 

 they raise the standard of health, hap- 

 ■ plness and contentment of the people, 

 especially in large centers of popula- 



Railroad station parks offer a great 

 field for the landscape gardener of 

 the future. In the past little more 

 has been done in ornamentation ot 

 station grounds than planting of ten- 

 der greenhouse material, or bedding 

 plants, which are generally grouped 

 into more or less appropriate designs, 

 carpet effects, names and trade-marks. 

 This is not landscape gardening in its 

 proper sense It is Quite expensive 

 and transient, as the beds have to be 

 renewed every year and at best only 

 last a few months in this latitude, 

 leaving the ground bare and unsightly 

 from the time of the first frost in fall 

 till the warm weather in May. The 

 landscape gardener uses hardy mate- 

 rial such as trees, shrubs and herba- 

 ceou.': plants. This material is 

 cheaper and the plantings perennial; 

 it gives a more natural effect and is 

 attractive the year around. What 

 could be more pleasing than a gener- 

 ous expanse of green turf with a back- 

 ground of varying forms of masses of 

 shrubs with the ever-changing tints of 

 toliagp and succession of flowers? In 

 winter the different colors of bark 

 raiicje through all the tints of white 

 and gray to almost black; yellow and 

 crimson to brown, contrasted with the 

 heavy green ot the interspersed ever- 

 greens. 



Besides the ornamental— the emer- 

 gency and economic plantings play 

 an important part in railroad garden- 

 ing, such as screens for shutting out 

 unsightly features which are beyond 

 the control of the railroad manage- 

 ment, hedges along the property lines, 

 snow hedges to protect cuts from fill- 

 ing up vith snow and lastly timber 

 plantings for posts, cross ties and tele- 

 graph poles. The Santa Pe railroad 

 has carried out this simple plan of 

 using hardy plants for the embellisli- 

 niont of station grounds and has im- 

 proved most of the larger stations in 

 this manner; several grounds are more 

 than one acre in extent. This area of 

 well kept rich green turf, fringed by 

 a background of masses of shrubs 

 with a varying skyline, is a picture 

 long remembered by the weary trav- 

 eler. Besides the Santa Fe, the Union 

 Pacific maintains well planted station 

 parks and at present is branching out 

 into timber culture in planting exten- 

 sive tracts of land with catalpa for 

 cross ties, etc. Other large roads are 

 planning systematic Improvement ot 

 their stations in the same manner. 



beautiful green lawn with a fringe ot 

 shrubs and a tew trees to give shade 

 and coolness during the hot summer 

 days He can also have a summer 

 house pergola, tables and benches; 

 however rudely built, they are ot great 

 comfort, and their enjoyment much 

 more than pays for the little cost and 

 t.ouble of ouilding them. All these 

 things adn to the comfort and 

 beauty of the home, and have a ten- 

 dency to forestall the discontent with 

 farm life of the growing up sons and 

 daughters of the twentieth century 

 farmer. Give the home and its sur- 

 roundings a touch of beauty and re- 

 finement, set apart a little portion ot 

 land for play and recreation, and you 

 will have destroyed the monotony of 

 farm life, and the city will have far 

 less attractions to the young folks. In- 

 stead your place will attract your city 

 friends and a visit to it will be a great 

 privilege to them. 



County Parks. 

 I would also suggest rural parks, 

 owned and maintained by the county 

 or township, provided with shelters, 

 necessities and conveniences for hold- 

 ing picnics, and other meetings, and 

 gatherings for play and recreation. 

 These parks, and good roads, will go 

 far toward elevating the standard of 

 environments of the farmer and make 

 country life more desirable and beau- 

 tiful. 



Adorning the Home Grounds. 



The proper planting of trees, shrubs, 

 vines and hardy perennials for the 

 adornment of the home grounds ex- 

 tends the habitation beyond the mere 

 walls of the house, and makes for the 

 inhabitants a beautiful, large and grand 

 living room outdoors, and a pleasant 

 sight for the passerby. It is within 

 the reach of every farmer to have a 



WORK OF THE BOSTON LAND- 

 SCAPE CLASS. 



On page S31 we give two illustra- 

 tions of the work which is being done 

 by the Landscape Class of the Garden- 

 eis' and Florists' Club of. Boston. 



The upper illustration shows the 

 student's solution of the problem ot 

 locating a house and stable in suit- 

 able positions on an irregularly and 

 awkwardly shaped lot of land of very 

 uneven surface, the outlines ot which, 

 as well as of the buildings, were 

 given him. The lower picture illus- 

 trates the original typographical con- 

 dition of the lot, and also shows the 

 grades which the student has estab- 

 lished. His further task, as shown by 

 the plans, has been to arrange con- 

 veniently a driveway and paths, and 

 to produce a good general landscape 

 C'iTsct. 



The arrangement of trees, shruD- 

 bery, flowering plants, fruit trees, 

 small fruits and vegetable garden Is 

 a branch of the work in which the 

 practical young gardener has a de- 

 cided advantage over the so-called 

 landscape architect. 



With the growing demand for the 

 creation of large residential estates 

 all over the country at the present 

 time, there are greater opportunities 

 for the trained gardener having prac- 

 tical knowledge of landscape con- 

 struction than ever before. The com- 

 mendable work ot the Boston Land- 

 scape Class will do much to enable 

 tho ambitious gardener to avail him- 

 self of these opportunities, and will 

 at the same time enable him to meet 

 the landscape architect on the van- 

 tage ground. 



the class meets every Tuesday even- 

 ing, 7.30 p. m., at Horticultural Hall, 

 Boston. Visitors are always welcome 

 and will find the proceedings very in- 

 feiesting. 



