for Jnniinry, 1920 



393 



Landscape Possibilities with Brook and Natural Stream 



RICHARD ROTHE 



River, River, little River! 

 Bright you sparkle on your zvay; 

 O'er the yellozc pebbles daneiiig. 

 Through the floz^'ers and foliage glancing ; 

 Like a child at play. 



For the above sketch-like, but vivid image of a clear 

 natural stream of water, as we may see it, coming down 

 on its way through woodland and meadow, all that the 

 poet needed was the space of five short lines written in 

 a simple folk-lore verse meter. Committing" itself so 

 easily to memory it brings the beautiful picture of some 

 brook reflecting the blue sky and flowers and foliage 

 lining its course almost life-like into our vision. In 

 reality the sensitive eye of the lover of nature delights 

 in watching;' its rhvthmical motion and eternal restless- 



L'nfortunately, however, the owner of the grounds hap- 

 pened to be an eminently practical gentleman, believing in 

 radical ways of proceeding. The consecpience was a con- 

 tractor received orders to eradicate the zigzag cour.se 

 and run cement walls along the new straight lines. 

 When being told to have narrow beds prepared along 

 the walls for having nasturtiums planted, the landscape 

 gardener left with the last vestiges of his visions and 

 dreams shattered. 



One of the most ingenious treatments of a brook the 

 writer more recently saw at "Compton Garden" in Chest- 

 nut Hill, near Philadel])hia. The very spacious grounds 

 are famed for their extensive collections of new and 

 rare trees and shrubs.- Several distinct laying-outs of 

 Japanese gardens and decidedly the most artistic pond 



Brook Scciu'ry at "Coiuj'lon Garden." Chestnut l-litl, iirnr Phihdelf'lna. I'a. 



iiess. but to the landscape architect this: "Through the 

 flowers and foliage glancing'' is suggestive, or even out- 

 right inspiring. The possibilities of the treatment of a 

 natural water course within the precincts of park, or 

 when, by chance, traversing spacious private home 

 groun.ds loom up. never to entirely leave his mind. 



A score of years ago I remember a very enticing prop- 

 osition of this kind. The brook in question having con- 

 sidcraljle fall, af heavy thaws and severe rain storms, 

 cansed annoying washouts which were to be prevented. 

 I'or the purjjose of making the 1)anks secure the land- 

 scape gardener suggested natural rock settings and 

 plantations of moisture loving trees, shrubs, and peren- 

 nials with a strong, thickly growing root system. There 

 was an excellent [wssibility for the construction of a 

 natural waterfall at hand and in regard to having the 

 stream "Through the flowers and foliage glancing" the 

 landscape gardener, no doubt, had his virions and dreams. 



."Cenery of I'hiladelphia add to the i)resiige of the estate. 

 "Compton (jarden" also had its swiftly flowing brook 

 with naturally winding course and subseepient flood and 

 washout ])roblems. l!ut fortunately in its founder, 

 owner, and designer, the late John T. Morris. "Comp- 

 ton Garden" had an artist fully competent to cope with 

 the situation. The rockbed and the rocky shore lines of 

 this stream of water constructed under personal direc- 

 tion of Mr. Morris cannot be pictured or described in a 

 way to give the work justice. One ne^ds to see and study 

 the infinitely varied details along its natural course and 

 the more we study the more we are forced to admire the 

 subtlety of vision and the wonderfully clear conception of 

 the elements of beauty in rocks and natural rock com- 

 position as applying to the water edge. Our illustration 

 shows the brook in the innnediate foreground with a 

 bench around a nearby tree for rest and enjoyment of 



