CHAPTER V 



The Physical 

 Origin of 

 Landscape 

 Characters 



LANDSCAPE CHARACTERS 



The physical origin of landscape characters — Characters as parallel to 

 STYLES — Examples of landscape characters — The prairie — The barren or 

 tundra — Sand dunes — The Sequoia grove — The Sierra mountain meadow — 

 The bushy pasture — English pastoral landscape — Design in landscape char- 

 acters — Landscape characters in relation to economic use and maintenance — 

 Value and preservation of characteristic scenery — Man's need of free 

 landscape. 



If a natural feature, or area of the earth's surface, is felt to be 

 esthetically unified, if there is a naturally-produced harmony among 

 its parts, we may say that this natural unit has character, just as we 

 say of a man-made object, esthetically unified, that it has style. 



All natural features are produced by natural forces — gravitation, 

 the flow of water, the expansion of frost, the force of the winds, the 

 power of plant growth — acting upon the materials which compose 

 and clothe the earth. If any group of these forces remain for long 

 enough in some constant relation, so that their effect on the materials 

 in a particular case is approximately constant, a harmony of charac- 

 teristics, a character, will inevitably result, which can be esthetically 

 perceived in the landscape, even though the observer has no knowledge 

 of what forces produced it. (See Frontispiece.) For example, a 

 stream of a certain size flowing through material of a certain kind will 

 produce after a number of centuries a valley of a definite shape. If 

 the expression of the force of the stream as shown forth by this valley 

 is not confused by some other manifestation of nature's activity, such 

 as a filling up of the valley by a landslide, then the valley will have 

 character, and this character, this mode of organization, will be felt 

 esthetically by the beholder. It will create in his mind a different 

 esthetic impression from what would be created by another valley 



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