THE CANADIAX HORl ICULTURIS7\ 



Fig. 1723. Art and Nature Beautifully Combined at Paterson, N. Y. 



LANDSCAPE GARDENING— I. 



AN DSC APE Gardening, Landscape 

 ^/^J Architecture, or Landscape Engin- 

 eering, are terms which are em- 

 ployed to represent a profession con- 

 cerning which very Httle is understood by 

 the majority of people. 



Many have the impression that the land- 

 scape gardener's wopk only begins when the 

 house is completed, — that it consists merely 

 of grading, sodding, seeding, and planting. 

 As a result of this popular ignorance there 

 are many nurserymen, florists, and contrac- 

 tors who make this kind of work a part of 

 their business announcements using one of 

 the above titles, usually that of Landscape 

 Gardener. This branch of the plant dealer's 

 business gives an opportunity to use plants 

 that may not at the time be in demand and 

 of which they may have a surplus. It is in 

 general their practice to give about the same 

 treatment to all places, irrespective of char- 

 acters or surroundings ; to remove all na- 

 tural rocks or bushes, grade to a smooth 



surface, sod or seed, and then plant through- 

 out the open spaces and along the walls and 

 borders the common, usually exotic, plants, 

 with an assortment of the horticultural forms 

 that happen at the time to be in fashion and 

 are easily and cheaply j^rocured in the nur- 

 series. Their attempts to go beyond the 

 ordinary practice too often result in such 

 offences to good taste as a rockery in the 

 centre of a fine bit of lawn, which, as usually 

 made, is and always must be a bare and ugly 

 pile of rocks ; or a discarded iron kettle in 

 which nothing creditable can be grown, 

 placed in a rustic tripod and the whole ar- 

 rangement painted bright red ; or useless 

 walks and roads with unmeaning and un- 

 necessary crooks. 



There is an impression abroad — with 

 many, a conviction— that there is a higher 

 practice as a profession, by which finer and 

 more original and artistic results are secured, 

 but with this impression is the feeling that 

 this practice is only within the reach of 



