INTRODUCTION. xv 



ous thought to artificial sloping grounds and rockwork 

 studied from natural models found in the hills about us. 

 Some of us have without question studied such work in Cen- 

 tral Park, New York City, and in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, 

 L. I. There are, of course, a few other examples in the 

 country of this genuine American landscape architecture, 

 but to not many, I fancy, has it occurred to treat sloping 

 grounds in any definite and specialized way. 



I used the term American landscape architecture advis- 

 edly, for my words in these chapters are chiefly addressed to 

 inhabitants of America, living in a region between North 

 Carolina on the one side and Maine on the other, and 

 bounded on the west by the Rocky Mountains. The prin- 

 ciples and general theory of arranging grounds will doubt- 

 less be much the same the world over, but the selection and 

 treatment of plants must vary constantly. The plants that 

 do well in this part of North America will not necessarily 

 succeed in England and on the Continent, while in the same 

 latitude in California the same trees will perhaps fail lamen- 

 tably. 



Trees and shrubs therefore must be studied carefully 

 with due regard to their environment, and in these chapters 

 I have moreover undertaken to classify them in a somewhat 

 general way in accordance with their suitability to the dif- 

 ferent seasons. I contend that this grouping of trees and 

 shrubs is not sufficiently looked after when lawns are planted. 

 On Morningside Park, New York, for instance, a whole 

 hillside is systematically planted, on account of their rich 

 color in autumn, with white dogwood (Cornus florida), An- 

 dromeda arborea for Oxydendrum arboreumj, liquidambar, 



