87G 



LANDRETH 



LANDSCAPE GARDENING 



years. At a subsequent date he was made president of 

 tbe Philadelphia Society for the Promotion of Af^ricul- 

 ture, and vice-president of the United States Agricul- 

 tural Society, and became an active member of many 

 other ore^anizations. 



His literary labors included the publication of the 

 "Illustrated Floral Magazine," started in 1832, and an 

 advanced work for that period. At a later date he wrote 

 much upon husbandry, his graceful style as a writer 

 and his technical knowledge of the subject making his 

 views of much value in tlie progress of the industry. 

 He edited an American edition of George W. Johnson's 

 "A Dictionary of Modern Gardening," a volume of 635 

 pages, published at Philadelphia in 1847. 



in 18-17 the Landreth nursery was removed to Blooms- 

 dale, where Mr. Landreth established what is believed 

 to be the most complete seed-farm in the United States, 

 and where he planted an arboretum which perhaps stands 

 unequaled in this country in the development of its trees. 

 He was an early breeder of the Channel Island cattle, 

 then styled Alderneys, and was among the earliest man- 

 ufacturers of mowing and reaping machinery. In 1872-73 

 he experimented in steam-plowing with a Scotch engine, 

 and in the following year with an American engine. 

 Subsequently, steam-digging and steam-chopping were 

 experimented with at Bloomsdale, and many improve- 

 ments produced in the machine shop of that model 

 farm. 



David Landreth lived until 1880 in the enjoyment and 

 care of the business which had been so much developed 

 in his hands, and which had reached almost its hun- 

 dredth year. The firm is now one of the thirty cente- 

 nary firms in tbe United States. During a long life he 

 had served his country in connection with agriculture, 

 a pursuit which he dii,'nilied tiy the wide respect he had 

 gained as an old-school country gontleman, and his 

 reputation as an able and learned agriculturist. In early 

 life he had lived amid the plantations of the Landreth 

 nursery, one of the show places of Philadelphia— the 

 site now marked by the Landreth School — and his vir- 

 tues and character were those of one brought up in inti- 

 mate contact with nature. Bdrnet Landreth. 



LANDSCAPE GARDENING. "Gardening may be 

 divided into three specii's-kitchen gardening— parterre- 

 gardening— and lanilskip. or picturesque gardening: 

 which latter is the subject intended in the following 

 pages — It consists in pleasing the imagination by scenes 

 of grandeur, beauty, or variety. Convenience merely 

 has no share here ; any farther than as it pleases the 

 imagination." These are the opening lines of "Uncon- 

 nected Thoughts on Gardening," by the poet William 



Shenstone, 17(14. These sentences gave the world the 

 term Lan<lscape Gardening, to enil)o(ly The growing de- 

 sire to make grounds like naturr. Milton, Addison, 

 Pope, and the Dutch painters, ex|aissed the awakening 

 to the charms of the external world ami hastened the day 

 of freedom and naturalness. These and others had pro- 

 tested, directly or indirectly, against the artificialisms 

 of living, as Bacon, also, in the following sentence, had 

 protested: "As for the making of Knots or Figures, with 

 divers Colored Earths, they be but toys, yon may see 

 as good sights many times in Tarts. ****»» 

 I do not like Images cut out in Juniper, or other gar- 

 den-stuff ; they are for Children." 



One does not know what Shenstone's protest meant 

 until he knows the .style of gardening which had been 

 and still was in vogue. Gardens were fantastic construc- 

 tions, elaborate with designs and formalities, cramped 

 with geometrical details. A Roman garden (Fig. 1227) was 

 well enough in its place, but there are other conditions 

 and other ideals. Only raioly ■•an surli gardens as these 

 find the proper setting. If ciVntiv.-, tliey must be domi- 

 nated or supported by arcliitectun'. In the freer atmos- 

 phere of the country, they are evidently artificial: they 

 are conceits. The reader will catch the feeling of the 

 formal gardens of a later time by looking at Fig. 1228, 

 which is a reduction from one of Batty Langley's de- 

 signs in his "New Principles of Gardening," 1728. 

 Langley seems to have been the extremest of geometri- 

 cians. In fact, Part 1 of his book on gardening treats 

 "Of Geometry." Yet his plates suited the taste of the 

 time. The particular plan which is shown in Fig. 1228 

 he describes as follows: "The House opens to the North 

 upon the Park A, to the East upon the Court B, to the 

 South upon the Parterre of Grass and Water C ; and 

 Lastly to the West upon the circular Bason D, from 

 whicli leads a pleasant Avenue ZX. The Mount F, is 

 raised with the Earth that came out of the Canal EE, 

 and its slope H is planted with Hedges of different 

 Ever-Greens, that rising behind one another of difterent 

 Colours, have a very good Effect. 1m inu \ irwM from M, 

 I, I, are contracted Walks leadiiiL' up iln .^lonnt." The 

 ideas of the time are further reflii ic.i in ji^;, 1229, which 

 is a reproduction, on a smaller scale, ul oiiv of Langley's 

 pictures of artificial ruins. It is one of his " views of the 

 Ruins of Buildings, after the old Roman manner, to ter- 

 minate such Walks that end in disagreeable Objects ; 

 which Ruins may either be painted upon Canvas, or 

 actually built in that manner with Brick, and cover'd 

 with Piaistering in Imitation of Stone." 



The awakening love of nature and of the spontaneous 

 life, as expressed in writings and paintings, soon found 

 expression also in gardens. In verse. Pope gave rules 



1227. Gardens of the Pope 



