878 



LANDSCAPE GARDENING 



LANDSCAPE GARDENING 



character of the formalesque garden is dominated so 

 completely by the nature of the architecture and the site, 

 that condensed general remarks are of little purpose. 



Landscape Gardening has undergone many fluctua- 

 tions of taste within the century. Such changes are to 



1229 An improvised ruin. 172s. 



be expected as long as the human race makes progress. 

 The constantly increasing wealth of plants modifies 

 the spirit of the work. It is no longer worth while to 

 follow any school or cult. Every style has its use 

 and place. In small city or suburban places, a formal 

 or formalesque treatment of the ground plan may be 

 desirable. In larger and freer places, the spirit of the 

 fields may be given fuller expression The fundamental 

 thing to consider is the fact that there must be a general 

 theory or plan before there is any grading and plant- 

 ing.— these latter things are only means to an end. Yet 

 many persons who would I'l- calietl landscape gardeners 

 conceive that to plant a phu-f is llie whole of the pro- 

 blem. The working out ui the ili'tails of the plan is to 

 Landscape Gardening what building is to architecture, 

 or what pen-work and grammar are to literature. It is 

 the industrial or constructional part of the work. It is 

 what has been called Landscape Horticulture (Bailey 

 "Garden and Forest," 1:58). It has to do with all the 

 details of kinds of plants, the care of them, the making 

 of lawns, and similar problems. The American writings 

 on Landscape Gardening are mostly writings on land- 

 scape horticulture and kinds of plants. ( )f indigenous 

 American books, only two (Dnwnin^ ami Waugh) can 

 be said to give adominant share of their spaci- to the prin- 

 ciples of Landscape Gardening as a fine-art conception. 

 The first American practicing landscape gardener of 

 note was Andr6 Parmentier, who came to this country 

 from Belgium about 1824 and established a nursery 

 on ground which is now in the heart of Brooklyn. He 

 was a man of great taste and .skill, and Andrew J. Down- 

 ing considered his "labors and example as having 

 effected, directly, far more for Landscape Gardening in 

 America than those of any other individual whatever." 

 He laid out many pl.aces, even as far away as the south- 

 ern states on the si>uth and Montreal on the north. The 

 first American hc.i.k on Landscape Gardening sprung 

 full lleil-e.l and e.iiiiplete from the pen of A. J. Down- 

 ing in IS41. without having undergone the tedious evo- 

 lution of preliminary and imperfect editions which char- 

 acterize so many horticultural and kindred writings. It 



was immediately popular, and it has probably ex- 

 erted a greater influence on American horticulture 

 than any other single volume. It remains to this day 

 without a superior and almost without a competitor. 

 Downing was also the secon<l prominent practicing land- 

 scape gardener, although his untimely death left the 

 country with no completed works of his genius. Hig 

 best known pieces are the grounds of the Smithsonian 

 Institution and Lafayette Square, Washington, but it is 

 doubtful if the subsequent treatment which the former 

 demesne has received is such as would have pleased 

 the designer. A. J. Downing's pomological work was 

 continued by his painstakinu' tmither Charles ; but the 

 artistic work dropped at Ins .ieaih, and Henry Winthrop 

 Sargent, who edited the siMh rduion of the "Landscape 

 Gardening," in 1809, deelared that "there has been no 

 one since Mr. Downing's death who has exactly filled 

 the niche he occupied in the public estimation." The 

 third genius of American Landscape Gardening, and 

 the one who has carried the art to its highest points of 

 excellence, is Frederick Law Olmsted, who as a young 

 man was inspired by Downing, and who became a land- 

 scape gardener when he was placed in charge of the 

 improvements of Central Park, New York city, about 

 1856. For more than twenty -five years, Mr. Olmsted has 

 given his talents wholly to this delightful art. an<l, more 

 than any other American, has moulded and erystallized 

 public taste respecting the apprcciati-in <d' Landscape 

 Gardening. A leading spirit in the cnnsiiuriinji of this 

 great park was Calvert Vaux, who, with (Jlmsted, was 

 joint author of the original plan. Vaux was also asso- 

 ciated with A. J. Downing. He died in 1895. He was an 

 excellent artist. The initiation of Central Park as a 

 pleasure ground inaugurated the modern park systems 

 of the country, and created what the Earl of Meath has 

 recently designated the "veritable rage for park mak- 

 ing" which has "seized the American public." See the 

 article on Parks, Vol. III. 



Within recent years, the number of practitioners of 

 Landscape Gardening has greatly increased. The art is 

 becoming established in popuKar estimation. Tastes 

 may change, but the changes will affect only the minor 

 applications of Landscape Gardening. The desire for 

 artistic treatment of grounds is ineradicable. Three 

 national societies are conservators of the Landscape 



1230. Plan of the Leasowes, the seat of Shenstone. 

 The residence is near the center. 



Gardening and rural art of the country : American Park 

 and Out-Door Art Association ; American Society of 

 Landscape Architects ; Association of American Ceme- 

 tery Superintendents. 



The one point in which America excels other countries 



