LANDSCAPE GARDENING 



LANDSCAPE GARDENING 1781 



useful for the positions they occupy than for their 

 kinds. Walks and drives are no part of a landscape 

 picture: they are a necessity, but they may be made to 

 conform to the spirit of the picture, and also to add 

 human interest to it. The place for walks and drives is 

 where they are needed: otherwise they have no use 

 or purpose. It is the part of a good landscape gardener 

 to make his grounds conform to the buildings: it should 

 equally be the part of an architect to make his build- 

 ings conform to the landscape. There should be views 

 to desirable objects in the outlying landscape or the 

 offscape. The undesirable parts or views should be 

 covered. The designer should aim for a good pros- 

 pect from every window in a residence, including the 

 kitchen. The trees and bushes are sheared only when 

 hedges, curiosities, and formal gardens are wanted: 

 they assume their natural forms when a landscape 

 garden is wanted (Fig. 2074). No tree or plant is 

 placed until one is sure that it will mean something 

 and add to the total good effect. 



The open center is possible even in very small areas. 

 Fig. 2075, for example, shows the principle applied to 

 an ordinary city back yard. The planting is massed 

 against the fences, and a free space is secured for other 

 purposes. In a larger way, the open center is admirably 

 illustrated in Fig. 2076. Again it is shown in a parking 

 plan, Fig. 2077. 



It is not to be assumed, however, that the principle of 

 the open center is to apply invariably, or that it is 

 always to face the direction of the public view. The 

 planting may be disposed specially for the purpose 

 of screening from the highway, and it may have artistic 

 merit of its own. Fig. 2078 shows a good screen-plant^ 

 ing, and it is well adapted to the character of the resi- 

 dence. Yet even in such cases as this, the open center 

 may be an essential feature of the design, but it may 

 face inward, and constitute an interior open space, 

 rather than outward. Rather close and intimate plant- 

 ing may accentuate the character of a very personal 

 or special residence, and a very open feature may 

 detract from the interest. In such a case as that shown 

 in Fig, 2079, for example, a rather heavy planting 

 about most of the building would probably heighten 

 the interest. This is a construction that suggests 

 seclusion. Even with the open center, however, the 

 bases and angles of buildings may be well tied to the 

 lawn-surface by planting. 



In city openings and certain other places, the open 

 center may be no part of the plan. Here the only pur- 

 pose may be to provide shade, shelter, and seating- 

 space. In some cases, only a promenade is desired. The 

 landscape, in the artistic sense, comprises these areas 

 as well as those in which it is possible to secure a pic- 

 torial presentation with some completeness or whole- 

 ness of effect. Every open space, in city, village or 

 open country, may find improvement under the hand of 

 the landscape artist. Even the wharving or dock area 

 of seaports, which are perhaps the least likely places 

 for landscape work, may afford space and opportunity 

 for artistic treatment; Fig. 2080, being a design by W. 

 Hamilton Bell, is a suggestion of this kind. 



Historic and important places. 



Many estates and country-seats have contributed to 

 the development and establishing of taste in landscapes 

 in this country, particularly in the eastern states. It 

 requires age to bring out the essential qualities of an 

 estate. When a person builds a house of some preten- 

 sion and plants the grounds on a design, he is anxious 

 at once to photograph the effort; the result is that our 

 periodicals are full of pictures of immature and unde- 

 veloped places. 



There is need of a careful and sympathetic study of 

 the historic estates in North America, as a contribu- 

 tion to the development of taste in both architecture 

 and landscape treatment. The study should include 



the estates of the far Southwest and the Pacific coast, 

 that represent the Spanish influence. At this place, 

 only a few of the notable estates in the eastern part of 

 the country may be mentioned. They naturally repre- 

 sent the English influence and the background of 

 greensward. 



In many respects, Mt. Vernon stands first. It 

 remains a wonderful example of the satisfactory use of a 

 landscape. Hyde Park, the Vanderbilt place on the 

 Hudson, is one of the estates notable for its landscape 

 features; also the Morton place at Rhinecliff, on the 

 Hudson; Wodenethe, the H. W. Sargent place at Fish- 

 kill; Holm Lea, the estate of Charles S. Sargent at 

 Brookline, Massachusetts; the Twombly place, in New 

 Jersey; the Hunnewell estate at Wellesley, Massachu- 

 setts: Irving's country-seat, Sunnyside, on the Hudson; 

 Jefferson's home, Monticello, Charlottesville, Virginia; 

 the Drayton estate near Charleston, famous for its aza- 

 leas; the Middleton place on the Ashley, near Charles- 

 ton, where early plantations of camellia were made; 



2069. A worthy ofiscape. Lake Yumoto, Japan. Page 1780. 



old estates on the James River, as Westpver and Bran- 

 don; the great Vanderbilt place at Biltmore, North 

 Carolina. There are many others. Mention might also 

 be made of the Bartram estate in what is now Phila- 

 delphia, for while it was never a landscape garden, it 

 has contributed much to the stimulation of interest in 

 trees; and its historic value is great. See the biographi- 

 cal note on Bartram, Vol. Ill, p. 1564; also the refer- 

 ences in Vol. I, p. 348. 



Some of the above places are prized chiefly for their 

 horticultural features, in relation to landscape, rather 

 than for the fundamental design. The Hunnewell 

 estate is remarkable in this feature. The places laid 

 out under the inspiration of A. J. Downing were nota- 

 ble for their planting, although there are few of these 

 estates now remaining. It is probable that Downing's 

 influence persists in some of the older places even if 

 unrecognized by present owners and visitors. Downing 

 admired the rural gothic in domestic architecture, and 

 the change in taste in this direction has undoubtedly 

 had something to dp with the loss of interest in his 

 landscape work. His untimely death prevented him 

 from making a gjeat impression in the way of actual 

 examples. Downing had a real love of plants, and his 

 knowledge of trees was remarkable and unusual among 

 Americans of his time. His regard for trees was notable, 

 and he knew their possibilities in the reconstructed or 



