LANDSCAPE GARDENING 



LANDSCAPE GARDENING 1813 



and in positions where they will always be seen from a 

 considerable distance. Attention should be given to 

 placing on the north side of buildings those species 

 which will thrive in shade, such as barberry, privet, 

 rhododendron. On the south side should be placed 

 plants which will withstand the sun ; and perhaps some 

 drought, for example, spireas, coral berry, ceanothus : 

 The treatment of parks is more fully discussed else- 

 where (see Parks, page 1801). 



School grounds. 



School grounds throughout the country are generally 

 neglected. They present a bare, unattractive appear- 

 ance wholly inappropriate to their use. This condition 

 is widely recognized and nearly every community is 

 anxious to correct it. The problem, however, is difficult. 



Generally speaking, large trees are the most useful 

 amelioration for school grounds. These should be 

 placed especially on the south and southwest sides of 

 the school-house in order that the shadows may fall 

 upon the building during school hours. Large-growing 

 native species are particularly desirable, although 

 throughout the northern states the common domestic 

 apple tree seems entirely appropriate, especially for the 

 rearward parts of school lots. 



Good lawns are very desirable on school grounds 

 wherever they can be maintained. They are, however, 

 admittedly impossible in many cases. 



Border plantings of shrubbery may be attractive, 

 especially at the backs of school grounds, and more 

 especially upon large grounds. Foundation plantings 

 about the building are nearly always desirable when 

 they can be maintained. Other horticultural embellish- 

 ments such as flower-beds, are to be looked upon with 

 disfavor. 



On large school grounds such as every country dis- 

 trict ought to have, there should be maintained school- 

 gardens. In addition to the regular school-gardening 

 work, good country schools should undertake to main- 

 tain small arboreta of native species. These may also 

 be developed in the form of bird-gardens, adding inter- 

 est to the gounds and supplying material for constant 

 study. 



Grounds designed for play must usually be bare. 

 In some cases turf can be maintained, and is of course, 

 desirable wherever it is possible to have it. Shade trees 

 should be supplied wherever there is room, especially 

 about the margins. 



Church grounds. 



The church grounds present no such difficulties as 

 are found on the school grounds. They are rarely over- 

 run by crowding multitudes. There is ample oppor- 

 tunity for every sort of horticultural improvement. It 

 is surprising that this opportunity is not more widely 

 acknowledged. The small country church is especially 

 in need of good tree-plantings, but even in villages of 

 considerable size the church grounds are large enough 

 to use a number of large trees. Foundation plantings 

 of shrubbery are effective with a great many church 

 buildings, especially stone buildings of Gothic type 

 with buttresses. The plain wooden churches of the 

 Middle West also need foundation plantings wherever 

 they can be supplied. 



It would seem best in connection with many church 

 grounds to develop pleasant outdoor playgrounds, 

 social grounds, or even such places as would be par- 

 ticularly adapted to outdoor meetings. In many parts 

 of the South and West, outdoor evening church ser- 

 vices are decidedly popular during the long summer 

 months. But definite and proper provision for them 

 is rarely made. 



Cemeteries. 



The park cemetery is a distinctly American idea and 

 is of such importance that it is more fully treated in a 



separate article (see Cemeteries, page 1807). At this 

 point we may merely call attention to the squalid 

 unkept rural and village cemeteries, where very simple 

 improvements would be highly valuable. These would 

 consist chiefly of plantings of good trees and shrubs 

 with such turf lawns as could be kept up. 



State, county, and national parks. 



Another form of the public improvement which is 

 destined to play a conspicuous part in American life 

 in years to come is the larger public park maintained 

 by county, state, or by the nation. These all of course 

 require extensive horticultural development, chiefly 

 in the planting of trees and the maintenance of native 

 shrubs and herbaceous species. The national forests 

 really belong in this class. In them the conservation 

 and exploitation of the tree flora has both an economic 

 and a social value. This general matter, however, is 

 discussed under Parks. 



Home grounds. 



Most village improvement undertakings make a 

 strong point of the improvement of home grounds. 

 This, however, is based entirely on the public interest, 

 the public in fact, having a very great concern in the 

 attractive appearance and sanitary condition of all 

 home grounds. The horticultural treatment of the 

 home grounds is a subject which has received very 

 general attention in America. The selection of trees, 

 shrubs, and other ornamental materials is naturally 

 controlled chiefly by personal taste of private owners, 

 and it seems impossible here, without going too far 

 afield, to give specific directions on this sort of work. 

 As the problem is approached from the village improve- 

 ment standpoint, results are frequently aimed at 

 through some form of emulation. Various kinds of 

 public contests are established with prizes for the 

 best-kept front yard, the best-developed back yard, for 

 the best flower-garden, and so on. Where such con- 

 tests have been wisely planned and tactfully directed, 

 the results have been good. FRANK A. WAUGH. 



Landscape extension. 



The field of university extension work in landscape 

 gardening, or "landscape extension," is the education 

 of the people of a state from the apathy that toler- 

 ates bare home grounds, badly planned cities, and 

 wholesale destruction of native scenery and vegetation. 

 Much work in this direction has been done, and 

 always will be, by private landscape architects, by 

 nurserymen, and by magazines and newspapers, but the 

 best opportunity for educational work of a fundamental 

 nature lies with the state universities and agricultural 

 colleges. 



Popular demand for landscape extension. 



The most obvious demand for landscape extension is 

 the endless succession of letters asking for help in design- 

 ing and planting home grounds that are too small to 

 justify employing a private landscape gardener. This 

 need is met, to some extent, by commercial agencies that 

 give "free plans" in order to get profits from the sale of 

 planting materials. Some of the work done in this 

 way is of good grade, but much of it is of a gaudiness 

 and artificiality that represents a natural swing of the 

 pendulum from apathy. The money and time wasted 

 on the gardenesque style of planting has been saved to 

 many individuals by showing them how nations and 

 individuals pass through showy and artificial stages 

 before arriving at the naturalistic. Letters from the 

 people clearly indicate that they wish the guidance of 

 public taste in landscape gardening entrusted to 

 educational rather than commercial agencies. 



A second popular demand for landscape extension 

 comes from organizations that ask for help in making 



