LANDSCAPE GARDENING 



LANDSCAPE GARDENING 1789 



There are many sewage-disposal systems now devised 

 tliat will, if properly constructed and maintained, so 

 modify the liquids as to make the outflow pure and 

 safe. They are based on the fact that bacterial and 

 chemical action in so-called septic tanks combineil with 

 Ihe action of the air on thin films of liquid filtering 

 throuiili sand and coarse gravel over which it is ilis- 

 (•harged intermittently from syphon chambers, will 

 destroy all dangei-ous organisms. 



City plats and squares. 



A nimiber of men who practise as landscape archi- 

 tects also call themselves city-planners. Such men and 

 others in the profession are leaders in the city-planning 

 movement that has, within a very few years, gained 

 such marked headway that most cities and many small 

 towns have plans prepared for their future extension, 

 anil some states have provided for planning-boards in 

 cities. 



Such plans include a provision for public parks and 

 parkway systems, main thorovighfares, transjjortation 

 lines and terminals, and for centers about which public 

 buildings arc grouped, for playgrounds at frequent 

 intervals throughout the city, for public squares, and 

 such other public open spaces as the special needs of 

 each city indicated as desirable. 



The tendency is to make such plans take advantage 

 of the irregularities of the topography and fit them more 

 closely than do many of the early plans that require a 

 vast amount of cut and fill to make the surface fit their 

 lines, to provide wider and more direct main traffic 

 thoroughfares, to omit unnecessary curves in roads 

 and paths, and to locate public buiklings and monu- 

 ments at points where they will form elTective street 

 terminals without interfering with direct passage. 



The accompanying sketch (Fig. 2083) of a public 

 square and its arrangement is an indication of this 

 tendencj", for the passages across it make direct routes 

 from street to street. The proposed structures would 

 represent a place for effective street terminals. Pro- 

 vision is made for the comfort of the public in the 

 placing of drinking-fountains and seats set back from the 

 sidewalk line. Enough trees are provided to give shade, 

 and a place is indicated for flower-beds where they will 

 not interfere with the openness and breadth of the 

 center of the square. Such squares are coming to be 

 islands of safety and places in which to rest in the 

 center of great thoroughfares and towering buildings. 

 The pretty flower-gardens, curving walks and play- 

 grounds that might be appropriate in the less crowded 

 residential section would be quite inappropriate in a 

 city square. 



Note that these public squares should be dominated 

 by directness and simplicity. In these crowded meet^ 

 ing-placcs there is no warrant for the fancy curves and 

 "features" that are often made so much a part of many 

 landscape designs. Fig. 2084, for example, shows 

 inadmissable plans for a busy city square, with no 

 main passages and no opportunity for somewhat 

 secluded or recessed seats. They partake more of the 

 character of labyrinths, and would be more in keeping 

 in grounds where a very few persons enjoy ample 

 leisure, or in residential parts of cities. 



The general results. 



There is a growing spirit of cooperation and harmony 

 among those who are developing landscapes and gar- 

 dens. A distinctively American custom is that of 

 throwing the front lawns together on each side of a 

 residential street in order that all who pass may enjoy 

 the greater breadth and beauty thus gained. .\ con- 

 stantly incrca.'fihg number of persons is considering 

 the neighbors' interests as well as their own in the loca- 

 tion of buildings, plantations, in th<" cutting of trees 

 and in othei features of the planning and making of a 

 place. There is less of that kind of architectural and 



gardening originality that 

 makes a place so out of 

 harmony with all its neigh- 

 bors as to make it an offen- 

 sive vulgarity even though 

 it may be fine in design. 



For a history of land- 

 scape gardening see the 

 introductory article. For a 

 clear knowledge of the 

 underlj-ing principles that 

 govern the profession, the 

 reader is referred to 

 "Charles Eliot, Landscape 

 Architect," by his father 

 Chas. W. Eliot; "Art Out- 

 of-Doors," by Mrs. Schuy- 

 ler Van Rensselaer; "Italian 

 Gardens," by Chas. A. 

 Piatt. 



There are many avail- 

 able books, American and 

 English, in which the princi- 

 ples of design are referred 

 to, but in which such 

 practical considerations as 

 the making and the laying 

 out of plans, methods of 

 construction, the descrip- 

 tion of plants and methods 

 of cultivation are the most 

 important parts. 



Warren H. Manning. 



The Japanese garden. 



Of a different and pecu- 

 liar type, very intimate and 

 personal, is the Japanese 

 garden. It proceeds on 

 different principles from the 

 American and European 

 garden. Examples are some- 

 times seen in this country, 

 and it is well to understand 

 the motive of them and to 

 know what they hold in 

 promise for us. 



T)ie garden in Japan. 



It has been the theory 

 in Japan that everyone 

 should provide his home 

 with all the joys and com- 

 forts associated with a gar- 

 den, with the idea that it is 

 not a general habit on the 

 part of the housewife to 

 secure her pleasures out- 

 side. Unlike others, the 

 people of Japan are not 

 contented merely with trees 

 or flowers, but must add the 

 rocks, streams, stone lan- 

 terns, outdoor wash-stands, 

 wells, fences, with carp, 

 frogs, crickets, and even 

 bronze stalks. On the 

 ground, one occasionally 

 finds a private shrine, 

 which is decorative rather 

 than holy. A lake or pond 

 w.'inders in all manner of 

 angles, arched with pro- 

 jecting trees, and often 

 dwarfed pines protect the 



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