LANDSCAPE GARDENING 



LANDSCAPE GARDENING 1807 



Bibliography. — "Park" in "American Cyclopedia," 

 "Encyclopedia Americana," Johnson's "Cyclopedia;" 

 Park Reports of the various cities, especially New 

 York, 1857-1868, special report accompanying plan of 

 Central Park, 1858; Brooklyn, 1867-1873, special 

 report accompanying plan of Prosjiect Park, 1866; 

 Boston, 1879, 1880, 1885, citv document No. 125 of 

 1880; Boston, Metropolitan District, 1893; Buffalo, 

 1871, 1886, 1888; Chicago, Report on plan of South 

 Parks, 1871; Montreal, report on Mount Royal, with 

 plan. 1881. See "Proceedings American Social Science 

 A.ssociation, 1870, 1880;" "Massachusetts Park Law," 

 state printers, 1894; "Proceedings American Park and 

 Outdoor Art Association." p_ L Olmsted. 



Landscape cemeteries (Fig. 2103). 



The cemeteries of the present day have come into 

 existence from a desire to have burials made at a dis- 

 tance from centers of population, and among beautiful 

 surroundings. They are often called "rural cemeteries." 

 Tlic first one in the United States to 

 merit this name was Mt. Auburn, near 

 Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 1831. 

 Since then the idea of having burial- 

 places park-like in their character has 

 been spreading until they contain today 

 some of the most beautiful landscapes 

 developed by the hand of man. The wish 

 to have in the cemetery the beauty of 

 frees, shrubs, lawns and flowers has 

 gradually led to the abolition of fences, 

 coping and other lot enclosures, and a 

 reduction in the number of monuments 

 and the size of headstones. There are 

 many who now believe that the last rest- 

 ing-place should be surrounded by the 

 quietness and beauty of these features of 

 nature's handiwork without distracting 

 stonework or artificial objects. There are 

 others who say that "the cemetery should 

 be a cemetery," meaning by this expres- 

 sion that it should resemble somewhat 

 closely the old conventional churchyard 

 or graveyard, with its multitude of 

 crowded tomb-stones inscribed with the names and 

 good qualities of those buried within its walls. 



All agree that the cemetery should be so situated and 

 maintained as to menace in no way the healthfulness 

 of surrounding neighborhoods. The ideal location is 

 one where the ground is somewhat undulating and 

 thoroughly drained by having a porous subsoil, while 

 the surface soil is sufficiently rich and deep to support a 

 good growth of vegetation. In some instances, as at 

 Forest Hills, Boston, and at WoodlawTi, New York, 

 it has been necessary to blast and remove rock and then 

 fill in the space with earth. In other cases, the natural 

 soil has been .so poor that it has been necessary to cover 

 it with rich earth hauled from a long distance. In still 

 other cases, it has been necessary to select a clay soil 

 because there was no other, or to make ground by 

 exca"ating lakes, using the Tnaterial excavated to raise 

 the surrounding land, or to inter above ground in 

 stnictures erected for the purpose, as at New Orleans. 



When a site is chosen, it is usually subdivided into 

 sections antl lots, which must be made accessible by 

 the construction of drives and walks. A drive should 

 pass witliin about 1.50 feet of every place available for 

 burial. The width of the roadways should vary accord- 

 ing to the size of the cemetery and the probable amount 

 of driving. If the area is very small, not over 4 or 5 

 acres, it may be unnecessary to have any road or drive. 

 In a little larger area, a gra.ss drive 8 feet wide might 

 suffice; in one still larger, a diiveway 16 feet; and, 

 finally, a cemetery designed to accommodate large pop- 

 ulations should have good roadways 24 to 32 feet in 



width. Formerly these roadways would have been 

 made of ordinary macadam or gravel, but with the 

 increased use of automobiles, the material used for 

 roadways should be bitulithic concrete, bitulithic 

 macadam, cement concrete, or brick, preference being 

 given to the first. 



Walks should generally be left in grass and form part 

 of a continuous lawn, such walks being better in appear- 

 ance and more easily maintr.ined than those made of 

 gravel. The location of the drives will determine the 

 shapes and sizes of the sections. The plans should be 

 made after a careful study of the ground in question, 

 the drives being placed so that they will have easy 

 grades, command good views, and be as few as possible 

 while being approximately 300 feet apart. When the 

 ground is irregular in shape, or has steep slopes, or con- 

 tains streams or lakes or valuable trees, these features 

 may make it necessary to construct more drives than 

 would otherwise be needed. They can generally be 

 staked out on the ground by eye with a better effect 

 than if drawn first in an office by the use of some 



2098. Entrance to an American residence park. Page ISOl. 



geometrical curve. They should nearly always be 

 curved to produce the most pleasing result, a curved 

 driveway being advisable because : ( 1 ) when the margins 

 are properly planted certain portions of the ground are 

 always hidden; thus becoming more interesting; (2) 

 they insure varied effects of light and shade; (3) they 

 make the average distance from the cemetery entrance 

 to the lots shorter than if one follows straight lines and 

 turns right angles. 



An open tract, to begin with, is in many ways pref- 

 erable to one that is thickly wooded, but groups of 

 trees or single specimens that have broadened out in a 

 natural way would be very valuable, since they would 

 help to take away the naked, forbidding appearance of 

 land newly planted with young trees. On a vacant 

 area, it is usually advisable to plant some large trees 

 for the sake of immediate effect. These can be grouped 

 about the entrance, a fork in the drives, the top of a 

 hill, the margin of a lake, or other distinguishing posi- 

 tion. The objection to a piece of land covered with 

 thick woods is that the necessary thinning to get suffi- 

 ient open space will leave tall, spindling trees, unused 

 to exposure. These are not very attractive in them- 

 selves, are very likely to die and are liable to be blown 

 down. If there are thick woods in tl,e land chosen, the 

 trees chosen to remain should be those that are health- 

 iest and have the lowest branches. Some of the trees 

 removed might be cut off at the ground, when the 

 sprouts springing from the stump will form beautiful 

 busli-like specimens. 



The necessary buildings will vary with the size of the 



