ISUi L-\ND8CAPE GARDENING 



LANDSCAPE GARDENING 



is about five timos as liigli as cxpfctcd. Not all of this 

 phuitin;; \v;is ihio to the intliion<-i' of laii(lsca])(.- oxti'ii- 

 sion. for many iH>rsoiis hail (U'tcriuincil to plant .sonio- 

 tliinp before they hoard a lerture or read a cirenhu-. 

 In such crises, the extension service often influenced 

 tiie jK'ople to choose more api)roi)riate plants and 

 arrange them in better \va>s than they could have 

 done without state aid or with connnercial aid. 



lidatiot) to prifalc landscape gartlcncrs. 



Obviously, lamiscapi- extension should develop in 

 harmony with the priniiples laid tlown liy the American 

 Society of Limdscape Architects for the elevation of 

 the profession. It is a fieneral iiolicy for iniiversities to 

 show no favoritism and therefore always to suggest 

 two or more men coni|)etent to do any particular piece 

 of work. 



Relation to nursertftnen. 



Landscape extension should be in sympathy with 

 the ideals of the American Nurserymen's Association, 

 so far as they agree with educational and professional 

 standards. Incidentally, the propaganda creates much 

 business for nur.serymen, but its prime purpose is 

 education. Therefore, when persons submit plans in 

 the gardenesque style made by nu^sen■^llen, and ask 

 for criticism, landscape extension workers should 

 inform both parties simultaneously that the natural- 

 istic style is considered superior to the gardenesque by 

 the profession, and should furnish, on request, a list of 

 landscape gardeners practising in the state. When 

 prices are habitually excessive, the nurserymen, at 

 least, should be informed. A university cannot reck- 

 lessly promote mere quantity in planting; it must stand 

 for quality and fair play. Landscape extension gen- 

 erally deals only with permanent materials, leaving to 

 other agencies the promotion of temporary plantings, 

 as well as fruits and vegetable-gardens. 



Historical note. 



The phrase "landscape extension" was used officially 

 in February, 1914, at the University of Illinois. Prior 

 to that, university extension work in landscape gar- 

 dening liad been undertaken in several states, notably 

 in Ma,ssachusetts, but incidentally to regular teaching. 

 The first state to employ a man to give his entire time 

 to landscape extension was IlMnois, where the work 

 was begun in October, 1913. It is organized under the 

 Department of Horticulture. Since then full-time 

 workers have been engaged in Massachusetts, Iowa, 

 New York and elsewhere. Wilhelm Miller. 



Lawns and lawn-making in landscape planting. 



For most persons the word lawn bears a vague 

 meaning, compounded of their recollection of gras.s- 

 covered spaces dotted over with trees and shrubs, and 

 of broa<^i areas covered simply with closely mown turf. 

 Both are correct impressions: but tho more important 

 feature is that a lawn shall be an open area of grass 

 space (Figs. 2104, 21()."j). Many exceptions or addi- 

 tions to this definition may, however, be admitted. A 

 great white oak, for example, rugged and jiicturesque 

 against the evening sky, needs only to be seen to fur- 

 nish an ample excuse for its retention on any lawn. 

 But this would be a happy chance, not affecting the 

 principles which should govern the construction of a 

 lawn on an open area. 



It rnay rea'lily appear that the lawn will, as originally 

 designed, prove U>o sunny or too strongly wind-swept 

 over its extended expan.se; but the remedy for this will 

 be found to lie not so much in planting single trees or 

 detached groups of trees over the uncovered area, as in 

 ext<;nding limbs, points, promontories and peninsulas 

 of trees or trees and shrubs directly out from the main 

 body of bordering plantations which will usually frame 



the lawn and the dilTerent pictures that will a))i)ear in 

 any proix'rly unified scheme of landscape gardening. 

 The art of the designer will (lis])lay itself in determining 

 the relative sizes of the lawns and these inclosing or 

 framing plantations. A carefvil eye must, of course, be 

 given to the individuality of the lawn itself, which 



2104. Ground-plan of a nature-looking grass space, showing 

 relative importance of lawn and planting. 



should never be allowed to run over into the neighbor- 

 ing plantations. A like principle applies to all kinds of 

 art — it is fundamental and vital in its character. The 

 reader may fancy that its application would tend to 

 limit the beauty of landscape gardening by eliminating 

 certain features of natural beauty, such as trees, shrubs, 

 and beds of flowers, but if he will look at an open lawn 

 with discerning and sympathetic eyes, he will find that 

 the "moving cloud-shadows, waving grass, rich patches 

 of dark and light green, studded with the starry radi- 

 ance of the humble flora of the grass, and the hundred 

 incidents of blazing or subdued color and form that 

 appear on the surface of an open meadow," need no 

 added beauty of tree or shrub to perfect their nearly 

 unapi)roachai)le loveliness. So important does the 

 writer consider the essential and peculiar beauty of 

 the lawn as distinguished from that of any other part of 

 th(^ home domain, that he always feels inclined to term 

 it the true focus of the picture, the central point of 

 interest in any landscape gardening design. 



This being the case, it behooves us always literally to 

 leave no stone unturned or clod of earth untilled and 

 unfertilizeil in order to secure a satisfactory open lawn. 

 Did the reader ever see such an one? Let him answer 

 frankly to himself whether he has or has not seen a 

 lawn which showed no traces of quick-grass and other 

 early weeds in July, nor any summer grass and later 

 weeds in August and Sci)tember, — above all, a lawn 

 which W(nil(l stand a pnjtractcd drought without 

 artificial watering. Very likel>- he will think it is impos- 

 sible to make such a lawn under the conditions of soil 

 and climate which each and all of us are apt to believe 

 specially characteristic of the spot of groimd on which 

 we live. Perhaps, on the other hand, he will declare that 

 he has seen such a lawn in some remote place, but if we 

 question him, ten chances to one we shall find that his 

 observation of this exceptional lawn is limited — that he 

 has not wintered and summered near it, or seen it dur- 

 ing i(s periods of "storm and stress." The writer knows 

 one place where such a lawn can be seen, and he refers 

 to it, not because it is projierly a lawn, for it lacks the 

 requisite framing plantations; but it is perfect in the 

 first essential of a good lawn — it is a piece of perfect 

 lawn grass. A brief description will show how this 

 standard of excellence was reached. The lawn consists 

 of small [latches of grass turf on a private farm in Man- 

 chester, Connecticut. Each jiatch was worked and 

 turned over with various ingeniously contrived hoes, 

 forks and rakes until the last lurking weed was removed 



