ORNAMENTAL AND SHADE TREES 



from the aesthetic viewpoint, rather than from the 

 viewpoint of the commercial forester. It may very 

 properly be included as a part of the broad science of 

 Landscape Architecture. No less authority than the late 

 Charles Eliot includes under landscape architecture the 

 following branches: 



" 1. Landscape Gardening, that part of the general art 

 dealing with improvement of the property immediately 

 adjacent to the house. It includes lawn building, work 

 with single trees, shrubbery, flowers, etc. 



" 2. Landscape Engineering, that part of the general 

 art dealing with the proper and most pleasing location of 

 roads, paths, bridges, water bodies, etc. The actual build- 

 ing of these may also be a part of landscape engineering. 



681 



" What shall we call the art which directs the opening 

 of tree-clogged views, or valleys? Surely some special 

 knowledge of tree growth, habits, etc., is essential for this 

 It is hardly ' gardening.' Landscape gardening is not 

 the science which directs the making of pleasant groves 

 with turf-covered floors from the densest woodlands. 

 Without a knowledge of thinnings, and the effect of 

 changed light and moisture conditions, this operation 

 would be a failure. The creating of an open ' park ' 

 within a forest cannot be attempted without considering 



Photograph by F. W. Besley. 



THINNED FOR SCENIC VALUE 



A stand of beech almost pure. This woodland has been thinned and improved, 

 but not from the viewpoint of commercial forestry. An operation of this kind 

 should properly be classed as landscape forestry. 



" 3. Landscape Forestry, that part of the general art 

 dealing with the woodlands from the artistic viewpoint. 



" It is not difficult to demonstrate that next to the topog- 

 raphy itself, no feature of nature has such a decided 

 influence upon landscapes as trees in woodlands. To 

 prove this, let us consider flat and mountainous countries 

 respectively, with, and without trees. The former with- 

 out trees would be very uninteresting, the latter might be 

 imposing, but hardly beautiful without tree-growth. Our 

 critics will then say that true forestry is what we should 

 practise. That is not true, for the commercial forester 

 does not care whether his trees are spire-topped or round- 

 headed. He does not care for foliage effects, or the 

 presence of attractive tree flowers or fruits. In a well- 

 ordered commercial forest, the forest floor is usually bare, 

 and the tree trunks are tall branchless columns in tiresome 

 repetition. In the commercial forest, the aim is for a 

 full stand, and no gaps will be tolerated. The reverse of 

 all of this is true with landscape forestry. 



Photograph by R. B. Maxwell. 



TYPE OF LANDSCAPE FORESTRY 



This white oak grove, with its turf-covered floor, is the result of careful and 

 judicious thinning. This is the remnant of a woodland, and is an example of 

 what should be called landscape forestry. 



the effect of this operation upon the adjacent remaining 

 growth. Is this knowledge landscape gardening? Path 

 and road building may be considered a part of landscape 

 architecture, but when done in a forest it has a closer 

 relation to the subject of forestry than to the gardening 

 branch. If we could consider the drainage of a forest 

 without reference to the effect upon the forest growth the 

 problem would be one of engineering pure and simple. 

 Water levels and moisture conditions cannot be abruptly 

 changed in this manner without seriously affecting the 

 distribution of plant colonies. This is landscape forestry 

 and in no way related to landscape gardening. What 

 directs the leaving or introduction of red and sugar maples, 

 viburnums, wild cherries, and sassafras, on a sunny wood- 

 land border? These trees are not all desirable from the 

 viewpoint of true forestry. Landscape gardening has 

 little to do with encouraging dogwood, hemlock, and other 



