110 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



neither are they permanent. They belong only to the infancy of 

 our art and will be outgrown in due time. My present plea is only 

 for the necessity of establishing as speedily as possible a broad, 

 thorough, arid rational criticism in the field of landscape architecture. 



American Works and Workers. 



If we undertake now to study for a moment the men and the 

 works in the field of American landscape architecture, we may 

 best adopt the usual historical method, beginning at the first and 

 following through in order. It becomes convenient then to recog- 

 nize four periods in the history of American landscape gardening, 

 as follows : — 



1. The colonial period. 



2. The ante-bellum period, in which Andrew Jackson Downing 

 was the conspicuous figure. 



8. The post-bellum period, in which Frederick Law Olmsted 

 was the great leader. 



4. The present time, marked by a wide development and 

 popularization of the art, by the appearance on the scene of many 

 skilful workers, and by an unprecedented eclecticism in style. 



The Colonial Period. 



Gardens of considerable importance existed in America from 

 the times of the earliest settlements. It is remarkable how soon 

 they began to be established. Before the war of the Revolution 

 broke over the country a number of fine places had gained a wide 

 reputation, a reputation which in fact comes down to our own day. 



The domestic architecture of colonial times is now universally 

 admired, and gardens we know have always been much influenced 

 by domestic architecture. The arts of house furnishing and the 

 handicrafts also flourished; and these too are by no means distantly 

 related to gardening. 



On the other hand, one of the prime defects in colonial gardening 

 lay in its subserviency to European traditions. European plants 

 were grown by European methods, and the very design itself was 

 Dutch or Elizabethan. 



