112 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



of helping his neighbors to improve theirs, and of helping in the 

 beautification of public places. His ideas of these things have been 

 taken en bloc from Downing. From the ranks of these nurserjinen 

 have come a majority of our best landscape gardeners; and the 

 completeness with which they have been controlled by Downing's 

 ideas would be pitiful had the results been less satisfactory or the 

 leadership less worthy. Other ideas have recently begun to overlie 

 those of Downing, but his work still exercises a tremendous influence. 

 This influence, especially in the recent past, has been so plain and 

 so easily traced that we may fairly allow it to be the chief support 

 of Downing's reputation as a landscape artist. From such sources 

 we may draw certain definite conclusions as to Downing's work. 



1. He aimed at an informal or "natural" style. His main 

 walks and drives were usually curved and his trees were not placed 

 in straight rows except where the circumstances plainly demanded it. 

 This informality however was decidedly restrained, Ave might even 

 say constrained and stiff. It fell far short of the free and easy 

 natural style of the present day. 



2. Trees were used chiefly as individuals. Each one Avas given 

 room for its complete development. There were few groups and no 

 masses. It will be remembered that this principle has been most 

 strenuously supported by all the disciples of Downing, though it is 

 now being generally abandoned. 



3. Lawns are small and scrappy, the space being taken up very 

 largely with trees and flower beds. Each design therefore presents 

 a somewhat jumbled appearance. 



4. Trees of many kinds were used in nearly every place, and, as 

 these were all treated as specimens, the whole assumed the air of an 

 arboretum. This arboretum scheme is highly characteristic of the 

 disciples of Downing. These principles, 2, 3, and 4, in the hands of 

 men of limited taste, led directly to what Professor Bailey has aptly 

 characterized as the "nursery style" of landscape gardening. 



5. Considerable numbers of fruit trees were used on the grounds, 

 being placed in such a manner as to become a part of the decorative 

 scheme. 



