502 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 302. 



•gardening has been degraded in public esteem by the 

 laying out of the Columbian F.xposition," and the critic 

 who makes the assertion has plainly formed his own 

 opinion on incorrect assumptions. But inasmuch as he 

 invites attention to the superiority of architecture over 

 the art of landscape-design, as if there were some con- 

 flict between them, or at least some difference in their 

 aims and motives, it may as well be said here that 

 not only the possibility, but the inestimable value, of 

 single-minded co-operation between these two arts was 

 exemplified at the Exposition as it never was before. Not 

 only architects and landscape-gardeners, but all men, are 

 prone to suspicion and jealousy, especially when they 

 divide off into classes and professions, but the artists of 

 the Fair were sufficiently broad-minded to rise above this 

 tendency. If there were any such errors in the general 

 design as this critic charges, the representative architects 

 had ample opportunity to correct them. It was Mr. Root 

 who grouped into one drawing what had been previously 

 sketched in a detached way by Mr. Olmsted and Mr. Cod- 

 man ; and during all the time of the development of the 

 design there was the most cordial and spontaneous inter- 

 communication between all these artists. Neither Mr. Hunt 

 nor Mr. Burnham discovered that there was anything in the 

 design which was to degrade art in public esteem. In the 

 preliminary stage they fully accepted the leading motives of 

 the landscape-gardeners, who, on their part, were eager for 

 suggestions looking to the improvement of the design, and so 

 far as the public is aware there is not one which the architects 

 maturely advised which was not incorporated in the plan. 

 In short, there was not a shadow of suspicion or antago- 

 nism between the two arts, and the Exposition ought to be 

 the seal of a permanent alliance between them. The effi- 

 cient co-operation of these allied professions is one of the 

 most happy results of the Exposition. It is greatly to the 

 credit of both, and of excellent promise for the future of all 

 art in this country. 



Fences. — 11. 



WE spoke recently of iron and stone fences as they 

 are commonly seen in American country towns. It 

 would be impossible to enumerate all the different types of 

 wooden enclosures employed in various parts of the coun- 

 try, but one or two may be named as of special impor- 

 tance. One of the most simply sensible is the old-fash- 

 ioned paling with narrow pointed uprights set somewhat 

 closely together. Such a fence is unpretentious, yet not 

 rustic in character, and is therefore appropriate, for exam- 

 ple, around a farm-house lawn or garden, or along the 

 street-line of a village. Where little protection is needed 

 it can be kept so low as to be unobtrusive, and where a 

 high fence is required it will not look forbiddingly solid. 

 More grace may be given it by the simple device of grad- 

 uating the palings in height so that their tops will form 

 symmetrical curves, highest where they are attached to the 

 post, lowest in the centre of the spaces between the posts ; 

 and then if a few vines are allowed to clamber up the pal- 

 ings a pretty and refined effect is produced. Another good 

 expedient is to build a wall of stone or brick, two or three 

 feet in height, and crown it with a low, light paling ; and 

 this form offence is especially sensible when the ground 

 within it lies a little above the street level, so that the 

 courses of stone or brick form a retaining-wall. 



In old New England towns we often see wooden fences 

 of a somewhat less simple character, made with strong 

 moulded copings and posts and a moulded top-rail sup- 

 ported by slender bars, square or diamond-shaped in sec- 

 tion. Good designs for fences of this sort could be easily 

 carried out by village workmen ; and they might advan- 

 tageously replace the plain paling around houses of the 

 better type or unpretentious villas. Of course, they also 

 afford a good support for vines, although their more archi- 

 tectural character renders this drapery less essential. 



A pretty type of fence, which is distinctively American, 



has lately grown in favor. This is the so-called " rustic " 

 fence, built in open-work panels, with the branches of trees 

 from which the bark has not been removed. Straight pieces 

 are taken, of course, for the posts and the main horizontal 

 bars; but the panels are then filled with more or less fan- 

 ciful designs, in forming which the natural forkings of trees 

 can be utilized. Such a fence is most interesting when 

 each panel shows a different design; but in attempting this 

 variety pains must be taken to give all the panels a similar 

 degree of solidity. If one is built with thick branches or a 

 very close pattern, and another with slighter branches or a 

 more open pattern, the fence will have both an unstable 

 and an inharmonious look. Therefore, unless the builder 

 has a certain amount of artistic instmct, it is safest for him 

 not to try for much variety and to resist the temptation to 

 use natural forkings ; it is safest to confine himself to one 

 or two rather formal patterns which can be easily built 

 with straight pieces of wood. 



Red Cedar is the most effective wood to use for fences of 

 this kind, especially where a fanciful variety of forms is' 

 desired, its odd forkings and twistings and the shreddiness 

 of its bark accentuating rusticity of effect. But the White 

 Cedar likewise offers good material of a similar kind-; 

 Pines furnish surfaces of fine color and a pleasing rough- 

 ness, which, moreover, look better than Cedar-bark after a 

 few years' exposure ; the smooth gray limbs of the. Beech 

 are attractive in another way ; and the white bark of the 

 Canoe Birch, and especially the shining gray or golden 

 bark of the Yellow Birch, have a charm peculiar to them- 

 selves. The character of the wood should, however, al- 

 ways be considered in determining the panel-forms of a 

 rustic fence, the smooth surface and almost architectural 

 regularity of the branches of the Beech, for instance, pre- 

 scribing more formal patterns than the shreddy surface and 

 contorted shapes of Red Cedar branches. 



Fences of this description are rustic in expression as well 

 as in name, and look best, therefore, in pronouncedly rural 

 situations. They are appropriate for the vicinity of those 

 small houses, built in part or altogether of logs or unbarked 

 slabs, which are now so common in our mountain districts, 

 and even for more ambitious summer cottages, while, of 

 course, they may fittingly protect the outlying portions of 

 even a large estate, giving way to something more archi- 

 tectural near the buildings. The serious objection to the 

 rustic fence is, that unless framed and joined in the most 

 workman-like manner, the pieces will draw apart under our 

 trying weather, and the whole structure will soon be ricketty. 



Where stone cannot easily be had, a beautiful wall may 

 be built of brick, as no one needs to be told who knows 

 the rural districts of England. But the high English brick 

 wall is out of character in an American landscape, whether 

 this means a closely built street of villas or a succession of 

 larger country places. The Englishman loves privacy, 

 seclusion, above all else, and seems not to enjoy anything 

 he owns unless it is pretty well protected from the eyes of 

 others. But the more sociable, less sensitively shy Ameri- 

 can likes to have his neighbors see his lawns and gardens, 

 and likes to see theirs ; and if by chance one individual 

 feels differently and surrounds himself with a seven-foot 

 \vall, it strikes a distinctly discordant note amid its sur- 

 roundings. On the other hand, the recent tendency, shown 

 in many New England towns, to do away with fences alto- 

 gether and let lawn and garden blend unprotected with the 

 grass-bordered street, cannot be commended from the 

 point of view of good taste. We may not need really to 

 protect our private domains ; we may not wish to shut out 

 others from the enjoyment of their beauty ; but we should 

 want them to look like private domains, not like bits of 

 common-land ; to look as though they were cared for by 

 some particular hand ; as though they were adjuncts to a 

 home. High palings and, still more, high solid walls would 

 greatly injure the beauty and peculiar expressiveness of a 

 pretty American village ; but low walls, palings or hedges, 

 if well built and neatly kept, make the village much more 

 charming than entire openness. 



