38 



Garden and Forest. 



[January 23, i5 



Hints About Lawns. 



T^O one accustonied to the studious contempkition of natural 

 ■*- scenery, there is apt to come, sometimes, the desire to 

 possess some particular scene which has been found to affect 

 the emotions — to own it as a pleasure and a means of refresh- 

 ment to the mind through the eyes, as one might own a beau- 

 tiful painting. The many practical conditions of life rarely 

 permit the indulgence in such a luxury; but with the recur- 

 rence of the desire with each new experience, there comes to 

 be an impulse that leads to the attempt to imitate certain ele- 

 ments of natural scenery in places in which it will be con- 

 venient to enjoy the result. There are many more who, while 

 they are by no means students of Nature, yet have an instinct- 

 ive appreciation of the beautiful and the picturesque in Nature, 

 which manifests itself in the selection of their house sites, and 

 in the general style at which they aim in their planting and 

 other out-of-door work, rather than in the planning and carry- 

 ing out of any consistent, complete ideal, or than in the imita- 

 tion or perfecting of an existing natural scene. 



There is, however, one type of natural scene, the beauty of 

 which is so generally recognized, that every one who has the 

 slightest opportunity desires to imitate it. It is that which is 

 called a lawn. 



Strictly speaking, the term lawn is applied to a natural 

 opening, of limited extent, clothed with low verdure (grass or 

 small bushes) and surrounded by woods dense enough to con- 

 line the eye. Its essential qualities are openness, breadth, 

 seclusion and repose, together with a subtle combination of 

 contrast (between its openness and the shady mj'stery of the 

 wood) with harmony (the sense of seclusion being common to 

 both). 



In creating a lawn, considerable variation from the natural 

 type is permissible, provided its essential qualities are preserved. 

 For instance, the element of contrast with the wooded borders 

 is heightened if the lawn is covered with an unbroken sweep 

 of finely clipped turf, even though the lawn loses something of 

 its charm of naturalness thereby. Likewise, it is not essential 

 that the inclosing wood should be composed solely of large, 

 tall trees, showing their trunks and with dark shadows under 

 and behind them, nor that it should present a simple mass of 

 foliage faced out or bottomed out with smaller trees and 

 bushes, so that the interior of the wood is invisible ; both of 

 these conditions are common in Nature. Other minor features of 

 woodland scenery may partially border a lawn, such as herba- 

 ceous plants, rocks, steep banks, or even water, but all such 

 features should appear natural and subordinate. A lawn 

 should have a moderately undulating surface, because a dead 

 flat would be suggestive of artificiality. If a lawn is to be 

 smoother than is natural, the turf must be kept short, prefera- 

 bly by the most natural means, as by the grazing of sheep. 

 The difficulty of adjusting the planting of the borders of a 

 lawn so that it will not be injured by the browsing of sheep or 

 cattle has, however, led to the general use of the scythe and 

 the lawn-mower, but the more natural way should be kept in 

 mind and reverted to when practicable. 



A lawn is often used, in connection with a house, as the 

 foreground of a more extended, park-like opening or distant 

 view. The extreme neatness usually desirable immediately 

 about a house, suggests that that part of the lawn should be 

 clipped, leaving those parts further away to be grazed. Such 

 an arrangement is, in fact, common abroad, the pastured 

 ground being cleverly separated from the clipped ground by a 

 sunken wall (called a ha! ha!), or by a ditch with turfed 

 slopes, deep enough to conceal a fence placed in the bottom, 

 or by a river or elongated pool simulating a river. Even 

 though the means of separation be visible, the disadvantage of 

 the division in breaking the apparent continuity of the view 

 may be, in a great measure, compensated for by the economy 

 of pasturing over clipping and by the greater naturalness of 

 the pastured lawn. 



However intricate and irregular in shape a lawn may be, it 

 should, as a general rule, have a predominating, central, un- 

 broken area, in order to give it its characteristic qualities of 

 breadth and repose. 



The element of openness is essential. It is not uncommon 

 to leave many existing trees scattered over a lawn or a single 

 tree iri the midst of it, or to plant trees promiscuously over it. 

 This is usually done either from a love of trees as beautiful 

 objects, or from the dread of a bare, unfurnished look. No 

 greater mistake could be made. 



It is with a lawn as with a pictui'e. The subject of a picture 

 should be at or near the centre, the composition should be 

 such as to direct attention toward the subject, other objects 

 shown should be subordinated to the subject, and there 

 should be a border or frame to assist in confining the eye to 



tlK; picture itself. So in a lawn, the eye sliould rest at or near 

 the centre instinctively and easily, and since the turf is the 

 characteristic and valuable thing, no other object should be 

 allowed so near the centre or be so conspicuous as to distract 

 the mind from receiving the impression which the lawn is cal- 

 culated to produce. It would be as reasonable to put a large 

 yellow star in the middle of a picture as to have a fountain or 

 bed of flowers or a specimen tree in the midst of a lawn. 



While there certainly is, in the long run, a more refined and 

 lasting enjoyment to be obtained from a lawn the borders of 

 which are so planted as to appear absolutely natural, and which 

 makes a complete scene in itself, yet a good deal of the value 

 of a lawn — its suggestion of simple breadth and repose — may 

 be retained, while a certain amount of gaiety of foliage and of 

 flowers, of interest in specimen plants, and of beauty of con- 

 structive art, is associated with it in the same view as a fore- 

 ground, but not as a part of the lawn. There would be a 

 contrast which might enhance the effect of gaiety, but at the 

 expense of the lawn, because the sensation of gaiety and the 

 interest in the artificial objects would overwhelm the milder, 

 shyer feelings properly to be derived from the contemplation 

 of the lawn. Tlieone tires, while the other refreshes, the mind. 



A lawn is at its best when there is no evidence of the handi- 

 work of man — no formality in the grading, none in the planting, 

 no exotic plants, no fountain-jet or basin, no vase or statue, no 

 nicely trimmed path, no fence or formal terrace. Such a lawn 

 conveys the purest impression and gives the most lasting satis- 

 faction. One who cultivates a taste for formality and things 

 evidencing the skillfulness of man is apt to tire of any one 

 object or composition of that kind. It is true that there is a 

 certain kind of refreshment to be obtained from variety in such 

 things, but it is a stimulating, nerve-consuming kind of refresh- 

 ment, the opposite of that which is encouraged by repose. 

 But to one who cultivates a taste for the beautiful and pictur- 

 esque in Nature, a single, purely natural scene is never tire- 

 some if seen again and again. The infinite variety in the 

 details and in their disposition, the differences of aspect caused 

 by changes of weather and by the seasons, by the growth of 

 plants, by birds and other animal life — all are harmonious with 

 the natural scene, are not conspicuous enough to injure any 

 artistic impression which the scene may give, and yet make 

 the scene endlessly interesting. 



Too often a lawn is spoiled ior the gratification of tastes and 

 pleasures that have nothing to do with the true source of 

 the enjoyment to be derived from looking at it. And it is 

 usually done, too, under the mistaken idea of decorating or 

 improving the appearance of the lawn. That is the pity of it. 

 For instance, it is not an uncommon thing to see a formal bed 

 of scarlet Geraniums in the midst of a lawn that would other- 

 wise have had much suggestion of a natural breadth and 

 repose. The bed of flowers may be a good thing in itself. It 

 is bright and gay, enlivening and stimulating, and it is well set 

 off by the surrounding turf, but the lawn is sacrificed to it — 

 tliat which has a permanent worth is made to give way to that 

 which has but a passing value, a source of endless satisfaction 

 to a pretty toy of which every one soon tires. Again, consider 

 the case of a lawn " decorated " with statuary. A beautiful 

 nymph splashing in a fountain, were it not a very hackneyed 

 idea, and where itis theworkof atrueartist, would be a most en- 

 joyable and valuable possession ; but a poor, cheap, painted, 

 cast-iron imitation of such a piece of sculpture, placed so as to 

 dominate a fine lawn, is a barbarism which it is hardly conceiv- 

 able that any intelligent person could be guilty of. The same 

 thing might be said of almost all the usual so-called "decora- 

 tions " of lawns. To decorate the face of a beautiful woman with 

 painted ornaments would not be one whit more savage. Our 

 civilization is spotted all over with the relics of barbarism; good 

 taste is always striving to get rid of them, and they should be 

 particularly avoided when we set about making a natural lawn. 



Brookline, Massachusetts. 7- ^- Olmsted. 



Autumn in Oregon. 



A LARGE-LEAVED Maple {^Acer macrophyllum) in the gulch 

 above my house (the hills slope to the west) kept its leaves 

 green this fall some six weeks longer than trees of the same 

 species growing on lower land along the main creeks or in 

 the gullies on the more open and exposed hillsides, and one 

 to two weeks later than others growing in its own immediate 

 vicinity. These leaves were green until the middle of No- 

 vember, while those of other Maples had begun to turn yellow 

 by the first of October, were in a blaze of color by the 28th, 

 and had mostly fallen from the trees by the 6th of November. 

 Visiting this gulch November i8th, I found my Maple dis- 

 playing a wealth of soft golden color that I have rarely seen 

 equaled. 



