January 30, 1889.] 



Garden and Forest. 



51 



It is highly probable that we have similar diseases of 

 Huckleberries and Blueberries in this country, and Woro- 

 nin suggests that it is possible that the disease of the Cran- 

 berry, Vaccinmm macrocarpon, in the United States, may 

 also be due to the growth of some species of Sderotinia, to 

 which genus he refers the fungi described in his memoir. 

 He also mentions similar sclerotioid forms on Cherries, 

 berries of the European Mountain Ash, and a few other 

 plants, and considers that it is probable that the common 

 mould of Plums, Oidium frucligenuni, is connected with 

 some hitherto unknown sclerotium. W. G. Farlow. 



Japanese Gardening. — I. 



ONE of the best accounts of the aims and results of Japanese 

 landscape gardening that have ever been written in 

 English was published in a periodical which seldom comes 

 beneath the eyes of the general public — the Transactions of the 

 Asiatic Society of Japan. Therefore, although it bears date 

 as long ago as November, 1886, a brief summary of it may 

 not be unacceptable. It is itself, however, so condensed, as 

 well as so full of varied and interesting information, that I 

 can do no more than select passages here and there, with the 

 confession that almost all those omitted are of equal value. 



"Landscape gardening as practiced in Europe," says the 

 author — Mr. J. Conder, a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Brit- 

 ish Architects — "is subjected to greater formalities of design 

 than in Japan, and in theory it harmonizes less closely with the 

 features and disposition of I'eal scenery. It is more of a 

 science and less of a fine art." Even in our most naturally 

 designed gardens a certain element of formality is prescribed 

 by the canons of European taste. "Houses being objects ex- 

 hibiting "formal and geometrical lines, it is maintained that 

 such lines should be repeated to a greater or less extent in the 

 adjoining garden, in order to produce an approximate combi- 

 nation." And this feeling expresses itself in details as well as 

 in the general scheme ; " trees and shrubs are often selected 

 for their uniformity in size and shape, and grouped in equi- 

 distant rows and phalanxes," while it is unnecessary to refer 

 to our use of formal flower beds and minor features. The 

 Japanese have attained to no such skill in the cultivation of 

 exotic plants as has been attained in Europe, " but the absence 

 of such artificial refinements is considerably to the advan- 

 tage " of landscape gardening as a fine art. "Constructing 

 only with the materials native to the country, the designer is 

 able to follow consistently the arrangements suggested by 

 nature, the landscapes he seeks to reproduce being in all cases 

 identical with the natural types that are famihar to him." As 

 regards scale, the gardens of Japan are far less imposing than 

 those of Europe. " There is little here to compare in gardens 

 to our spacious English parks. . . . The Japanese artist con- 

 fines himself to narrower and humbler lines, but it must be 

 recognized that within his limits he produces results unri- 

 valed in natural beauty and loveliness. . . . Unnatural regu- 

 larity is generally most studiously avoided, but the variety 

 obtained is the result of well considered arrangement, and by 

 no means that of hazard." 



The theory of the art, like so many other intellectual things, 

 was derived from China, but greater simplicity prevails in 

 Japanese developmnets. "It is usual to divide garden com- 

 positions into three styles expressive of their general charac- 

 ter, . . . the Finished, or labored style. Intermediate style, and 

 Free, or bold style. In practice these styles are not sharply 

 divided, but a garden, according to its rough or elaborated 

 character, may generally be classed under one of the three 

 heads, . . . and it is an important law that whatever character 

 is decided upon should be consistently followed throughout." 

 The Finished, or elaborate style, is the one least commonly 

 employed. " There are other guiding principles, . . . such as 

 suitability in character to the pursuits and rank of the proprie- 

 tor . . . and the expression . . . of some predominating senti- 

 ment. The garden is regarded as a poem or picture intended 

 to arouse particular associations and inspire some worthy senti- 

 ment. ... If, for instance, a garden be designed for a poet or 

 philosopher, its general disposition should express dignified 

 seclusion, solitude, virtue, or self-abnegation," It is difficult 

 for us, with our less strongly poetic temperament, to sympa- 

 thize with such aims or even to see how they can be effectually 

 carried out or clearly understood. But to the Japanese the 

 thing seems clear and simple enough, and with the following 

 paragraph even Europeans should be in heartiest accord : 

 Gardens, it is said, should be undertaken from a genuine love 

 of nature "and with a desire of enjoying the beauties of natural 



scenery, and should be so arranged that the four seasons may 

 each contribute in turn to their artistic excellence. They should 

 be pleasant retreats for hours of leisure and idleness ; and 

 as one writer has poetically expressed it, 'places to stroll in 

 when aroused from sleep." ... In western designs the idea 

 of displaying wealth and luxury is paramount, and our gar- 

 dens are principally regarded as resorts for the pleasures of 

 society and fashion ; whereas in Japanese gardens the prevail- 

 ing intention is rather that of a place exempt from public 

 haunts and fitted for unrestrained ease and meditation." Such 

 ideas as The Happiness of Retirement, Modesty, Peace, Gen- 

 tleness and Chastity, Connubial Felicity and Old Age, the 

 Japanese strive to express in their arrangements. In part 

 their success depends upon the emotions naturally excited by 

 scenery of various kinds, but in part upon traditional historical 

 or philosophical meanings which are associated with many of 

 the arrangements adopted, and, of course, cannot be under- 

 stood by foreigners. 



Passing from theory to practice, Mr. Conder notes that the 

 first step in the artist's education is to visit good scenery and 

 make notes and sketches. These, of course, " cannot be 

 closely followed in preparing designs, but will supply sug- 

 gestions and lead to originality in composition. . . . Before 

 proceeding to execute a landscape-garden a careful survey of 

 the site and its surroundings is necessary. If it be a bare and 

 level area, the designer is free to arrange his composition in 

 any way that he may please according to its size, bearing in 

 mind the locality and surroundings, and the character of gar- 

 den suited to the particular proprietor. But if it be a site pos- 

 sessing natural facilities, such as fine trees in prominent posi- 

 tions, hillocks, a stream, or even a natural cascade, the artist 

 will consider how such natural features can be utilized and 

 worked into his design. ... A neighboring view may be 

 cleverly taken advantage of, and the garden so arranged as to 

 harmonize with it, the distant landscape when seen from the 

 rooms of the house actually appearing to form part of the 

 whole composition. Aspect must be considered as well as 

 prospect. . . . Great care is recommended in considering the 

 scale of a garden. If a small garden be arranged on the 

 same plan as one of a larger model, it will look weak and un- 

 satisfactory ; and ... if a large garden be designed upon the 

 lines of a smaller model, it will lose all its grandeur. . . . 

 For example, the arrangement of two or three large rocks in 

 front of a clump of fine trees in a large garden will look more 

 imposing than a greater number of smaller ones. Multiplicity 

 of detail within small compass is, however, necessary in a lit- 

 tle garden, in order to give it interest and add to its apparent 

 scale. ... A garden is, above all, a place for summer enjoy- 

 inent, . . . and must therefore, by all means, look cool and 

 refreshing ; but such coolness is not produced by planting 

 trees too densely and crowding the area with many objects. A 

 few masses of foliage, judiciously arranged in the background, 

 may be made to impart a fresh and cool effect. The presence 

 or suggestion of water is necessary; but it must be remem- 

 bered that clean, shallow and running water looks much 

 cooler than deep, stagnant or weed-covered pools. The total 

 absence of litter and untidiness, added to the presence of 

 water, produces the most refreshing effect. A garden, there- 

 fore, should have large, open spaces, cleanly kept, with 

 stretches of white sand or gravel in the foreground and moss 

 in the background. ... In large compositions the distribu- 

 tion of areas and contours demands the first attention. In 

 some cases advantage will be taken of natural elevations and 

 depressions in the ground. Sometimes a site may possess a 

 stream, cascade or natural inlet of water. Supposing no such 

 facilities exist, the aspect and prospect which the plot possesses 

 will be carefully studied, and the best positions for hill and 

 dale, lake and waterfall, determined. It often happens that 

 water cannot be obtained ; and if the character of the scene to 

 be represented requires it, it is not unusual to arrange the hills, 

 rocks and plants in such a way that the idea of water may be 

 suggested. Sometimes a stretch of bare, beaten, brown earth 

 or of well-raked sand will indicate a lake or sea, and a me- 

 andering, pebbly bed a river, the surrounding rocks, plants 

 and piles further assisting the delusion." No rules strictly 

 direct such arrangements, yet several general guiding prin- 

 ciples are respected, for a Japanese garden is " more 

 than an artistic disposition of trees, flowers, shrubs and 

 stones. It is a real picture composition, intended to rep- 

 resent some imaginary landscape. . . . The principle of 

 suggesting to the imagination the idea of space by means of 

 blanks and obliterations, so common in Japanese pictorial art, 

 is followed also in horticultural compositions. A hill, it is 

 said, should never be constructed touching an outer fence or 

 boundary; a space behind it, however small, produces an 



