May 22, 1895.] 



Garden and Forest. 



203 



allowable. It is most important, however, to remember that 

 these buildings, like the roads and paths, are only subsidiary, 

 though necessary, adjuncts to the park scenery ; and, conse- 

 quently, that they should not be placed or designed so as to 

 be obtrusive or conspicuous. Large public buildings, such as 

 museums, concert halls, schools and the like, may best find 

 place in town streets or squares. They may wisely, perhaps, 

 be placed near, or facing upon, the park, but to place them 

 within it is simply to defeat the highest service which the park 

 can render the community. Large and conspicuous build- 

 ings, as well as statues and other monuments, are completely 

 subversive of that rural quality of landscape the presentation 

 and preservation of which is the one justifying purpose of tlie 

 undertaking by a town of a large public park. 



That the man who thinks out the general plan of a park 

 ought to have daily supervision of the working out of that plan 

 is undoubtedly theoretically true. It is impossible to represent 

 in drawings all the nice details of good work in grading and 

 planting, and yet no work is more dependent for its effect 

 upon finishing touches. 



On the other hand, however desirable the constant oversight 

 of the landscape-architect may be, it is impracticable under 

 modern conditions. The education of a designer of parks 

 consumes so much time, strength and money that no existing 

 American park commission, unless it be that of New York, 

 can as yet afford to engage the whole time of a competent 

 man. Consequently it is the usual practice for the landscape- 

 architect to present his design in the form of a drawing or 

 drawings, and to supplement the drawings by occasional visits 

 for conference with those in immediate charge, by descriptive 

 reports and by correspondence. 



The prime requisite in the resident superintendent of park 

 work is efficiency. Naturally enough, most of the superin- 

 tendents of parks in the United States have been trained 

 either as horticulturists or as engineers, but it is not necessary, 

 or even desirable, that such should be the case. Probably the 

 best results will be achieved by men who, possessing the or- 

 ganizing faculty and a realizing sense of the importance of 

 their work, shall, with the assistance of an engineer and a 

 plantsman, labor to execute faithfully designs which they 

 thoroughly understand and approve. 



Most men of specialized trauiing, such as architects, en- 

 gineers and all grades of horticulturists, stand in need of an 

 awakening before they are really competent to have to do with 

 park work. Each has to learn that his building, his bridge or 

 road, his tree or flower, which he has been accustomed to 

 think of as an end in itself, is, in the park, only a means 

 auxiliary and contributive to a larger end — namely, the gen- 

 eral landscape. It is hard for most gardeners to forego the 

 use of plants which, however lovely or marvelous they may 

 be as individuals, are only blots in landscape. It is hard for 

 most engineers to conform their ideas of straightforward con- 

 struction to a due regard for appearance and the preservation 

 of the charm of scenery. Neatness of finish in slopes adjacent 

 to roads is not sufficient ; such slopes must be contrived so as 

 to avoid formality and all likeness to railroad cuts or fills. 

 Road lines and grades which may be practicable in the ordi- 

 nary world are to be avoided in the park, because the pleasure 

 of the visitor is the one object held in view. Roads, walls, 

 bridges, water-supply, drainage and grading — such of these 

 works as may be necessary are to be executed with all techni- 

 cal skill, as in the outer world ; but the engineer in charge 

 should be a man who will see to it that the work is done with 

 constant regard to the object of a park as distinguished from 

 the object of a city street or square or railroad. 



Similarly, the park planter should be a man capable of hold- 

 ing fast to the idea that the value of a rural park consists in 

 landscape, and not in gardening or the exhibition of specimen 

 plants. Guided by this idea, he will avoid such absurd traces 

 of formality as the too common practice of planting trees in 

 rows beside curving driveways. In devismg necessary plan- 

 tations he will give preference to native plants, without avoid- 

 ing exotics of kinds which blend easily. Thus, where a 

 Banana would be out of place, the equally foreign Barberry, 

 Privet or Buckthorn may be admissible and useful. Influ- 

 enced by the same principle, he will confine flower-garden- 

 mg to the secluded garden for whicli space may, perhaps, be 

 found in some corner of the park. 



Nothing, at first thought, would appear easier than to ar- 

 range a few trees in a beautiful group, yet experience has 

 taught us that the generality of persons, in their first essays in 

 ornamental planting, almost invariably crowd their trees into a 

 close, regular clump, which has a most formal and unsightly 

 appearance, as different as possible from the ea.sy-flowing 

 outline of a natural group. — Downing. 



When is Rhus toxicodendron Most Active? 



I BELIEVE it is generally assumed that the most active 

 part of Poison Ivy is the leaves ; at least, they are the 

 only officinal part of the pharmacopceia, and it is from them 

 that Professor Maisch obtained the volatile toxicodendric 

 acid, supposed to be the poisonous principle. One would, 

 therefore, hardly expect cases of poisoning in the early 

 spring or before the leaves are w-ell developed. 



The plant abounds on this island. On April 29th a young 

 soldier of this garrison presented himself with well-marked 

 symptoms of dermatitis venenata affecting the arms and 

 face ; I could hardly believe that at this early date poison- 

 ing by Rhus was possible, and, therefore, inquired into the 

 circumstances. I found that the patient had, with several 

 comrades, been hunting snakes under rocks covered witli 

 the Rhus-vine, and that two of these comrades were simi- 

 larly affected. Two or three days later a little girl who had 

 been playing in the vicinity of the same rocks developed 

 the usual characteristic eczematous rash, and doubt was no 

 longer possible. At the time these cases were contracted 

 the vine was (and is mostly still at this writing) perfectly 

 hare ; no leaf was visible and the buds were only just 

 beginning to swell. We are, therefore, forced to the conclu- 

 sion that the poisoning was produced by the stem — that is, 

 by the active principle, presumably, contained in the young 

 sap exuding or evaporating through the bark. The little 

 girl mentioned above was much exposed to the Rhus during 

 the whole of last summer without ever being poisoned. 

 Does it follow, therefore, that it is more active in the early 

 spring than later in the season, and that the poisonous 

 principle is, at least, as much in the stem as in the leaves .'' 

 As this question can only be solved by the comparison of 

 many experiences, I submit it to the readers of G.\rden 

 AND Forest in the hope that they will make a record of 

 their own observations in its columns. t rr 



Davids Island, N. Y. ' ■ Havard. 



In the Pines. 



FOR more than a quarter of a century vegetation has 

 never been so backward in the Pines as it is this year. 

 The birds, too, were very tardy in coming, but they are all 

 here now in full force. Both the Baltimore and Orchard 

 orioles are specially abundant. We almost despaired of 

 our catbirds, for not until the 6th of May did they make 

 their appearance in our neighborhood. The thrushes, 

 vireos, wrens, orioles and many others were all here before 

 them, which is very unusual. The winter birds, too, were 

 slow to depart. The whitethroats were still with us the 

 first week in May, and I savi^ now and then a junco linger- 

 ing with them after the main body of these birds had gone. 



On the loth of May Apple-trees were still in bloom, but 

 everything is now pushing so rapidly that by the first of 

 June no marked difference in the season of our fruits and 

 flowers will be noticed. 



The Pines are beautiful now with Andromedas and the 

 various Huckleberries, and the Sassafras is in full flower 

 and giving a delicious spicy fragrance, together with the 

 Bayberry, which is crowded with fertile catkins, and the 

 fragrant new leaves are rising above a setting of old ones, 

 which seem loath to give up their hold to this new genera- 

 tion. I see no appreciable effects of the severe winter on 

 any of the evergreen plants, shrubs or trees in the Pines. 

 This, no doubt, is largely due to the protective snow which 

 was unusually deep during the coldest weather. The 

 foliage of our charming Pyxie and the Arbutus is both 

 more luxuriant and fresher looking than usual; they are 

 out of flower, but the little Wind Anemone is still in bloom, 

 and also numerous Violets. The Wild Strawberry almost 

 carpets the ground with white in some places. 



Large clumps of Euphorbia Ipecacuanha; are showy in 

 white sandy places, with dense masses of purple foliage 

 and greenish flowers. The wild Columbine is swaying its 

 graceful flowers on its slender stems, and the wild Lupine, 

 with its straight, upright spikes of blue flowers, is in strik- 

 insr contrast. 



