January 13, 1892.] 



Garden and Forest. 



13 



GARDEN AND FOREST. 



rUBLlSHED WEEKLY liY 



THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO. 



OkI'ICE : Tkiiiune Uuildinc, New York. 



Conducted by Professor C. S. SAticENT. 



ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. V. 



NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 1892. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Editorial Articles ;— Ready-made Plans for Plnnliiii; 13 



The Operations of the Boston Board of Survey 14 



Notes of a Summer Journey in Europe. — IV J. G. yack, 14 



An Evergreen Shrubbery l^Irs. Danskc Dandritii^e. 15 



Winter Rambles in the Pine-barrens A", y. /////. 16 



New or LrriLE-KNOwN Plants: — Chrvsantheniuni, Waller Huiincwell. (With 



figure.) '. T.D. Hatjidd. iS 



Cultural Drpartment : — Iron-clad Roots T, H, Hosh'ns, M.D. 16 



Aiithracnose in IJean-secds Pi-ofcssor Byron D. Halsted. 18 



The Carnation Rust. (With figures.) 18 



Fuchsia, Dunrobin Bedder Vince7ii Cook. 19 



Hybrid Violas, Primula floribunda J. N. G. 19 



Giilanthus nivalis, var. Octobrensis Max LeichtUn. ig 



The Forest:— Management of the National Foi-est-rcscrvations. .B. E. Fet-now. 20 



Correspondence: — Do Varieties Ruu Out? IVilliam F. Bassett. 21 



Winter Vegetation on Florida Sand-dunes B. F. Leeds. 21 



Recent Publications 22 



Notes 24 



Illustrations :— Chrysanthemum, Waller Hunnevvell, Fig. 4 17 



Uromyces caryophyllinus ; pustules on the stem and leaves of a Carna- 

 tion, Fig. 5 18 



Uromyces caryophyllinus : cross-section of pustule, Fig. 6 ig 



Ready-made Plans for Planting. 



NOT long- ago we received the following inquiry : "I 

 have a small lot containing about three-fourths of an 

 acre of land on which I propose to build a modest house. 

 The shape of the plot is nearly rectangular, and it is twice 

 as long as it is broad. Can you refer me to any prepared 

 plan for laying out such a piece of ground which would 

 probably be suitable for my purpose.?" It is not to be as- 

 sumed from this that our correspondent iinagines that 

 read3r-made plans, in assorted sizes, are Icept in stock, and 

 that these can be made to fit any lot of a given size or 

 shape like a ready-made garment, and yet it is plain that 

 Ire does not clearly understand what kind of problems are 

 to be met and solved in every case where a dwelling-house 

 and its surroundings are successfully adjusted and ar- 

 ranged. We do not know whether this land is in a town 

 or in the open country ; whether it is level or on a hill side. 

 It may be desirable to have a portion of it serve simply as 

 the foreground to some pleasing landscape. Perhaps the 

 planting should be arranged to frame in soine distant pros- 

 pect or to shut out from view some disagreeable object, 

 and we do not even know how the land lies in relation to 

 the points of the compass, not to speak of the direction 

 and position of any outside objects, attractive or repulsive, 

 which must be considered in the design. We knovi' noth- 

 ing of the size or the character of the house, and nothing of 

 the taste or needs of the family who propose to occupy it, 

 and without knowledge of these and a hundred other 

 essential considerations it is not possible to give advice 

 which will be of real value in any particular case. 



We are aware that planting-plans are sometimes fur- 

 nished by persons who have nothing to guide thein but 

 an outline map of the ground. We have known architects 

 to furnish plans for a building before they had ever seen 

 the land on which it was to stand. In a recent instance 

 the plans for a villa of some pretensions were prepared 

 under the impression that the main entrance faced the 

 east, when in reality it looked toward the south-west, 



so that every provision which had been made with refer- 

 ence to sun.shine and shadow was hopelessly wrung. Few 

 architects, however, would attempt any serious work 

 with so little knowledge of the lay of the land on which it 

 was intended to build ; andjust here it m.iy again be insisted 

 on that the plan of the grounds should depend largely on the 

 plan of the hou.sc, and, for reasons which have often 

 been urged in these columns, the two should be designed 

 together, or, rather, should form one consistent scheme. 

 This means that the approaches, entrances and the various 

 outlooks from the house should feel the influence of their 

 surroundings, which should not only deterinine where the 

 house should be placed, but how its internal structure 

 should be arranged. It is plain, too, that the planting 

 must, in a large measure, be controlled by the style 

 of the house. Even a detail, like the planting about the 

 house-foundation, should be modified as the building is 

 low or lofty, modest or stately. A varied collection of 

 vines or shrubs of distinct or diverse forms, that would 

 be appropriate along the base-wall of an irregular build- 

 ing, would be out of place along the straight lines of a 

 plainer structure. Convenience and comfort, as well as 

 good taste, demand a perfect correlation between the house 

 and its surroundings. 



It is not to be inferred from this that the volumes of plans 

 which have been published are all useless. A complete plan 

 may be most instructive if accompanied by a full explana- 

 tion of the reasons which guided the artist in each step of 

 his design, and any plan is valuable so far as it can be 

 made to illustrate sound principles. It is true that many 

 published designs are misleading rather than instructive, 

 because the laws they aim to enforce are vicious, and the 

 details insisted on are inartistic and petty ; but this is the 

 fault of their authors. They can be made helpful, but no 

 one would ever think of adopting one of them entire for 

 practical use as a working plan. If a plan is good for one 

 place, it is for that very reason unfit for any other, for if it 

 is the best possible for one set of conditions it will be un- 

 suited to another set, and no two places are identical in all 

 their features and relations. Even if it were desirable to 

 reproduce or imitate in the surroundings of one house the 

 effects which have been found pleasing in another, the re- 

 sult would certainly be unsatisfactory. We may repeat with- 

 out end a fashionable pattern in millinery, but second- 

 hand ideas in gardening are more difficult of adoption. 

 Every shrub or tree has an individual quality, and they re- 

 fuse to duplicate themselves precisely even in the same 

 soil and exposure, so that it is easier to produce something 

 characteristic and appropriate in any given position than 

 it is to struggle after the reproduction of any landscape- 

 picture, and, in the end, only succeed in making a parody 

 of the original. 



After all, the minutiee of planting, especially of such 

 planting as is termed decorative, is a matter of subordi- 

 nate importance. It is the fundamental design, the way in 

 which the house and grounds and approaches are framed 

 together, and not its ornamental appendages, which de- 

 termines the essential character of the place. It is the 

 adjustment of these controlling elements which demands 

 special study in every individual example ; and although, 

 as has been said, ready-made plans may offer suggestions 

 and exemplify principles, every successful treatinent of a 

 house and its surroundings is original and, in a measure, 

 a new creation. It is our belief that the production of such 

 a design is an object worthy of the study of a trained and 

 conscientious artist. Without the thought of a competent 

 designer in a unified plan of dwelling and grounds, the 

 varied wants of a modern household will not be ade- 

 quately provided for nor its convenience assured. To 

 secure these advantages in full measure is surely worth all 

 the special study which each individual instance can 

 demand, and this is especially true since it is possible, in 

 addition to making the most of every opportunity in the 

 direction of health and comfort, to make the place 

 perennially attractive to the eye of cultivated taste. 



