May 4, 1892.] 



Garden and Forest. 



205 



GARDEN AND FOREST. 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO. 



Office: Tribune Building, New York. 



Conducted by Professor C S. Sargent. 



entered as SKCOND-CLA.'i.S MATTER AT THR POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y. 



NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MAY 4, 1892. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE, 



Editorial Articles :— Formal Gardening 205 



T lie Love of Natiiic— 1 1 =05 



Notes o£ a Summer Journov in Europe.— XIV J. G. Jack. 206 



Internal Decay of Forest-trees T. H. Hoskins, M.D. 207 



Coontie and Conte E. y. Hill. 208 



Foreign Correspondence :— London Letter W. Watson. 208 



Plant Notes :— The Narcissus. (Witli figures.) J.N. Gerard. 209 



Cultural Department:— A Selection o£ Strawberries E. P. Pmvcll. 210 



Flower-garden Notes E. O. Orpet. 211 



Flowers in Bloom J. N. Gerard. 212 



Campanula pyramidalis, Alstrcemeria pelegrina, var. alba, Medinilla 



magnifica. Primula rosea T. D. Hatjield. 213 



TiiF. Forest :— The Forests of California IVm. Alvord. 213 



Correspondence :— German Forests as I Remember Them.. fK;V//^/w/«i; Seliger. 214 



Hardy Plants at Short Hills G. 215 



Sabal Palmetto Abbot Kinney. 215 



Araucaria e.xcclsa J. W. K. 215 



Notes 215 



Illustrations :— Narcissus cyclamineus, Fig. 32 209 



Narcissus ma.ximus, Fig. 33: Narcissus minimus. Fig. 34 210 



Narcissus cernuus pulcher. Fig. 35 ; Narcissus monophyllus, Fig. 36. . . . 211 



Narcissus incomparabilis. Fig. 37 ; Narcissus triandrus. Fig. 38 212 



Narcissus rupicola, Fig. 39 213 



Formal Gardening. 



THE little book entitled Tlie Formal Gar den in England, 

 which was reviewed a few weeks ago in this journal, 

 is very interesting- in its descriptions of some old English 

 places, and it is not seriously injured because in the 

 warmth of their enthusiasm the young authors are moved 

 to commend some samples of alleged garden-art which 

 would be ridiculous if they were not dignified and almost 

 hallowed by historical associations. It is plain that the au- 

 thors have no clear idea of what the masters of that art 

 mean when they speak of the " natural style of gardening," 

 and yet the book appears to e.xist not so much to com- 

 mend the formal gardens of Old England as to condemn 

 another kind of gardening, to which the authors refer un- 

 der the name of landscape-gardening. We call attention 

 to this, however, not to take sides in any controversy, but 

 simply to repeat what has often been said in this journal, 

 that there is no reason why one kind of gardening only 

 should be used; indeed, there is every reason why different 

 styles should be employed for different purposes in differ- 

 ent places. More than this, the fact that one has an intel- 

 ligent appreciation of true landscape-art does not argue any 

 inability to enjoy the best examples of formal gardening. 

 Indeed, it is probable that one with the catholic sympathies 

 and free imagination which enable him to take pleasure 

 in beautiful gardens of every kind has a more genuine and 

 consistent delight in formal gardens than the professed 

 champions of this style exclusively. 



The first essential of a formal garden is, of course, its 

 formality, or perhaps we should say its mathematical sym- 

 metry both in surface and outline. In connection with this 

 we are accustomed to see conspicuous brightness of color, 

 but the very best examples of formal garden art may exist 

 without brilliant colors, and, indeed, formal flower-beds 

 where carpet patterns are reproduced in emphatic colors 

 are so often used in places where rigidity of outline and 

 vividness of color are conspicuously out of place that they 



have done very much to prejudice persons against the very 

 name of formal gardening. It has been said that the gar- 

 den is an essential part of the dwelling, and that therefore 

 it must have the same kind of balance, regularity and 

 finish, or, in other words, that the immediate surroundings 

 of the house must have architectural treatment, and the 

 methods which have governed the design of the house 

 should be carried out to the surrounding grounds. It is not 

 true that this is the only way to make a consistent house- 

 scene that is to bring the house into perfect harmony with 

 the grounds, but it is one way, and a very good one in 

 many cases, to produce a homogeneous result. In more 

 spacious areas, like public parks, there are places where, 

 in connection with terraces, promenades and similar con- 

 structions, the planning and the planting can have this 

 same formal and architectural character with the very best 

 effect. 



It must be remembered, however, that quite as much 

 skill of one kind is demanded to make this formal treat- 

 ment effective as there is of another kind of taste and 

 training to produce a good landscape-picture. It is true 

 that many efforts to create or improve scenery in this coun- 

 try and in Europe are dismal failures ; it is equally true 

 that examples of the best formal planting are even more 

 rare than those of the most effective natural planting. 

 When it is decided that formal treatment is the best for 

 any particular place we are at once brought to face the 

 real problem in the situation. Creative faculty is needed 

 here as truly as it is in any of the other arts of design, and 

 where shall we look for the artist who has been trained for 

 such work 1 Very plainly the men who are skilled at lay- 

 ing ribbon-lines and constructing portraits of eminent 

 citizens out of Echeverias are not to be trusted. Orna- 

 mentation of this latter kind is too crude to be classed 

 as art. And yet the student will find little that is better 

 than puerilities of this sort. We stand in need of both 

 precept and example, and it is to be hoped that the next 

 work on formal gardens will attempt to lay down some 

 of the canons which should control their design and con- 

 struction. 



For success in the best architectural gardening no man 

 can have a sense of color too refined or too clear an idea 

 of the beauty of form and proportion, and yet it should be 

 remembered that, at its best, garden-art of this kind appeals 

 to the sense of beauty alone, and while it may give the 

 keenest pleasure we should remember that theix is a higher 

 art which addresses itself to the nobler part of man's na- 

 ture. A natural landscape or a genuine work of land- 

 scape-art possesses something more than beauty, some- 

 thing beyond perfection of form and color. Its essential 

 charm is in the inner meaning to which it gives expression 

 so as to move the feehno-s and touch the heart. 



The Love of Nature. — II. 



ONE frequently hears persons who are planning for 

 their summer in the country declare that this year 

 they want to "go somewhere else and see something new," 

 not because they have any special fault to find with their 

 former place of residence, but because they are tired of the 

 especial phase of natural beauty which it offers them. The 

 mountains one year and the sea the next, or at least a 

 change from one mountain or sea-side place to another, is 

 the rule of summer life with many people. They would 

 be surprised to be told that it is the rule because they care 

 little for nature. If they really loved nature in the full 

 sense of the term, they could exercise their admiration 

 within very narrow limits, and find in the same scenes 

 perpetual stimulants to eesthetic curiosity. And they \vould 

 be likely to content themselves within such limits because 

 a special love for individual local beauties would result 

 from long acquaintance with them. 



In Mrs. Robbins' Rescue of an Old Place she rightly says 

 that one great benefit which springs from the possession of 



