76 



Garden and Forest. 



[April h, 1888. 



this is to get the highest degree of pleasure from our plant- 

 ing. Nor can it be objected that when the picture is once 

 arranged, then our work and pleasure are over, unless it 

 can be perpetually tampered with and disarranged. To 

 the artist the mutability of nature is often a heavy cross, 

 since he knows that when his result is considered finished 

 he must leave it to others who will permit it (even if they 

 do not aid it) to transform itself into something very differ- 

 ent. But to the proprietor or gardener who is trying on a 

 modest scale to emulate the artist, this very mutability in- 

 sures the permanence of his pleasure. Day by day and 

 year by year he can watch the development of his picture, 

 guard against Nature's disfiguring retouches, welcome her 

 happy accidents, and carefully correct and retouch his re- 

 sult himself while preserving its general integrity. And 

 this work will surely be pleasant, for to the scientific satis- 

 faction of the cultivator will be added that purest of all 

 delights — the consciousness of being a creator in the field 

 of art. I\l. G. van Rensselaer. 



Which is the Better Way .' 



ONE difference between landscape painting and land- 

 scape gardening is that the trees and shrubs in the 

 picture of the painter do not grow, while those in the gar- 

 dener's picture do grow. Hence the former is free to show 

 his group fully grown at once, while the latter must wait 

 for years until his little specimens attain the desired size. 



Two methods of planting are practiced. One attempts 

 to produce present effect ; the other aims at ultimate results. 



Planting material is usually small. This is especially the 

 case where novelties are used. Hence a design of planting, 

 no matter how carefully studied for future effect, may give 

 meagre results at first — the grounds will appear not fully 

 furnished, and the impatience of the owner will compel 

 the landscape gardener to plant greater quantities than one 

 educated to foresee future effects would deem advisable. 



On the other hand, if the design is made to produce im- 

 mediate results, the growth of the planting will in time 

 cause a surfeit, and finally the grounds will appear to be as 

 much overplanted as they would at first seem to be unfin- 

 ished on the other plan, and with this difference, the over- 

 planted grounds will not improve, but the surfeit will in- 

 crease. Individual specimens will encroach upon and 

 destroy each other. Here the "survival of the fittest " — 

 that is, the fittest for beauty and interest — will not always 

 occur. The more delicate, and, oftentimes, the more beau- 

 tiful, will be crowded out by the coarser growing kinds. As 

 a reply to this objection, how many times have I heard it 

 said, "Oh, well, we will ' thin out' as the specimens grow. " 

 But the trouble is, the owners of overplanted ground do not 

 " thin out," but everything is left to grow together " until 

 the harvest, " and that harvest generally is a rooting out of 

 all and a more judicious planting made to take the place of 

 the old. Sometimes it happens that the harvest is deferred 

 initil the harvester appears in the person of a new cs^'ner. 



I have in mind a case of overplanting which I was called 

 upon to remedy some ten or twelve years ago. The former 

 owner had died, and the property came into the hands of 

 a new proprietor, who, soon after the purchase, sent for help. 

 He said that he felt there was something the matter with the 

 grounds, but he did not kno^v exactly what. I suggested 

 suffocation. "That's it," he replied; " see if you can get 

 rid of it. " And thereupon some four hundred trees and 

 shrubs came out at once. In one or two instances it was 

 absolutely necessary to remove more than would have been 

 advisable had morejudicious methods of planting prevailed 

 at first. Masses of evergreens entirely filled up spaces 

 where glades and vistas ought to have appeared. These 

 would have been secured if two or three trees only4iad 

 been originally planted, and even now the removal of a 

 part of these masses would leave the needed opening ; but 

 the trees were so thickly grown together, that taking out a 

 part would have exposed dead branches all up the sides 

 of the trees left standing, and therefore the removal of 

 every one was necessary. 



From what has been said it appears that both methods 

 of planting have their faults. That by which present effects 

 are secured eventually produces a surfeit, which will not 

 improve as time goes on. The design made to secure future 

 results, at first gives an appearance of bareness, which 

 gradually disappears as the design comes in full develop- 

 ment. 



In ni)' reference to overplanted grounds, I have stated 

 facts as they ordinarily occur. There are exceptions. 

 Grounds can be and are planted so as to give pleasing re- 

 sults at first, and then are so carefully watched, and so 

 promptly relieved of any undue crowding, that all continues 

 satisfactory. Nevertheless, a long experience has con- 

 vinced me that with a carefully studied design the most 

 satisfactory results will follow when only those trees and 

 shrubs are used which are intended to remain. The reason 

 is obvious. In the first case the intention of the design be- 

 comes indefinite and wavering, as individual members of 

 the overcrowded planting are removed, one after another, 

 to make room for those which are to remain ; in the second 

 case, the result is definite, because the intention of the de- 

 sign continues the same. There is no change or fluctuation 

 of purpose. The trees and shrubs when planted were 

 given room for full development, and so to take upon them- 

 selves all the beauty and gracefulness of form with which 

 nature has endowed them. 



There is one way of securing both present and future 

 effects, and that is the planting of large trees; but this is 

 costl)'', somewhat doubtful in its results, and it can be of 

 but limited use. B. S. Olmstead. 



[There are cultural advantages in planting trees and 

 shrubs so closely that the)^ will protect each other when 

 small, and if the plants that are to remain were designated 

 in the original plan and those used for supplementary 

 purposes could be removed at the proper time, close plant- 

 ing woidd be the best practice. But few men have the 

 strength and persistence of purpose to root out thrifty trees 

 and shrubs as they begin to crowd, especially those which 

 they have planted themselves. Besides this, frequent 

 changes«of owners help to defeat the best intentions in this 

 matter. Therefore it is safer, as a, rule, to plant only such 

 trees and shrubs as are meant to have a permanent place 

 in a design. It should be added that " novelties " should 

 never be used to produce effects which require time for 

 their development. Who knows how strange plants will 

 thrive in a soil and climate to "which they are not accus- 

 tomed.? — Ed.] 



Cemeteries. 



A CEMETERY is a space set apart from all other uses for 

 the particular purpose of burying the dead and 

 of erecting memorials to them. Its purpose, being so dis- 

 tinctive, should not be confused with that of any sort of 

 public pleasure-ground. 



This may seem too ob-\'ious to need pointing out, but the 

 fact appears to be that almost every important cemetery 

 becomes noted in a way which shows clearly that its real 

 purpose has become confused with that of displaying 

 whateCan be accomplished by certain decorative arts. 

 Such a display is out of place and in bad taste. Obviously 

 the rule should be that nothing which is decorative, rare, 

 curious, historical or amusing should be allowed in a 

 cemetery for its own sake, but only as it may aid the true 

 purposes of a burial-ground. Too often, the aim appears 

 to be to afford gratification to those who come to the 

 cemetery in the same frame of mind in which they might 

 bfe expected to go to a fine public garden ; that is, on the 

 alert to admire " Nature's bright productions," "triumphs 

 of horticultural art," and things "rare and curious." They 

 try to ignore the graves as unfortunate and inharmonious 

 objects^ but gaze with pride, if they are natives, or with 

 envy if they are from another town, at the largest and 

 most costly monuments, just as they would at a new 

 court-house or triumphal arch. They are attracted as 

 by a show. The cast-iron fences and most of the other 



