132 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 476. 



not be that he cannot find plants enough for his early 

 garden, but that he has no room for even a small portion 

 of those which he thinks he cannot get along without. 



It is a misfortune that the effort to induce the authorities 

 of California to recede the Yosemite Valley to the United 

 States has failed. A bill drawn for that purpose was ap- 

 proved by the proper committee of the California Legislature, 

 but was lost when it came before the House. Perhaps some of 

 the criticisms upon the management of this wonderful valley 

 have been too severe, but its sublimity as a whole, with the 

 delicacy and beauty of its details, belongs of right to the peo- 

 ple of the Union, and they do well to be critical when men 

 without taste or training assume to improve such scenery. 

 It is plain that the authorities of California have never 

 realized the fact that the poetic charm of this place has an 

 untold value and that there should be a complete and con- 

 sistent policy of administration devised by artists in land- 

 scape design — that is, by men who not only " have good 

 taste," as the saying is, but who have studied prob- 

 lems of this kind, who comprehend what are the 

 essential features which it is necessary to preserve, 

 and who know how to treat the controlling elements of 

 the scenery. It is no wonder that the people of the coun- 

 try read with horror that undisciplined men were turned 

 loose at times with axes to clear away the underbrush and 

 chop down trees, or that portions of the land had been 

 leased out to hay contractors and hedged off by barbed 

 wire fences. As we have said before, this scenery, unique 

 for its combination of grandeur and beauty, belongs to the 

 people, and it ought to be controlled by the Government, 

 which represents all the people. There has been a special 

 reason for this since the United States has established a 

 forest reservation sweeping all about the valley and leav- 

 ing this state property completely isolated. There is still 

 more reason now since the establishment of so many more 

 reservations by President Cleveland, for the increased 

 importance of the reservations will necessitate the estab- 

 lishment of some fixed policy and will hasten the enact- 

 ment of some some sort of law for the government of these 

 great tracts. This is understood as well in California as 

 anywhere else, and many citizens of that state are 

 strongly in favor of the proposed recession. Let us hope 

 that when the measure once more comes before the legis- 

 lature of that state the restoration of the land to its proper 

 ownership will be accomplished. 



The Garden in Relation to the House. 



AT the meeting of the Royal Institute of British Archi- 

 L tects, held on Monday, February 15th, 1897, Mr. H. 

 E. Milner, the well-known English landscape-gardener, and 

 Honorary Associate of the Institute, read a paper on " The 

 Garden in Relation to the House." As this is a sub- 

 ject which is now interesting both architects and landscape- 

 gardeners in this country as well as in England, an abstract 

 of the paper may not be unwelcome. 



Mr. Milner said that he did not propose to set forth a 

 history of gardening in England, but to state his own 

 opinion as to the treatment to be adopted in laying 

 out private grounds, particularly in regard to their more 

 immediate relation to the house, and to indicate gen- 

 erally a practical application of the theories advanced. 

 The utilitarian and necessarily small and formal garden 

 enclosure of the middle ages was spoken of, audits gradual 

 enlargement, until a high state of development was reached 

 under Elizabeth, when the architect who designed the 

 house, laid out the garden as well, with its fore-court and 

 broad terrace, and its straight walks all harmonizing with 

 the building. Yet the garden was still enclosed and little 

 thought given to the treatment of the country outside, 

 beyond the planting of avenues. In the end of the seven- 

 teenth century design began to deteriorate, and the ideal 

 sought for was intricacy of parts, repetition and vagaries. 

 Soon came a reaction, and toward the end of the last cen- 



tury fashion ruled the destruction of most of the old formal 

 gardens, to be replaced by a no less artificial imitation of 

 nature. The designers, at this time, were not content with 

 amalgamating whatever was good of the old work, with a 

 natural treatment of the outlying ground, or of giving 

 greater breadth to the existing formal work, but swept all 

 this away and replaced it by meaningless walks ; by clumps 

 of trees and shrubs dotted irregularly on the lawn and 

 park ; by a boundary of planting ; by imitation of bits of 

 natural scenery or the introduction of artificial ruins' and 

 such like objects, with the desire of making a picturesque 

 landscape. 



Mr. Milner then spoke of the happy mean where the art 

 of both schools should go hand in hand, the architect 

 designing the stone or brick walls, steps and terraces, the 

 landscape gardener taking charge of all the arrangements 

 of verdure, and composing the wider picture. The author 

 then pointed out the danger that the liberal art of true for- 

 mal gardening might degenerate into a mechanical one in 

 which problems are all treated after a certain set rule. 

 Upon this point he said : 



It must be borne in mind that places differ much in climate, 

 in soil, in the requirements of the owner, in the amount to be 

 expended, and in the possibility of an extension beyond their 

 immediate precincts. It would, therefore, seem futile to lay 

 down any hard and fast rules tor design, for that which would 

 be suitable for a plain would be inapplicable to a hillside ; that 

 which would be fitting to a peaty hollow would be wrong on a 

 chalky slope ; that which would satisfy the poor man would 

 hardly be deemed sufficient indication of the wealth of a proud 

 possessor; that which would inclose an oasis from the sur- 

 roundings of factories, might shut offthe lovely view of hill, 

 dale and water, and imprison the dweller within a wall — possi- 

 bly charming in itself, but tiring by restraining the eye from 

 wandering to the unseen and glorious beyond. 



In dealing with the details of the site, the approach, the 

 terrace, the garden formation and planting, Mr. Milner 

 spoke of the most advantageous aspect for a house in dif- 

 ferent parts of England, and his recommendation of a hill- 

 side rather than a hilltop for the location of a house is one 

 which we would do well to take to heart : 



The approach to a house should always appear to be direct, 

 and any deviation from such directness should not only arise 

 from, but should also be made to arise froii, some decided ob- 

 stacle. By direct is not meant straight. A straight approach 

 requires careful treatment. It is artificial in character ; it can 

 appropriately be used when an imposing or somewhat preten- 

 tious building is at the end of it, or when the distance is short and 

 when the country is flat. In sloping ground it should, if possible, 

 be made against the slope of a hill. The gradient should be even 

 and flat, or very slightly and continuously curved, otherwise 

 it will appear not straight. If the ground is very undulating, a 

 straight road is out of character with its surroundings. It may 

 be worth mentioning that in laid-out grounds of Tudor times, 

 even where an avenue has been planted, the drive has fol- 

 lowed a curved line to the fore-court of the house. A curved 

 line of road is generally to be preferred, for it is more easy of 

 construction, more varied views can be obtained, its gradient 

 can be varied, following within limitations the natural undula- 

 tion of the ground, and the side slopes can be more easily an J 

 freely dealt with than the sides of a straight drive. At the 

 entrance from the public road, and also where the road reaches 

 the house, the route should be nearly level and the line 

 straight. It should rise toward the house when approaching 

 it directly, and it should be level at crossings or junctions. It 

 should not run parallel with the public road with the mere 

 purpose of lengthening the course, or seeming to prolong it, 

 though, when the house is at a much higher level and the 

 object is apparent, this resource must be sometimes adopted. 



Having touched upon the engineering of road gradients 

 and construction, Mr. Milner spoke as follows of the lodge 

 and entrance gates and terraces : 



These belong to the drive and should be parallel with it and 

 at right angles to it, as distinguished from the highway. The 

 face-line of the lodge should be at least ten feet from the edge 

 of the drive, and its windows should be able to command the 

 entrance and a certain length of drive. On entering by the 

 drive it is advisable to create a good impression, and there- 

 fore the difference between the dusty highway and the shaded, 

 well-trimmed drive within the gates should be distinctly 



