August 15, 1894.] 



Garden and Forest. 



321 



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 SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y. 



NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15, 1894. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Editorial Article:— New Statues in New York 321 



Wild Roses about Chicago Rev. E. J. Hill. 322 



Infertile Trees and Shrubs Thomas Meehan. 323 



Foreign Correspondence: — London Letter IV. Watson. 324 



New or Little-known Plants: — The Fringe Trees. (Witli figures.) 325 



Plant Notes 326 



Cultural Department: — Notes on Trees and Shrubs J. G. Jack. 326 



The Vegetable-garden IV. N. Craig: 32S 



Carentan Carrot IV. R. S. 32S 



Correspondence : — Notes from West Virginia Danske Dandridge. 328 



A Desirable Tree K. P. Ptywdl. 329 



The Forest : — Mixed Oak and Beech Forests of the Spessart : Management by 



the Bavarian Government. — IV Sir Dietrich Brandts. 329 



Notes 330 



Illustrations: — The American Fringe-tree, Fig. 52 325 



Chionanthus retusa, Fig. 53 , 327 



New Statues in New York. 



NO one doubts that a fine piece of sculpture greatly 

 ornaments an urban park, square or street, and ben- 

 efits the public by giving pleasure and by increasing the 

 desire and appreciation for art in general ; and if it commem- 

 orates a citizen who deserved well of the Republic, it may 

 play a potent part in stimulating patriotism and all right am- 

 bitions. Unfortunately, however, it is not as yet generally- 

 recognized that the value of a statue as an educational 

 influence in historical, biographical and patriotic, no less 

 than in artistic, directions, depends altogether upon its 

 right to be called fine — upon its excellence, its interest and 

 its charm as a work of art. 



We have heard it said : "This is to be merely a portrait- 

 statue ; therefore the main thing is to get a good likeness ; 

 it matters much less whether or not it is remarkably good 

 as a work of art." But these are not intelligent words. 

 Individuality of conception and skill in execution are, not 

 less, but more, important in works of portraiture intended 

 for the public's gaze than even in so-called idealistic works. 

 In the latter the artist is sure to have had the wish to pro- 

 duce a beautiful result, for otherwise there would "have 

 been no reason why he should attempt his task at all ; and 

 even if he fails to conquer all difficulties, yet there will 

 probably be something in his work that will please us if 

 only by contrast with the monotonous aspect of the inar- 

 tistically clothed people whom we meet daily in the flesh. 

 But when a sculptor must reproduce one of these same 

 people, his model, in the majority of cases, will lack 

 all beauty except of that intellectual or spiritual sort which 

 must exist in the facial expression of a man who has 

 worthily risen to public eminence. Only the sympathetic 

 eye of a really intelligent artist can see this sort of beauty, 

 and only his skillful hand can translate it into artistic beauty ; 

 and then, as regards the remainder of the form, high artis- 

 tic power is needed if the aspect of the average sedentary 

 modern man and his ugly clothes is not to prove actually 

 distressing to the eye when done in bronze. Imagination and 

 technical skill are both needed for the production of really 

 fine works of art of any kind ; but, we are tempted 

 to say, they are more needed in the case of a portrait-statue 

 of a modern man than in any other task which could pre- 

 sent itself. 



If these facts were better understood by our municipal- 



ities and our generous fellow-citizens, our cities would hear 

 of proposed new statues with constant pleasure, whereas 

 now a feeling of dread is always excited until the name of 

 an artist of recognized eminence is pronounced, or until 

 the actual work has been seen ; and in a very large pro- 

 portion of cases this dread is more than justified by the 

 outcome. For example, five new statues have recently 

 been set up in the parks and squares of New York : 

 the Columbus, designed by a Spaniard, in Central Park ; 

 the Roscoe Conkling in Madison Square, the Greeley at the 

 junction of Sixth Avenue and Broadway, the Ericsson in 

 Battery Park, and the Nathan Hale in City Hall Park ; and 

 among these the last-named is the only one which can be 

 called worthy of its cost and its place, either as giving 

 pleasure to the eye, or as likely to inspire imitative ambi- 

 tions and patriotic thoughts in the minds of our fellow- 

 citizens. 



As regards the latter point we speak, not from theory, but 

 from actual observation and from records of significant 

 facts. Some readers may admire the four statues which 

 do not seem to us good, and may therefore say that they 

 are worthy of their place as pleasing some eyes. But, let 

 them take pains to notice how the general public is 

 affected by them, and then compare the effect upon it of 

 Mr. McMonnies' Nathan Hale, and they will be forced to 

 recognize that, if the greatest good of the greatest number 

 is to be sought in the erection of public memorials, only 

 the Hale is making its right to existence plain. No other 

 statue in New York, scarcely excepting the Farragut on 

 Madison Square, has ever attracted so much popular notice 

 as this picturesque, noble, interesting figure; and no other 

 except the Farragut is entitled to be classed with it as a 

 remarkably fine work of art. 



The general public is, indeed, ignorant with regard to all 

 the canons and technicalities of art criticism, and can give 

 no reasons why it prefers one thing to another. But in 

 these cases it has utterly disproved the beliefs of those who 

 say that the best art is therefore wasted on it — that, if it cares 

 for a statue at all, it cares for it merely as it might care for a 

 photograph explaining how a great man's features differed 

 from those of his fellows. The lesson our public has thus 

 taught those who think that less than the best in art will 

 please it, or that the best itself will not be appreciated, is 

 all the more convincing because Nathan Hale was not a 

 personage in whom, before it saw his statue, it took any 

 interest at all. A year ago, we may safely say, Hale's 

 name was probably unknown to our school children, or 

 but vaguely remembered by them among the many minor 

 names they had read in their American histories ; and 

 many of our most intelligent and well-educated citizens 

 would have been puzzled to say jtist what his record was, 

 and how he met his death, or why, or where. But now a 

 little biography of Hale has been prepared for use in our 

 public schools ; the details of his execution have been dis- 

 cussed for months in the columns of our newspapers ; 

 every New Yorker has become familiar with his name and 

 his titles to fame ; and, thanks to the example of New 

 York, the place where he was captured — Huntington, 

 Long Island — is erecting a memorial in his honor. And 

 all this has been brought about simply and solely by Mr. 

 McMonnies' figure, and because it is an impressive, an in- 

 teresting and a beautiful work of art. There is no hour of 

 any day when people, often of the lowest classes, may not 

 be seen gazing at this statue ; and the charm it has for 

 them has been reflected through the mental atmosphere of 

 the whole city. 



Thus a citizen who deserved well of the Republic has, 

 at once and for always, been assured his meed of popular 

 recognition and admiration, and the education in patriot- 

 ism of our citizens has been definitely advanced, while 

 their eyes have been gratified and their taste for art has 

 been stimulated. There is no citizen so dull but that 

 he will perceive the difference between this statue and one 

 lacking its good qualities. He may not be able to explain 

 it further than to say, or to feel, that the one interests him 



