37 2 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 343. 



skillfully painted picture of it. A desire for the actual pos- 

 session of beautiful scenery has therefore become one of 

 the positive needs of modern society, and when the repre- 

 sentatives of a great city have purchased land for public use 

 it is an essential part of their duty to see that it is made 

 beautiful The landscape-architect is trained to furnish 

 these pictures ; to conceive them clearly in the first place, 

 and then to plan for an arrangement of ground lines and 

 surfaces, with vegetation so disposed as to produce with 

 definiteness the results he has foreseen from the beginning. 

 For the credit of the city, for the benefit of its example, for 

 the sake of art in America, it is to be hoped that the planning 

 of this northern park approach to the new Harlem bridge 

 will be referred at once to the landscape-architect, and that 

 the drilling and blasting at the southern end will be sus- 

 pended until he can report upon it. It would be a disaster 

 if the same waste of money and destruction of natural 

 beauty which are going on in the Speedway are repeated 

 at both ends of the new Harlem bridge. 



The constitutional amendment relating to state forest- 

 lands, which we discussed last week, was passed by the 

 convention on Friday with little opposition. The text is 

 as follows : 



The lands of the state, now owned or hereafter acquired, 

 constituting the forest-preserve, as now fixed by law, shall be 

 forever kept as wild forest-lands. They shall not be leased, 

 sold or exchanged, or be taken by any corporation, public or 

 private, nor shall the timber thereon be sold, removed or 

 destroyed. 



No doubt, the adoption of this amendment was made 

 easier by the revelation of corruption in the administra- 

 tion of the forest-lands which had been made during 

 the week by the Comptroller of the State. These reve- 

 lations show that there has been fraud and bribery 

 in the transfer of lands and much cutting of timber 

 in the state forests, which was not only illegal, but 

 the result of conspiracy between trespassers and pub- 

 lic officers. The adoption of this amendment certainly 

 demonstrates an increased interest in the subject of 

 forestry, and it may relieve the forests from some dan- 

 ger. Nevertheless, we consider it a misfortune that such 

 a provision should be imbedded as a principle in the fun- 

 damental law of the state. It assumes (1) that there is no 

 such thing as rational and conservative forestry, or (2) that 

 a civilized American community cannot be trusted to or- 

 ganize and develop any such a system of forest practice, 

 either because our people lack the intelligence to do this 

 in a scientific way, or because they lack the moral fibre to 

 administer such a trust without official knavery and pecu- 

 lation. 



Vases for Cut Flowers. 



THE subject of the proper form and color of vases for 

 cut flowers is not unworthy of consideration from 

 an artistic point of view, especially when we see the utter 

 neglect of the very first principles of art with which such 

 matters are usually treated. In this, as in so many other 

 things, we have much to learn from the Japanese, who 

 have devoted a great deal of study to the subject, and 

 whose refined taste long since reduced the arrangement of 

 flowers to something like a science. We cannot expect to 

 equal Japanese methods of treatment, because our own 

 ideas of cut flowers as ornaments are ingrained and we 

 can hardly hope to change them. But we can, at least, lay 

 down some sound principles, the application of which may 

 do something toward discarding the hideous vessels into 

 which flowers are often put, or rather crowded. As in all 

 applications of abstract art, fitness is the first thing to be 

 considered. A flower-vase must he perfectly adapted to 

 its purpose, and that purpose is, of course, to display 

 flowers to the best advantage. Since the flowers only are 

 objects of display and study, the material of the vase must 

 not be such as to attract attention. Hence, cut-glass ves- 

 sels and all showy patterns, whether of glass, earthenware 



or metal, should be avoided. For the same reason the 

 forms of the vases should be simple and not in themselves 

 catch the eye of the observer, excepting only as their 

 special fitness may deserve notice. A showy vase, how- 

 ever exquisite in form, is wholly unfit for a flower-vase, 

 and the more highly it is ornamented the more unfit it is. 



Of course, different forms of vases will be required 

 for different kinds of flowers A flat, circular dish is 

 needed for Water-lilies, and as th"e flowers are in this case 

 large, the containing vessel must be ample in size, not 

 merely to hold the flowers, but also to preserve a proper 

 sense of proportion. Tall spikes require tall vases, which 

 should not be cylindrical, but should be sensibly wider at 

 the top than at the bottom. Roses and flowers with com- 

 paratively short stems require low broad vessels, flaring 

 at the top, so as to admit of the graceful drooping which 

 is so attractive with both leaves and flowers. Not more 

 than four or five differently shaped flower-vases are really 

 necessary, the types of form being either flat or low circu- 

 lar vessels, which may be widely fluted upon the edges to 

 break the too great uniformity of a plain circular rim, 

 or round vessels which spread more or less as the 

 sides rise from the bottom and which may also be widely 

 fluted at the top. All forms which bulge below, or which 

 are in the smallest degree bizarre in shape, must be re- 

 jected. The old-fashioned bulb-pot, shaped like a rabbit 

 or other animal, with growing bulbs sticking out through 

 holes in the surface, is the type of all that is hideous. If, 

 with the Japanese, we consider a single beautiful flower 

 enough at a time, a narrow containing vessel may be used. 

 The Japanese use a piece of bamboo, which, from its irreg- 

 ular surface, loses the stiffness of the cylindrical form. We 

 have no bamboo to use, and imitations in glass, china or 

 earthenware are, like all imitations, offensive to good taste. 

 Flower-vases should always be of some opaque material, 

 and, all things considered, good unglazed earthenware is 

 to be preferred, only it should be impermeable to water, 

 and not coarse in texture. It should also be without 

 ornamentation of any kind, and of a single and uniform 

 tint of color. 



This brings us to the subject of color in general. The 

 elementary principle is that no color should be em- 

 ployed for the vase which does not perfectly harmonize 

 with the various tints of both flowers and leaves. Since 

 we have to deal with a great variety of colors in both, some 

 color must be chosen for the vase which will harmonize at 

 least fairly well with all. A pure neutral gray answers best 

 and gives a very agreeable contrast with the various shades 

 of green in leaves and with almost all tones of flowercolor, 

 while in itself not fixing the attention too strongly. Next 

 in order of value comes pale pure buft, not inclining to 

 orange, but its use is more limited than that of gray. Yet 

 it contrasts very charmingly with green leaves, as, for 

 instance, with the beautiful green of those of Rosa 

 rugosa and with all blue flowers. Opaque white flower- 

 vases are sometimes effective by contrast, but, as 

 a rule, the contrasts are rather too strong, especially 

 in the case of white glazed porcelain, and the vase 

 itself attracts too much attention. All colored glasses 

 are to be rejected, and white or colorless glasses are also 

 objectionable, since, as a rule, flower-stems are unsightly. 

 I admit that there are exceptions to this rule. Gray earth- 

 enware vessels for flowers are advertised by a prominent 

 firm of bulb-dealers in New York. Those which the writer 

 has seen are cylindrical, and very heavy. The gray tint is 

 tolerably good, and there are upon the surface small 

 figures in blue enamel, which, however, in consequence of 

 the large size of the vessels, are not objectionable. The 

 ware, however, is very coarse, and suitable only for hall 

 decoration with large masses of flowers. Much success 

 has been attained of late years in this country in the manu- 

 facture of artistic earthenware, and it is to be hoped that 

 flower-vases will be considered of sufficient importance to 

 command the attention of skilled designers. w „ 



Newport, R. I. " ' ""■ 



