January 28, 1891.] 



Garden and Forest. 



39 



regions the original tangle of knolls, dells and glades was to 

 be made still more pleasantly intricate by opening the wood 

 here and closing it there, and by breaking and fringing the 

 original Pine-forest with a great variety of appropriate trees 

 and shrubs. This work of introducing more cheerfulness and 

 variety proceeded gradually with the happiest results. To-day 

 the crooked ways which follow the hidden dells in the woods 

 are as charming in their way as is the central valley of the 

 Neisse, while the roads which lead along the edges of the 

 heights and command views of the valley are the most de- 

 lightful of all. It would be difficult to make choice between 

 the view from the low-lying schloss over the quiet meadows 

 to the semicircle of hills beyond the river and the reverse 

 view from these hills looking across the stream and the inter- 

 vale to where the turrets of the schloss and the long row of 

 village roofs lie close together under the edge of the dark 

 woods which crown the western range of heights. When his 

 thirty years of pleasant toil were passed Puckler tells us he was 

 one day showing his results to a very intelligent and discrim- 

 inating ladv of his acquaintance who told him "very mod- 

 estly " that she had little knowledge of the art of designing 

 parks, and that she could recall many scenes grander and more 

 picturesque than the one now before her; "but here," she 

 said, " what strikes one first and gives one most delight is the 

 repose which pervades the whole scene "; and the Countadds 

 that no praise ever pleased him more. 



The plan, see page 41 (for the original draft of which I am 

 indebted to Dr. Carl Bolle of Berlin), must serve to explain the 

 general arrangement of the estate. Within the park are in- 

 cluded not only the chateau and its gardens, pleasure-grounds 

 and appurtenances of all sorts, but also the very ancient castle 

 hill, the old schloss of the Count's more immediate predeces- 

 sors, the close-built village of Muskau, with its churches, 

 schools, shops, etc., many acres of plowed land owned and 

 cultivated by the villagers with other acres farmed by the 

 Count, a Pine-woods hotel and sanitarium, an arboretum and 

 nursery, a woodland cottage called "the English house," used 

 as a holiday resort by the townspeople, a large grist-mill, an 

 alum mine, the ruin of the oldest church in Lausitz, and more 

 than one ancient grave-yard. In most directions the park has 

 no definite boundary. It flows into the ordinary Pine-forest 

 on many sides, and in several directions the country roads are 

 " parked " for many miles. 



Always keeping in mind his general scheme, Puckler was 

 occupied during thirty years in extending his works and de- 

 veloping the details. At" the end of that time he suddenly sold 

 his creation ! Muskau passed to Prince Frederick of the Neth- 

 erlands. He who had become Prince Piickler-Muskau was 

 obliged, like many a landscape painter, to confess himself a 

 victim of his love'of beauty. In his zeal for his art he had out- 

 run his resources. At the age of sixty he retired to his lesser 

 manor of Branitz, where he wrote his invaluable books and 

 passed a peaceful old age, varied by many journeys and many 

 visits to the country-seats of friends. He died in 1873. 



All Germany has long held him in high honor. In England, 

 the "Letters of a German Prince," as the translation of his 

 "Briefe eines Verstorbenen" was entitled, passed through 

 several editions, and remains to this day the best foreign de- 

 lineation of the England of his early manhood. His essays on 

 landscape were long since translated into French, and it is to 

 be hoped that they may yet appear in English, for they con- 

 tain a very clear presentation of the elements of landscape 

 design, as well as many lively descriptions of his work at 

 Muskau. 



The significance, for us Americans, of this work at Muskau 

 is very obvious. To be sure at least one-third of our great 

 country is so arid that luxuriant vegetation must depend on 

 irrigation ; and, where this is the case, a pleasure-ground be- 

 comes an oasis to be sharply marked off from, and contrasted 

 with, the surrounding waste. Spanish models will help us 

 here. But the other half of our continent presents verdurous 

 scenery of many differing types, from the rocky Pine-woods of 

 Quebec to the Palmetto-thickets of Florida. Throughout this 

 varied region there is a woeful tendency to reduce to one con- 

 ventional form all such too meagre portions of the original land- 

 scape as are preserved in private country-seats and public 

 parks. What shall check this tiresome repetition of one land- 

 scape theme ? When shall a rich man or a club of citizens, an 

 enlightened town or a pleasure resort, do for some quiet lake- 

 shore of New England, some long valley of the Alleghanies, 

 some forest-bordered prairie of Louisiana, what Puckler did 

 for his valley of the Neisse ? He preserved everything that 

 was distinctive. He destroyed neither his farm nor his mill 

 nor his alum works ; for he understood that these industries, 

 together with all the human history of the valley, contributed 



to the general effect a characteristic element only second in 

 importance to the quality of the natural scene itself. 



Our countrymen are beginning to manifest an appreciation 

 of landscape-painting ; let them show the genuineness of their 

 appreciation by preserving and enhancing the beauty of the 

 actual landscape in which their lives are passed. 

 Boston. Charles Eliot. 



Plant Notes. 



Lyonothamnus asplenifolius. 



HPHE following note is extracted from an interesting account 

 ■*- of this tree contributed by Professor Henry Chapman 

 Ford to the Bulletin of the Santa Barbara Society of Natural 

 History : 



" In the summer of 1885 Mr. Barclay Hazard, of Santa Bar- 

 bara, during a visit to the island of Santa Cruz, noted a new 

 and peculiar shrub or small tree, and called the attention of 

 the fact to Professor E. L. Greene, of the California University. 

 During July of the following season (1886) Professor Greene 

 visited the island and found Mr. Hazard's discovery to be a new 

 species of Lyonothamnus, and later, in the Bulletin of the 

 California Academy of Sciences, described it under the name 

 of Lyonothamnus asfleuifolius. 



" In 1888 Mr. Brandegee found the same species on the 

 island of Santa Rosa, but he states that ' the trees were small 

 and often distorted by the wind.' 



" Professor Greene found it growing in a hundred fine groves 

 distributed up and down the thirty miles of the northern 

 slopes of Santa Cruz. He speaks of specimens often as high 

 as thirty-five or forty feet, and says : ' No other small tree of 

 our coast equals this in grace of form and beauty of foliage. 

 The flowers, too, are quite showy in their season, the larger 

 corymbs often measuring a foot in diameter,' adding that ' the 

 wood, close-grained and hard, was called iron wood by the 

 men of the island.' 



" As early as 1875 the writer was informed of the existence 

 of this ' iron-wood ' and vainly endeavored to procure speci- 

 mens at the hands of sailors and others frequenting the island. 



" It was not until this season (1889) that opportunity offered 

 a personal inspection of the growing trees. In a recent visit 

 to Lady Harbor Dr. Yates and myself climbed the precipitous 

 slopes near, and upon the rocky ridges we found large groups 

 of Lyonothamnus, obtaining specimens of the wood, bark, 

 leaves and corymbs of seed capsules, which were shown at a 

 late meeting of the Society. The trees were in clumps of from 

 five to fifteen individuals, and of different diameters, ranging 

 from a half inch to six or eight inches. The outer bark is de- 

 ciduous, parting in tough strings from the trunks of the larger 

 specimens, leaving the inner portion rich in reddish brown 

 color. The beautiful Fern-iike foliage seems to be deciduous, 

 yet the tree may not be entirely bereft of leaves at any time. 

 The flowering season having passed, deprived us of judging of 

 their beauty. The trunks are quite straight, the branches 

 springing from them somewhat in whorls at regular intervals. 

 We noticed no seedling specimens, yet it is probable that 

 other localities might furnish them. 



"Examples of the wood of various diameters were obtained. 

 It is exceedingly close-grained, hard, and of similar specific 

 gravity to many tropical species. Specimens are in the pro- 

 cess of seasoning with a probability that the wood will prove 

 susceptible of taking a high polish with fine color. Notwith- 

 standing its great weight proportionate to the size, it is said to 

 be quite brittle when green. When seasoned it has long been 

 a favorite wood for handspikes used by the sailors and others 

 who have knowledge of its strength. 



"The Lyonothamnus asplenifolius adds another singularly 

 beautiful tree to our already long and desirable list that should 

 be introduced in ornamental planting. Its showy flowers, 

 rare foliage and general novelty should make it a favorite 

 wherever planted. Its propagation by seeds ought not to be 

 difficult, as they are produced in profusion. 



" It belongs to the order Saxifragacea, and is the first tree 

 of the family that has yet been discovered in North America, 

 most representatives of the order being herbs or shrubs." 



In a personal letter from Professor Ford he adds : " I am 

 satisfied that the close-grained wood of this tree may become 

 a rival of Turkey Box-wood for fine wood engraving. It 

 possesses certainly the advantage over that wood of being 

 obtainable in much larger blocks. Beautiful paper knives, 

 with finely carved handles, have been wrought from it ; but I 

 have no doubt that it would serve for the manufacture of tool- 

 handles and for various articles in turnery, as it can be made 

 to take a high polish." 



