CHAPTER I 



WHAT IS LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE? 



When a group of persons see parks being graded and planted, or a neighbor's 

 yard being laid out, one will say that it is "landscape gardening," another calls 

 it "landscape aichitecture," and still another remarks that it is "fine gardening." 

 Is it possible that any one of these terms means the same to all three persons, or 

 to others? A florist may think of landscape gardening in terms of "bedding-out" 

 plants and of round or square beds cut out of the lawn. A gardener or horticul- 

 turist may have visions of hardy-perennial flower borders. An architect perhaps 

 looks for terraces, balustrades, and formal gardens, and if these be wanting he 

 feels but little concerned. Others may expect ample lawns scattered over with 

 fine trees and shrubs. 



If the man who is laying out the park is asked what he calls himself, he may 

 say he is a gardener, or a florist, or a contractor ; or it may be that he styles himself 

 a landscape gardener or a garden architect. However, this will -depend upon 

 circumstances. He may be a very succes-sful man in a small territory, as in a 

 suburb of a large city, or even in several adjoining cities. Perhaps he has adopted 

 the title of the man from whom he learned the rudiments of his profession, or from 

 the custom of the school at which he prepared himself. But whatever the circum- 

 stances with respect to any individual among the multitude claiming to be of this 

 profession, one finds little uniformity in the kind of work they do, in the scope of 

 their activities, in the name by which they designate their prof ession, in their point 

 of view, and in their training and preparation. Is it to be wondered, then, that 

 the pubhc looks on with some skepticism and with a tendency to underrate the 

 profession? 



To return to the scene of the neighboring yard which is being laid out — to the 

 crowd that gathers on the sidewalk to watch the work going on inside the fence. 

 To most of these this landscape gardener or landscape architect is merely the man 

 who "plants bushes." Some have noticed that he also makes roads and walks, 

 but to the crowd this seems unlikely. Others say that he has trees and shrubs for 

 sale. But some one ventures the remark that his bushes are procured from a 

 nursery, and the same individual is also quite certain that this man, whose func- 

 tion is so much in question, only makes plans anji looks after the work. Another 

 onlooker remembers that a large place nearby had been laid out a few years ago, 

 and that there a great number of workmen had been employed all summer. There 

 had been a boss who hired the local contractors to do the grading, the road- 

 building, and to lay the drains. Near the house had been constructed a formal 

 garden with walls, steps, flowers, and a pool of water. Carpenters had built a 

 fine fence all about the place, and, finally, quantities of trees and shrubs had been 

 planted everywhere about the grounds. Some remembered that periodically a 

 well-dressed man from a distant city had made visits, and had been seen talking 

 with the boss and with the owner of the place. But what was the use of all this 

 expense, when one could get ideas from the magazines and hire a local man to do 

 the work? 



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