270 THE PHILADELPHIA FLORIST. [Jan'y 



M-m)P- — ; ^6ei 



^position to the principles which we admire, we pronounce the land-^ 

 scape wanting in beauty. of. 



Landscape gardening is the art of forming a landscape. The duties 

 of a landscape gardener vary according to circumstances. Frequent- 

 ly he has to bring together all his materials — has to throw up his 

 hills, form his vallies, introduce his lakes, bring in his rocks, plant his 

 large trees, and arrange them all together. At other times he has but 

 to give as it were a slight finishing touch to nature's own sketch, and 

 the result is perfection. We cannot then inquire whether he has 

 "followed nature'' 1 in his operations, because nature often produces 

 very indifferent landscapes. We have to ask, have the acknowledged 

 principles of beauty and taste been respected] and is the result such 

 as to command admiration from its harmony with these principles, 

 and its fitness to produce the most varied, extensive, and lasting feel- 

 ings of pleasure] This narrows the field of inquiry to a perceptible 

 limit. We have to observe what are the principles of beauty, what 

 are the essentials of good taste, and what the foundations of the 

 most permanent feelings of pleasure which a landscape is capable of 

 affording. 



Amongst the many sources of pleasure to the human mind rarity 

 stands pre-eminent. It is probably one of the usual attendants of 

 beauty. Were all the daughters of Eve moulded to the form and at- 

 tributes of the Marchioness of Douro, it is probable that Addison's 

 ideal beauty with a large lump under her chin, would really be es- 

 teemed perfection. If rarity has no connection essentially with 

 beauty, it certainly lends it an additional charm ; and, if no pure 

 principle of taste be violated, that landscape will be most admired 

 which contains the fewest of every day scenes. Trees generally form 

 the most interesting portion of a landscape. II their form, color, 

 habits, and general appearance are beautiful, and their connection 

 with surrounding objects expressive and appropriate, they aid to form 

 a beautiful landscape; and, if to all these they are of a kind rarely to be 

 met with, the landscape, beautiful as it would otherwise be, possesses a 

 higher interest. It is difficult to understand the objections to the 

 employment of "foreign" trees in landscape gardening, though 

 amongst the objectors are many men of the highest standing in 

 the profession. The writer of the otherwise beautiful paper on 

 "Rural taste and its Mission," in the October Horticulturist, com- 

 plains that "we strive to fill our parks with something rare and im- 

 ported, instead of adorning them with the equally beautiful products 

 of our own soil. The rivalry in importing foreign plants, fruits, and 

 I flowers is too nearly akin to the pedantry of those excessively travelled 

 \ gentlemen, w r ho assume foreign airs to the no small detriment of 

 /^American independence." If the meaning of the writer be clearly^- 

 (^expressed, does not the argument prove forceless? In landscape gar- <g\ 



m9^ ^dom 



