THB GREENING LANDSCAPE COMPANY, MONROE, MICHIGAN 



17 



Plaving- tlius made plain 

 STUDY OF A the distinction between natural 



NATURAL GARDEN and formal gardens, I shall now 



enumerate and illustrate the 

 principles employed in the formation of each. 



Let us consider first the natural garden, and l)y the 

 study of a concrete example we shall learn the principles 

 involved and their correct application. Plate 5 represents 

 a city yard of medium size, say 135 b}' 170 feet. It is 

 altogether unimproved except for the erection of the 

 house and garage. There it stands, a wide, open maw 

 of gi'ound : what shall we do with it?" 



WALKS 



AND DRIVES 



The first thing requiring 

 our attention is to build con- 

 venient approaches, that is to 

 say, a system of walks and 

 drives sufficient for the needs of the famil_\', and their 

 location will depend somewhat on the size and shape of 

 the place. They should be direct — not straight neces- 

 sarily, for curves are rhythmic in efifect and pleasing to 

 the eye ; but curves should not have a forced or unnatural 

 appearance — they should be tempered with that " sweet 

 reasonableness " that adds to beauty without detracting 

 from convenience. In the present instance the short walks 

 are straight ; for it is seldom practicable to introduce 

 curves in walks less than 40 feet long, unless there is a 

 natural interference such as a tree or abrupt grade to 

 force the line of travel in another direction. It is a cle\ er 

 little artistic trick of gardeners to build such an interfer- 

 ence in the absence of a natural one and thus introduce 

 curves that otherwise would be meaningless. There is an 

 illustration of this in plate 40, where a rockery was built 

 to justify a curve, and it is done with such consummate 

 art that we are taken unawares, and the illusion is so 

 perfect that we forget to Cjuestion whether it is natural 

 or not. 



If the driveway were built on the south side of the house it 

 also would clearly have to be straight, and it would answer the 

 demands of convenience ; but artistic reasons determine its location 

 on the north side. From both entrances the house is approached 

 at an angle that shows two elevations at once, and thus displays 

 to advantage whatever beauty the house itself possesses, .\rchi- 

 tects like to view their houses that way. Then, the line of tra\-el 

 being longer, an easy sweep is perfectly natural The effect of a 

 slight curve is magical. The observer sees the garden at a con- 

 stantly changing angle, and new light and shadow effects come 



GARAGE 



I 



HOUSE 



PORCH 



WALK 



into play like an animated panorama. We have now laid out our 

 walks and drives and plate 6 shows the result of our work. 



The next step is to plant trees and shrubs in an artistic way, 

 and plate 7 shows the application of correct principles. It will 

 help us to an understanding of these principles if we consider the 

 lawn as a canvas and proceed to make a picture in precisely the 

 same way that an artist does in painting a landscape ; with this 

 difference, that he works with colored pigments, and we work with 

 trees and plants, each one a living organism pulsating with the 

 subtle influences of the earth and air. 



