American Gardening 



Zbc Bmerican GarDcn— Ipopular ©arDening 



MAY, 1892 



No. 3 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF LANDSCAPE. 



Hast thou a heart to prove the power 

 Of a landscape lovely, soft, serene? 

 Go— when its fragrance has left the flower, 



When the leaf is no longer glossy and green, 

 When the clouds are careering across the sky 

 And the rising winds tell of tempest nigh. 

 Though the slanting sunbeams are lingering still 

 On the tower's gray top and the side of the hill — 

 Then go to the village of Playford, and see 



If it be not a lovely spot ; 

 And if nature reveal its charms to thee 

 Thou will love it and leave it not 

 Till the shower shall warn thee no longer to roam ; 

 And then thou wilt carry its picture home, 

 To feed thy fancy when far away — 

 A source of delight for a future day. 

 Its sloping green is verdant and fair, 



And between its tufts of trees 

 Are white cots peeping here and there 



The pilgrim's eye to please : 

 A white farm-house may be seen on its brow. 

 And its gray old hall in the valley below 



By a moat encircled round ; 

 And from the left verge of its hills you may hear. 

 If you chance on a Sabbath to wander near, 

 A Sabbath-breathing sound. 



BEAUTIFUL landscape inspires a 

 love for nature that will live long 

 after the particular incentive has 

 been forgotten. Repeated as- 

 sociations with favorite spots 

 make them seem more beautiful 

 because our memory pleases our 

 minds, while the sight pleases 

 our eyes. We may drive through 

 extensive parks and view the most 

 elaborate attempts of human skill, or pass through the 

 ravines and over the hills of nature's reservations and 

 leave them with but the one cherished impression of 

 grandeur. We have not studied the elements or their 

 relations to each other as they unite to form so pleasant a 

 picture to the eye, nor have we stopped to analyze the 

 subtle yet pervasive power of harmony in diversity. 



" Effective landscape-gardening is an art which is only 

 acquired by study, taste and judgment," and it is seldom 

 that the artist is given the freedom of action necessary 

 to work out his conception, because of expense. The de- 

 velopment of a landscape in accordance with the ele- 

 ments of nature demands a familiar acquaintance with 

 plants and trees, as no immediate effect can be made such 

 as is planned in the mind of the artist. This and other 

 considerations make it absolutely necessary that the plan 

 or conception be the work of a single mind. 



Imagine a painting that has passed under the hands of 

 several artists before its completion. However success- 

 ful the artists, the picture would lack essential harmony 

 of thought. It is not often, however, that extensive 

 grounds are transformed in the short time allotted to one 

 man, and therefore landscape taste is more frequent 

 in small pictures having home as the central thought. 



We speak well of the man who displays an apprecia- 

 tion and taste in the surroundings of his home, and as- 

 cribe to him an intelligent mind and approachable nature. 

 Numerous residences in suburbs or neighboring villages 

 of large cities could be cited to indicate the recent and 

 rapid development of landscape art. It is pleasant to 

 note that the early tendency to formal or purely conven- 

 tional features of ornamentation is giving place to 

 graceful lines, natural forms and groups. It indicates 

 that Americans are no longer imitating foreign ideas, but 

 are manifesting an individuality in their display of 

 nature's elements that is peculiar to Americans. Native 

 plants are more generally grown, which fact means a 

 subsequent improvement in their varieties. And the 

 American wild-flower clubs scattered over the country 

 are doing a good work in preserving and popularizing the 

 rare and neglected beauties of our fields and forests. 

 Certain principles or rules may be noted in the art, but 

 rules and taste often are at war. Rules in hands lacking 

 taste are dangerous. However, four points are to be 

 closely guarded and carefully considered : lines, topogra- 

 phy, form and color. 



