258 



A GARDEN AT LAKE WORTH. 



The effect of lines marking topography, walks and 

 drives is often overlooked. These should be simple, 

 graceful and supplemental. An architect in planning the 

 elevation of a good house aims to preserve certain promi- 

 nent lines as a basis for ornamentation so that from what- 

 ever point the eye views the building the element of 

 unity, so essential in every plan, is observed. Likewise 

 the lines of walks and drives as well as the nature of the 

 surface must determine the kinds and position of orna- 

 mentals used on the grounds. While in buildings the 

 lines are for the most part straight, in lawns the most 

 pleasing effect is attained by use of curves. These 

 should not however be without an apparent cause. A 

 rapid rise in the surface, an obstacle to be avoided, or 

 a point to be reached in passing, are causes for greater or 

 less curves. Gracefulness alone is cause for only a slight 

 amount of curves, where surroundings and purpose do 

 not compel a straight line. Irregular curves are better 

 than well-defined parts of circles or ellipses. These 

 lines should be so related as to make access easy between 

 all important points. There are also to be considered 

 the "lines of sight," which are imaginary lines radiating 

 from desirable points of observation. These must be 

 considered at the time of planting as eventually becom- 

 ing trees and shrubs, that even when they are grown the 

 house may not be concealed as behind a hedge. 



The most notable example of landscape work in which 

 the feature of straight lines in walks and drives becomes 

 a painful one is Hyde Park, in London. All lines of 

 passage are perfectly straight, crossing meadows and 

 forests at angles somewhat like the threads in a spider's 

 web. About the year 1730 a large body of water was 

 introduced (the Serpentine), but no care was exercised to 

 give it a natural or even graceful outline. The roads 

 have been made from time to time, without a curve. What 

 is called Rotten Row (a corruption of the French route 



du roi) was originally the passage for the king and his 

 cavalcade between Westminster and his palace of Ken- 

 sington. It is a mile long and go feet wide. But con- 

 trasting favorably with Hyde Park are the 1,000 acres 

 of Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, or the 800 acres of 

 New York city Central Park, in neither of which are any 

 straight lines found, with the exception of the mall in 

 the latter, about %-ra\\& long; yet there are 15 miles of 

 drives and 28 miles of walks in Central Park alone. 



Lines of sight should command considerable range and 

 special features should not be too closely placed. A 

 broad expanse of level or rolling sward and water are 

 two essential elements of surface to lend quiet and peace- 

 fulness to a landscape. The absence of grass in a large 

 part of Golden Gate Park gives a desolate aspect to one 

 accustomed to eastern meadows. The bare sand-hills in 

 the extreme part of the park appear like the dim outline 

 of distant mountains. This appearance is made more 

 real by the high steep hills with their winding bridle- 

 paths near to the improved portions. 



An effect with trees is not at its best until the hand of 

 the planter disappears and the trees show forth the beauty 

 that comes with years. Among the large landed estates 

 of England the greatest pride is attached to those having 

 the largest and oldest specimens — a safe resting-place for 

 pride, since no money can make a new planting excel. 



The most beautiful trees are not of the most recent in- 

 troductions, nor of the most expensive varieties. A lawn 

 that has upon it nothing but rarities is a simple exhibition 

 of extravagance. We expect to find more or less of ma- 

 ples, spruces and arbor-vitae, according to the extent of 

 the grounds ornamented. Then with such a basis of 

 well-known trees, a single specimen of any other will 

 suggest to the mind that it must be more than common, 

 and will thus attract the attention due its merits. 



C< . C. S V/ i/ J BeM4ABI>-B aRT0! < . ' 



A GARDEN AT LAKE WORTH. 



HE VICINITY of Lake Worth, Flor- 

 ida, as regards climate, is destined 

 to be the Nice of the American 

 continent. The happy mingling 

 of warmth and humidity, toned, 

 tempered and stimulated by the 

 salt breath of the sea, constitutes 

 the ideal atmospheric condition 

 for the weak and debilitated. 



The pathetic and prophetic an- 

 ticipation of events that led Ponce 

 de Leon to search for the fountain 

 of perpetual youth on the very peninsula where daily re- 

 curs the miracle of rehabilitating and perpetuating hu- 

 man existence imperiled by disease and age stands without 

 parallel in human annals. The good things for humanity 

 shadowed forth in dreams to the knightly Ponce are being 

 made more available each year by men who, in obedience 

 to impulses as mysterious to some people of to-day as 



were those of De Leon to his comrades, are and have been 

 engaged in ornamenting, tilling and planting in this 

 favored locality — mysterious, because, like Charles Lamb, 

 we love the sweet security of streets, and cannot conceive 

 how men of wealth and activity can be content in the 

 comparative isolation enjoined upon the pioneer horti- 

 culturist in such remote localities. 



The fullest practical exhibit of the latent possibilities 

 of Lake Worth's soil and climate are displayed on the 

 grounds of R. R. McCormack. They represent five years 

 of intelligent labor, ample means and unflagging enthus- 

 iasm, with results that must be gratifying to the fortunate 

 owner. Fifty-two acres are devoted to flowers, fruits 

 and vegetables ; it is in reality a private experiment sta- 

 tion, where in successive years has been tested whatever 

 will take kindly to the conditions of this morceau de 

 tropic, which nature has placed here in a moment of 

 haste, as a hurried housewife might place a piece of Dres- 

 den china beside a cup of common delf. Wandering 



