32 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



THE PROFESSION OF LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 

 By Mr. Edward White. 

 [Lecture delivered April 28, 1908.] 



I will not take advantage of the wide scope for observation which the 

 title of my paper seems to offer, but propose simply to consider in a few 

 aspects the profession of landscape gardening as a vocation. 



I believe there is enough interest in the calling, and sufficient mystery 

 as to the means by which essential knowledge of it can be acquired, to 

 justify a few reflections. 



To Fellows of the Royal Horticultural Society an attempt to define the 

 mission of the landscape gardener would appear an impertinence. No 

 Fellow is so ingenuous as the lady who thought the term an euphemism 

 for persons who tidied up gardens. The designation, however, is 

 inadequate, and it is a pity that one cannot find a short and compre- 

 hensive substitute. 



In spirit, at all events, we are all landscape gardeners, and much too 

 zealous to allow our conceptions to be confined by garden and park 

 enclosures. We are stimulated by our appreciation of landscape scenery, 

 and anxious to bestow its beauties upon districts where they are non- 

 existent, and, in short, if I may parody a well-worn phrase, " to break 

 down the fence and make all Nature a garden. " Closely associated with 

 the desire is the idea cleverly crystallised in the expression ''Garden* 

 Cities." 



A town or city should no longer signify the compression of the largest 

 number of dwellings into the smallest possible space. Neither is what it 

 should be without the adornment of tree-planted streets and parades, in 

 addition to parks, recreation, hospital, and other grounds. In fact we 

 expect that practically every corner of public land, if not already 

 picturesque, shall be subjected to ornamental treatment. The proportion 

 of town areas committed to the care of gardeners is, therefore, happily 

 becoming very considerable, and it is of extreme importance that the 

 whole matter should be under professional direction. 



But while the assistance of Nature is being successfully enlisted to 

 relieve the oppressiveness of bricks and mortar in towns, the builder is 

 taking full revenge by his invasion of rural retreats. 



Life in the country has become fashionable largely at the expense of 

 much of our best landscape scenery, especially as it is coupled with 

 a desire for the pure air of the more elevated places, which are naturally 

 the most conspicuous points of interest and beauty. The most beautiful 

 districts available for occupation suffer most, and the attractions which 

 tempted the first-comers to many of them are rapidly fading — indeed, the 

 word ' Ichabod 1 might well be added to advertisement boards standing on 

 many a once sylvan site. 



