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THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA 
THE 
GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 
OF AMERICA. 
Published by 
THE CHRONICLE PRESS, Inc. 
Office of Publication 
286 FIFTH AVE.. NEW YORK 
MARTIN C. EBEL, Editor. 
EDITORIAL OFFICES— MADISON. N. J. 
OFFICIAL ORGAN OF 
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF GARDENERS 
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PARK SUPERINTENDENTS 
Stibtcriptioa Price, 12 Months, $1.50 
Foreign, $2.00 
Entered as second class nxatter Nov. 3, 1914, at the Post Office at New 
York, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879. 
Published on the 15th of each month. 
Advertisini forms close on the 1st preceding publication. 
For advertising rates apply to 286 Fifth Ave., New York, N. Y. All edi- 
taritl matter should be addressed to M. C. Ebel, Editor, Madison, N. J. 
Vol. XXI. 
April, 1917 
No. 4 
SOME THOUGHTS ON NATURALISTIC 
PLANTING. 
'TpHE first thought in landscape building is analysis, an 
•*• interpretation of the "atmosphere" of a place. It is 
the analysis of those things that are characteristic or un- 
usual — the topography, the spirit and nature of the views, 
the rock exposures, and the other elements that enter into 
a landscape, writes Theodore F. Borst in Tree Life, a 
new publication of the American Forestry Company. 
And the ne.xt necessity is a clear conception of the 
wants and tastes of your customer. What uses will he 
put his property to? What are his especial demands? 
Proper appreciation of ivhat is is the first step. When 
you go on to a property look to see what its owner found 
in it, why he was attracted to it. Don't start at the first 
glimpse to do something; start to see something. 
Then in the planting or in the development of that 
landscape follow the spirit, the atmosphere of the region. 
Emphasize the motif of the place, extend and work in 
harmony with it. Do not cover up every knoll and think 
that it is a place where nature intended to have trees. 
Your planting should be set in such a way as to emphasize 
the topography. Do not cover up your valleys but plant 
so as to show their beauty. Hillsides may be planted so 
as to bring out characteristic features, or simply to be 
covered up ; it is generally better to do the former. 
In placing evergreens and hardwoods follow the sug- 
gestions of the land itself. Generally speaking, the ever- 
greens will thrive on shallower and poorer soils than the 
hardwoods. They can also go in more e.xposed and dryer 
places. Keep them as backgrounds so as not to fore- 
shorten the views. Use them to cover what you want 
to cover or as a background to emphasize what you want 
to emphasize, such as the boldness of a rock exposure of 
the elevation of a knoll. They may be used in groups 
and scattering, to divide up a large, open, monotonous 
hardwood area, and to represent natural evergreen under- 
growth. This will give variety, distance and detaih 
Underplant the edges of the woods to prevent the wind 
from sweeping over the forest floor and drying up the soil 
moisture, which keeps the trees from growing rapidly 
and healthily. Such border planting prevents the snow 
from drifting and makes the woods pleasant and mild in 
winter and cool in summer. And as it makes the ground 
in the forest warmer in winter, it permits a greater num- 
ber of wild flowers to reproduce and grow there. And 
many more varieties of birds will come to woods so 
underplanted. 
Plant as nearly as possible like Nature. Do not plant 
trees in rows or have them equidistantly spaced. Set 
them broadcast, some far apart, some near together ; 
sometimes a group of White Pine such as the gregarious 
groups we have in Nature ; at other times a mixed group 
of evergreens and hardwoods. Avoid clustering the trees 
in ones and twos and tens and twenties over the landscape. 
It makes blotches. The lines are hard and artificial ; they 
hurt the eye. This holds true also in the planting of 
hardwood trees and shrubbery. Many people's idea of 
landscape planting looks like spotted fever and reminds 
one of blotches on the face of a fair woman. 
The very finest home grounds we see are those that 
were cut out of woodlands, where natural conditions 
have been the motif of supplementary planting and other 
development. The further away we get from purely 
studied plans, from architectural, geometrical and arti- 
ficial lines, the more beautiful the home surroundings are, 
the more satisfactory and restful. A simple and generous 
development satisfies the longest. It is ginger-bread that 
bores and pesters us in landscaping as it does in architec- 
ture. It is like the clutter of bric-a-brac in a house. 
In all building of landscape pictures, right choice of 
material is the basis of permanent beauty. We have to 
have an intimate knowledge of trees — their native habitat, 
their sensitiveness to frost, their requirements of soil and 
sunshine, and many other factors of their growth. The 
landscape forester must know his materials exactly — the 
fungus diseases that are subject to, the insects that attack 
them. He must aim to have the picture perfect and 
permanent, self-maintaining wherever possible. I cannot 
too often remind you that the forest engineer must possess 
the genuine scientific spirit, careful, exact, humble : he 
must know how to listen, how to look, how to love 
Nature. 
The best choice is always the native, the indigenous 
material, from which then we select what is best to carry 
out our plans. It is wise to enrich our existent native 
flora. We can work with Nature, increase her diversity, 
and still remain obedient and harmonious with her. 
Of all the trees indigenous and suited to the environ- 
ment of eastern and middle United States, the choicest 
for the largest number of purposes is the White Pine. I 
am, as you know, an ardent advocate of White Pine, as 
indeed every true student of dendrology in this country 
must be. There is no question about its supremacy here. 
It reigns "easily first" in the tree world, for its great 
combination of the qualities of use and beauty. All our 
authors of treatises and books on trees speak of each tree 
with interest and appreciation ; but when they come to the 
chapters on White Pine, one and all pour out their super- 
latives. It is our "king of trees," our "perfect ever- 
green," our one "supremely beautiful and valuable 
American tree." In the commercial field it is to the 
others as the grains are to all other foodstuffs — the basis. 
