7 6 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
order to know when to call in such expert advice 
and assistance at the proper time, and how to co-op- 
erate with it successfully. He must also have an 
intimate knowledge of the material and processes 
required to execute his designs and the ability to 
express the results of his thought and study by 
means of plans, diagrams and instructions, so that 
those who are actually responsible for the work of 
construction can interpret them properly. After 
his design is laid out upon the ground he should 
continue to have a general oversight over this work 
because its lull development can only come through 
years of growth, and it may be wholly defeated, 
particularly during its early stages, by accidents or 
by additions and changes made by those whose ex- 
perience does not enable them to fully appreciate 
the original intention. Without such a general 
oversight, a full measure of success is seldom ob- 
tained. 
This brief reference to park design and park de- 
signers will, I hope, give an adequate idea of the 
character of the problems presented and of the qual- 
ifications required in the work in question. In all 
this study the question of planting cannot be lost 
sight of. The character of the native growth will 
often decide in favor of one piece of land over an- 
other, the location of boundaries will often be de- 
termined by existing trees and shrubs, the use to 
which the property is to be put and its whole treat- 
ment will also depend very often upon the character 
ot the growth upon it. On a stone surface with 
sharp ridges and narrow valleys covered with a wild 
tangle of native plants, it would be as much out of 
place to attempt to secure broad, smooth stretches 
of turf and to introduce garden forms and exotic 
lawn plants, as it would be to interrupt the center of 
a broad stretch of meadow shaded with fine speci- 
mens of native and rare exotic trees with a rough 
ledge and unkempt tangle of plants. 
Having primarily fixed upon the character of 
the plantation best adapted to the ground in ques- 
tion, the designer will consider disposition and 
character of the proposed plantations. In his ex- 
amination of existing plantations he may find that 
they contain plants that will develop and give the 
result that he desires, he maj- find that only a few 
additional varieties must be added, or it may be 
that an entirely new plantation must be made. He 
may find in another place a group of plants that 
are attractive in themselves but that would interfere 
so much with the development of a far more im- 
portant feature that it would become necessary to 
sweep it away, or it may be as his design develops 
that he may find this same group so important that he 
will have to recast his plan on new lines. In one 
place a tangle of native undergrowth would pro- 
vide just the conditions that are required to hold 
a steep bank or make a screen, while in another 
place a similar undergrowth must be removed and 
the trees thinned to secure a smooth surface or open 
up views. After having fixed by a general study 
upon the relation of the main bodies of planting to 
other parts of the plan, and having determined 
in a general way upon the character of each planta- 
tion, the management of the different existing 
growths, and the details of new plantations will be 
studied. 
You will recognize that a park designer places 
the greatest importance upon the existing growth 
upon a piece of land. Almost everyone appreci- 
ates fine trees, but too often the importance of an 
undergrowth of shrubs and herbaceous plants 
is so little appreciated, that those in charge 
of the newly acquired park lands will begin 
at once to “clean it up” by mowing down and 
grubbing out shrubs and herbs and burning the sur- 
face as though the land was to be made a farm. 
No greater mistake could possibly be made. Every 
bit of vegetation should be allowed to remain un- 
disturbed until a plan of the grounds is determined 
upon. Undoubtedly more or less of the existing 
growth will be removed, but no one can tell in ad- 
vance where this removal will take place until the 
study of a plan has been well advanced. 
When the natural vegetation is preserved, 
as it always will be by a good designer wher- 
ever practicable, the only work that can be 
done in it to good advantage by unskilled hands 
will be the removal from the surface of loose dead 
wood that will give substantial fuel to a fire. The 
leaves should not be raked up and burned for they 
are a protector and fertilizer to the many interest- 
ing native flowering plants. Usually it will be de- 
sirable or necessary to remove parts of this native 
growth for the purpose of opening views or en- 
couraging the growth of particularly desirable or 
interesting native plants both woody and herbaceous 
by the gradual removal of less desirable kinds. 
Such work cannot be done by unskilled hands ; 
it should only be entrusted to assistants who know 
the names and habits of every plant that is growing 
upon the ground. 
Plantations upon the public streets, about re- 
creation grounds, or at points where large crowds 
will congregate should be made up of plants with 
uninteresting flowers and a vigorous constitution, 
tough branches or prickly stems so that they will 
withstand rough usage and recover quickly from 
an injury, while those standing close to pleasure 
walks, terraces, windows, and about buildings 
where they will be under inspection at all times 
should be made up of varieties having foliage and 
flowers that are attractive at all seasons ; whereas 
plants that are to form a part of a landscape to be 
viewed at a distance should be selected on account 
of the effect of light and shade that they will pro- 
duce. Similar considerations will prevail in work- 
ing out the details of all plantations. 
It is generally coming to be realized that native 
plants, those having a vigorous growth and healthy 
foliage, should predominate in all permanent out-of- 
door plantations, and that with these exotics can be 
used to give variety but in such manner that no se- 
rious injury to the appearance of the plantation will 
