PAR.K AND CEMETERY 
282 
Progress in Railway Planting*. 
The recent progress in the improvement of railway 
station grounds, and the growing application of mod- 
ern methods of planting and landscape gardening on 
railroad grounds is spoken of as follows by Mrs. 
Frances Copley Seavey in the last and recently pub- 
lished volume of Bailey’s Cyclopedia of American 
Horticulture : 
The planting so far done consists largely of strict- 
ly ornamental gardening, that is, of formal grouping, 
carpet bedding, and of similar planting composed of 
tender material, but it is encouraging to note evi- 
dences of growing dissatisfaction with this ephemeral 
style of horticultural improvement. The most bril- 
liant and progressive railroad men are quick to recog- 
An official of the Chicago & Northwestern says : 
“The tendency on our line is to replace flower beds 
with hardy flowering shrubs and plants to the greatest 
extent possible, partly because the greater part of our 
planting is seen by passengers while traveling at a 
high rate of speed, and shrubbery and hardy plants 
attract more attention than the small, low flower beds ; 
and partly because the use of shrubs entails very much 
less labor in their care during winter, and also ob- 
viates the necessity of planting out and taking up the 
plants each season.” 
In 1882 and 1884 several new and exceptionally 
artistic stations had been built for the Boston & Al- 
bany Railway Company after designs by the late 
AUBURNDALE, MASS., ON THE BOSTON & ALBANY R. R., SHOWING TREATMENT WHERE GROUNDS ARE VERY LIMITED. 
nize its limitations and defects, once their attention 
is directed to the matter, and seeing its radically in- 
effectual results, to look for something better. Ex- 
amples of increasing knowledge in this direction are 
seen in the action of various companies that are even 
now turning from the inartistic and fleeting summer 
show of perishable material. For instance, the New 
York Central and Hudson River Railway Company 
reports : “Heretofore the planting has consisted 
largely of bedding plants. Since the towns and vil- 
lages have now reached a stage where their commer- 
cial importance can be determined with some degree 
of accuracy, and permanent facilities provided in the 
way of side tracks, freight and passenger stations, we 
have adopted a liberal policy towards the permanent 
improvement of station grounds with ornamental 
trees, shrubs and vines instead of annuals.” 
eminent architect, H. H. Richardson, and the latter 
date marks the adoption of a consistent scheme of 
permanent planting, aiming at nature-like effects 
instead of the purely ornamental — i. e., formal gar- 
dening, previously used. This happy result was due 
to the influence of Prof. Charles P. Sargent of the 
.\rnold Arboretum, a director of the road, and to 
Mr. Wm. Bliss, its president. Designs for the im- 
provement of the grounds around these stations were 
made by F. F. Olmsted, the veteran landscape archi- 
tect, and since 1884 the development of these plans, 
as well as all of the horticultural interests of the road, 
have been in charge of a competent landscape gar- 
dener, Mr. E. A. Richardson, who says : “The plan 
followed is to conform the treatment and development 
of the station grounds to the adjacent ground : a nat- 
ural style being followed amid natural surroundings, 
tfr'j 
