September, 1912 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
03 
and amplifying it to an even greater scenic importance. 
If the lawns must be graded much depends upon their form. 
The effect of size is increased on a large lawn by a graceful but 
irregular roll. Not a hill but a slight rise and drop and another 
rise. A small lawn should be slightly dished, lower in the middle, 
rather than full. 
It may be that the place is covered with granite boulders, 
among which one can wander over thick turf, passing now a 
group of bay berry, roses and cedar trees, a barberry drooping 
with its weight of fruit; or it may be there are blackberry tangles 
near soft beds of fern. 
On such a place as this one could plant butterfly weed, asters, 
goldenrod, and any boulder would be a perfect background for 
flowering plants. A grape vine might clamber over the larger 
boulders, and there might be tangles of bull brier (S mil ax ), 
sumac and hazel nuts. Perhaps there is a spring running from 
beneath one of the boulders, or if it be not there, perhaps it can 
be introduced and its margins planted with forget-me-not, car¬ 
dinal flower and other moisture loving plants. 
New England is full of such boulder strewn fields where one 
may find charming compositions and there one must look for 
inspiration and for suggestions. 
There can be no rules for planting of this sort. Every place 
is different and it would be impossible to say what plants should 
be used in such and such a position. Beyond their fitness from 
a cultural standpoint and their aesthetic fitness as determined by 
their artistic aspect, it is all a matter of taste in which even the 
experts may disagree. It is unlikely, however, that the best 
effects will be secured by the use of any except native trees, 
shrubs, and plants in a landscape of very strong character. In 
places of a softer nature it is quite possible to use exotic material. 
Trees from China and Japan and shrubs and flowering plants 
from all the temperate climes can be worked into a harmonious 
scene, but its success depends upon the restraint which one uses 
in introducing this sometimes incongruous material. 
Along the sandy coast the character of such work must be kept 
close to the natural conditions as they appear. Lawns are im¬ 
possible except at great expense, and anyway why have a lawn 
when it is characteristic not of the dunes but of 
hilly pastures? On the sand dunes the only 
planting w T orth while is that of beach grass, wild 
roses, beach plum, pitch pines and sumac. 
Nothing can be more full of charm than the 
dunes shaped by the wind into forms like 
drifted snow, and burying the beach grass 
which always manages to reach the air again. 
The dune illustrates one of the difficulties of 
naturalesque work; how can one build on them 
and still preserve their unique appearance? It 
is a hard problem but it can be solved if one is 
patient and willing to study and experiment. 
Water in the landscape is always to be de¬ 
sired, whether it be a roaring stream through a 
rock strewn valley, whose sides can be planted 
with ferns and mosses and flowers of the wood¬ 
land, or a babbling brook, now slinking through 
reedy meadows and now meandering down a 
broad valley through clumps of alders. In 
either case there are characteristic plants to be 
used to increase its loveliness. Lakes and 
ponds offer still greater opportunities for beauti¬ 
ful planting. If their shores are low and 
marshy, cattails, calamus, pickerel weed, iris, 
and sagittarias can be used, and if thev are 
high, overhanging trees and shrubs seem most 
delightful. 
It is well to cultivate a critical attitude not 
If there be an outcrop of rock, it may be made the keynote and its native 
charm increased by careful planting 
only toward the work done frankly in imitation of nature but 
also toward nature as it appears, because nature as it appears is 
largely the result of man’s interference in one way or another. 
The pasture is not nature undefiled but is the result of man’s 
efforts in clearing the woods and keeping grazing animals there. 
The very division of the land into arable fields, pastures and 
woodland, though it gives great interest to the landscape, is whol¬ 
ly artificial, even if it have a basis in natural conditions. There 
is no so-called natural scene which could not be improved in 
composition and in its details if one had a free hand. 
T he best way to train the critical faculty to appreciate the 
beauties of naturalesque landscape is to take, say, an overgrown 
pasture or a wood lot and by cutting out alone make it a scene 
of beauty with strong individuality. After this is accomplished 
(Continued on page 175) 
The effect of distant views is enhanced by using near at hand trees of deep green foliage 
which contrast with the distance and make it seem farther away 
