July, 19 2 2 
43 
In making a brookside gar¬ 
den, first the rocks are put 
in position and such a lit¬ 
tle bridge as this built. 
Then the plants are set out 
between them 
also admire the stately growth 
and graceful panicles of Spiraea 
aruncus—palmata and palmata 
elegans —and, having been re¬ 
galed once by the brilliant spec¬ 
tacle of the highly attractive 
white, salmon and pink shades 
of the new Astilbe Arendsi 
varieties in beauty vieing with 
gorgeously hued masses of 
flowers of the Japanese iris, we 
always long for enjoying it 
again during ensuing seasons. 
\\ hen we have dotted the immediate water 
edge with plantations and clusters of the swamp 
forget-me-nots, swamp marigolds, moisture- 
loving hardy primrose and Saxifraga cordi- 
folia, we begin to realize the enchanting pos¬ 
sibilities of brookside gardening. 
The brookside can also serve for a fernery. 
The rising banks of a brook running through 
sections of woodland afford an ideal location. 
Aside from a congenial atmosphere, there is 
frequently diversity in natural ground eleva¬ 
tion at hand which favors the arrangements 
of effects and fully demonstrates the grace 
aing down into a pool near the 
little bridge. His 200 species 
of ferns and selaginellas Mr. 
Morris succeeded in arranging 
in the way Nature sometimes 
does when, in her holiday mood, 
she gleefully scatters ferns in 
deep, remote, wind-sheltered 
ravines of the mountains. There 
is no doubt that for indoor and 
outdoor work on a small scale 
the artistic conception and exe¬ 
cution of the fernery of Compton 
is one of the best and most instructive object 
lessons we have in America. 
However small or large our brookside garden 
may be, formality or any suggestion of forced 
effects must be absolutely barred. We are deal¬ 
ing with elements which are essentially natur¬ 
alistic, and they must be used in nature’s own 
manner. Exotic plant material, however strik¬ 
ing in appearance, could but clash with the 
rightful denizens of the site and conditions. 
We do not necessarily limit ourselves to plants 
naturally found growing there, but we must 
hold to kinds of their general type. 
The fernery at “Compton” 
the residence of the late 
John T. Morris, Chestnut 
Hill, Pa., is a brookside 
planting reconstructed 
under glass 
and supreme beauty of the foliage of ferns. 
Lacking this ideal brook bank, one may re¬ 
construct it indoors under glass. The late 
John T. Morris of Chestnut Hill near Phila¬ 
delphia, when designing his famous country 
seat “Compton,” understood how to take ad¬ 
vantage of the brookside. In order to enjoy 
the incomparable perfection in outline and for¬ 
mation of the fern fronds throughout the whole 
year he went a step further and built a small 
fernery, 60' by 45' under glass. In this green¬ 
ery sanctuary there is ingeniously designed 
rockwork and an audibly trickling stream run- 
