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There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http:/Awww.archive.org/details/cu31924015400579 HINTS ON LANDSCAPE GARDENING (Sgt aed) puofaq upaqoy jo a8eytA ays Ya NeYsNYA] Jo yxLeg ayi UT saBe0D "[TAXKX FLVIg Hints on LANDSCAPE GARDENING By Prince von Ptickler- PMuskau Translated by BERNHARD SICKERT and Edited by SAMUEL PARSONS WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY The Riversive Press Cambrivge IQI7 ao cena ae COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Published June 1917 ae [eoro0 . Note HIS volume; which furnishes a natural se- quence to The Art of Landscape Gardening, by Humphrey Repton, is the second of a series of authoritative books to be published by Messrs. Houghton Mifflin Company. The series was un- dertaken at the suggestion and with the codp- eration of the American Society of Landscape Architects, and the writer has been asked to serve as general editor. Hermann Ludwig Heinrich von Piickler-Mus- kau was the son of a Count, a Privy Councillor of the King of Saxony. He married a lady of rank, the daughter of the Prince Hardenburg, State Chancellor, and one of the great statesmen of the age. Born in 1785 in a palace of the old town of Muskau in Silesia, about a hundred miles from Berlin, he died, full of honors, in 1871. He occupied during his long career many positions of importancein civil and military affairs, and traveled widely over the world everywhere, including a visit to the United States and years of residence in England, a country he loved. His contribution to the art of landscape archi- tecture is large and permanent. It expresses itself in his interesting published letters from England, entitled The Letters of a German Prince, in his discussion of the underlying principles of land- Nore scape gardening, and, finally, in the development of the great estate of Muskau, to which he gave years of personal attention. His letters from Eng- land, which were published at the time not only in German, but also in English and in F rench, give most valuable and discriminating criticism of landscape art, with descriptions of natural and artificial scenery. He refers in these letters to a great range of places, including Oxford, Kenil- worth Castle, Tintern Abbey, Regent’s Park, Lon- don, Eaton Hall, Warwick Castle, Blenheim, and Buckingham Palace. Better than anything else they give evidence of his understanding of the art of landscape architecture during one of its most fruitful periods. Goethe wrote at the time that Prince Piickler’s letters were a pattern in all that relates to landscape gardening, and “be- long,” he adds, “to the highest class of litera- ture.” In his writings Prince Pickler not only gives vivid concrete pictures of the great English es- tates, healso points out repeatedly the fundamental principles of the art of landscape gardening which they illustrate, and on which their convenience, beauty, and perfection depend. The great work of art, however, to which this talented gentleman and greatest of amateur land- scape gardeners gave the best years of his life was the development of his estate at Muskau. It comprises a beautiful valley, with irregular rising land skirting the river levels, hills supplying the frame for his picture. He treated this private park Note with variety and breadth, and secured a splendid unity of effect. In the words of the late Charles Eliot, who visited the estate in 1886 to study it as one of the world’s most notable examples of landscape architecture, Piickler evolved ‘from out of the confused natural situation a composi- tion in which all that was fundamentally char- acteristic of the scenery, the history and industry of his estate should be harmoniously united... . He would not force upon his native landscape any foreign type of beauty; on the contrary, his aim was the transfiguration, the idealization of such beauty as was indigenous.” Mr. Samuel Parsons, the editor of the present volume, refers to Prince Piickler’s Hzmts on Muskau’s develop- ment as “so fundamental and comprehensive that it would be difficult to find anything better of its kind in landscape gardening literature.” Furst von Piickler-Muskau was not only one of the best interpreters of the landscape art of his time, he was also a prophet of city-planning. More than a hundred years ago he dwelt upon the necessity for natural and picturesque beauty in great cities, giving as an example the open parks and irregular streets of London. The plates and other illustrations are a notable part of this volume. They include not only all the more important original plates and repro- ductions of plans of the Muskau Estate before and after the improvements of Prince Pickler, but also examples of many of the great English country places which are referred to by the au- Note thor. The text and illustrations combined make a unique contribution to the limited literature of permanent value dealing with the art of landscape gardening. Joun NoLen Campripce Fune 4 1917 | Contents EpiTor’s InrTRoDUCTION xi AutTHoR’s INTRODUCTION I #4 4c fat ane AE aay, Part Fiast: Hints on Lanpscarpe GARDENING Errata Page 46, line 11 from bottom: For Table I read Plate I. Page 126, line 2: For Plate XI read Plate A. Page 133, line § from bottom of text: For Theorious read 'Theoricus. Page 154, line 11 from bottom: For Table XVI read Plate XVI. Page 159, line 12: For in the water, and (Plate XX) read in the water (Plate XX), and. Page 165, line 5: For Kobeln read Kobeln. Page 179, lines 11 and 12: For finished on the map read as it will appear when completed. Part Seconp: DescripTION OF THE PaRK IN Muskavu AND ITs ORIGIN I1l INDEX 193 Nore thor. The text and illustrations combined make a unique contribution to the limited literature of permanent value dealing with the art of landscape. gardening. Joun NoLen Camprivcs Fune 4 1977 Contents Eprror’s InrropucTion Autuor’s INTRODUCTION Part First: Hints on LanpscapE GARDENING Cuap. Cuap. CuHap. CHAP. Cuap. Cuap. Cuap. Cuap. Cuap. Cuap. Cuap. CHap. CHAP. XII. XIII. IN GENERAL The Laying-out of a Park Size and Extent Enclosure Grouping in General, and Buildings Parks and Gardens Concerning the Laying-out of the Lawns of Parks, Meadows, and Gardens Trees and Shrubs and their Grouping, and Plantations in General Roads and Paths Water Islands Rocks Earthworks and Esplanades Maintenance Part Seconp: DescripTION OF THE ParK IN InpDEx Musxkavu AND ITS ORIGIN x1 Ill 193 : Illustrations ( The numbered plates are reproduced from the Atlas which accompanied - the original edition of the Andeutungen tiber Landschaftsgartnerei, dy Prince von Pickler-Muskau. Some of the original plates are omitted as of less interest and importance than those reproduced, but Prince Pickler’ s references to all the plates are retained in the text for the sake of com- pleteness.) Pirate XXVII. Cotrraces IN THE Park OF Muskav WITH THE VILLAGE OF KOBELN BE- YOND Frontispiece Hermann Hernricno Lupwic, Prince von Puckter-Muskau From the woodcut frontispiece in E. Petzold’s Féarst Hermann v. Pickler-Muskau, Leipzig, 1874. Macpa.ten Co.iiece, Oxrorp: THE GRAVEL WALK FROM THE WEsT IN 1847 From a drawing by F. Mackenzie reproduced in The Old Colleges of Oxford, by Aymer Vallance, London, 1giz. KENILWORTH CASTLE From an Engraving by William Radclyffe after a draw- ing by J. V. Barber, in Kenilworth Illustrated, Chis- wick, 1821. TINTERN ABBEY From The Ruined Abbeys of Britain, by Frederick Ross. Eaton Hatz From an old print reproduced in English Houses and Gardens in the XVIIth and XVIIIth Centuries, by Mervyn Macartney, London, 1908. X1V XVill XX XXV1 Vili ILLUSTRATIONS Bvenueim Castie: East FacapDE AND ForRMAL GARDEN From Country Residences in Europe and America, by Louis Valcoulon Le Moyne, New York, 1908. View or THE Lake aT BLENHEIM From Country Residences in Europe and America, by Louis Valcoulon Le Moyne. Happon Hatt ano THE River DERWENT From Country Residences in Europe and America, by Louis Valcoulon Le Moyne. Piate I, a and 4. Grass Patus ror BounDARY or Park GorTHe’s Garpen House at WEIMAR Redrawn from an illustration in E. Petzold’s Landschafts- Gar tnerei. Warwick CASTLE From an engraving by J. C. Varrall after a drawing by John Preston Neale, in Neale’s Views of the Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, London, 1818-29. Brap’s-Eve View or VERSAILLES From Country Residences in Europe and America, by Louis Valcoulon Le Moyne. Prate I]. View rrom THE Front or THE Cas- TLE AT Muskau, sHowinc Errect oF THE REMOVAL oF ABOUT TweENTY LarcE TREES A VisTa IN THE Park or Muskau From a photograph by Thomas W. Sears. Winpsor Caste From a mezzotint by T. Sutherland in The History of the Royal Residences of Windsor Castle, by W. H. Pyne, London, 1819. ' XXX XXXIV 28 32 36 44 60 7° ILLUSTRATIONS 1X Prate IV, ¢. Borper PLANTATIONS IN THE OLD STYLE 72 f. BorpeR PLANTATIONS AFTER Nasu’s MetuHop 92 Piate XLIII. A Dracram sHowinG ARRANGE- MENT OF SHRUBS AND HeErsaceous Piants 76 Piate V. ARRANGEMENTS OF RoapDs AND Patus 82 Piate VI. Diagrams sHowING ARRANGEMENTS or Rivers, Lakes, AND IsLanps g2 Pirate VII. A Diacram sHow1nc DiFFERENT ARRANGEMENTS OF IsLANDS 98 Pirate VIII. Aw ArtiricraL WATERFALL WITH Rock Dam : 100 Two Views or THE CasTLE AND Moar at Muskau 132 From photographs by Thomas W. Sears. Pirate XV. View or THE CASTLE, SHOWING STEPS WITH ORANGE TREES AND THE OLD CASTLE 152 A View or THE RIVER AS ARRANGED AND IM- ~ PROVED BY PRINCE PUCKLER IN HIS PARK AT Muskau “age Redrawn from an old print. A Rovucu Stone Bripce In THE Park OF Muskau 156 From a photograph by Thomas W. Sears. Pirate XVIII. View or Meapow, Trees, River, AND Hi ts 158 PLatre XIX. ANOTHER VIEW OF THE CASTLE AND Lawn x ILLUSTRATIONS Piatt XX. View or Otp anp New CASTLEs AND Lake Lucie 160 Pirate XXJ. Tue PHEASANTRY, WITH THE Post BRIDGE OVER THE RIVER BEYOND 160 PLate XXIV. Tue “ Prince”? BRIDGE’ OVE} A Ravine 162 Pirate XXV. BripcE MADE oF Oak BrancHEs’ 164 Pirate XXVI. Enciiso Cotracrt in THE Park 166 Piatre XXVIII. Proposep CEMETERY CHAPEL 168 Pirate XXX. River anp Mii 174 Pirate XXXIX. Tue Gosetin Cotony: Cort- TAGES OF THE GARDEN LABORERS 184 Pirate XL. View From THE Wussina DEER Park, Muskau 186 Pirate XLI. Spruce Tree One Hunprep Feet HicuH 188 Pirate XLII. Oak Ercuty-Five Feet Hicu 188 Prats XLIV. Cotrace NEAR THE HuNntTING CasTLE 190 Pitan A. THe-Grounps or Muskavu BEFORE THE IMPROVEMENTS WERE BEGUN In Pocket Prawn B. Tue Park or Muskau WITH THE Im- PROVEMENTS MADE OR PROJECTED BY PRINCE PUcKLER In Pocket Hermann Heinrich Ludwig, Prince von Piickler-Muskau Editor’s Introduction ERMANN LUDWIG HEINRICH, Prince von Piickler-Muskau, stood in the first rank of landscape gardeners in his day and generation, largely because of the time and place in which the stage for his career was set. His endowments were remarkable, but his op- portunities were unique. He was the son of an ancient house in Silesia, or Lusatia, as it was for- merly called, whose authority on the great ances- tral estates was supreme. Tradition and aristocratic power gave the prestige of the house a peculiar value. The despotic power of the highly placed land-owners of Germany had not as yet changed in spirit from that of the eighteenth century. In the world of thought there had been an awaken- ing. Goethe reigned in literature without a rival in Europe and Schiller was a poetical inspiration for all Germany. Pickler, the son of a Count and Privy Coun- selor of the King of Saxony, was born in the palace of his race in Muskau, a town older than the Roman occupation, where his forbears had ruled for a thousand years. In 1785, the year of his birth, the French Revolution was not as yet. New ideas, however, were in the air, and Voltaire and Rousseau had succeeded in pro- foundly modifying the spirit of the age. Yet the Xii EpitTor’s INTRODUCTION age still retained much of the time of Mme. de Sévigné, a century before, when her letters were circulated in the salons of the chateaux of France, letters that forgot even to mention the fact that outside of the windows, in near-by fields, soldiers were slaughtering starving peasants, their coun- trymen. Pickler, the boy, spent four years when he was seven with the Moravians in their Herrnhut School at Uhyst, in the Pedagogium at Halle, and then, after studying with a tutor for some years, he entered the University of Leipsic in 1800. Here, he took a general course, specializ- ing in law. Soon, however, he gave up law and chose a military career as better suited to his en- terprising spirit. He came to excel in physical accomplishments and was a daring and skillful horseman. Tales of a combat come to us, where he, a champion, met and vanquished a French rival, in the presence and amid the plaudits of the assembled armies of both sides. These and other stories serve to indicate to us his reckless daring and energy. Later, Pickler proved him- self a skillful and experienced officer at Antwerp under Bilow. Afterwards, under Geismar, he was at the assault and taking of Cassel, where he helped to capture several cannon. He received many decorations for brilliant services and was made a colonel. Later, he raised a regiment of chasseurs and afterwards commanded at Bruges as civil and military governor. In 1814, when the Allied Armies entered Paris, he was sent by Ep1iTor’s INTRODUCTION Xili the Duke of Saxe-Weimar as special ambassador to the Emperor Alexander. Soon after this he visited England a second time, spending a year in that country. During the years from 1816 to 1822 Pickler occupied himself with many things. He traveled everywhere — on the European Continent; in Africa, in Algeria, and Egypt and other places ; in Asia and America, making notes as he traveled and afterwards writing books. His adventures even took the form of ascending in a balloon with a celebrated aeronaut, a great feat in those days. During this period came the death of his father with whom he seems to have lived on good terms except for the usual disagreements which extravagant sons have with most.fathers. Doubt- less, he was many times during his travels so short of funds as to be almost in dire want, but hav- ing been bred a soldier and being of a high, free spirit it is not likely that any shortage of funds seriously troubled him. He finally married a lady of rank, the Count- ess Pappenheim, widow of the Count of the same name and daughter of the Prince Harden- burg, State Chancellor and one of the great states- men. of the age. We find Piickler at this period of his career enjoying much society in the gay, as well as in the diplomatic, world. In 1818, for instance, he accompanied his wife and father-in- law to the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle. Later he was offered an ambassadorship to Constanti- nople and other high state employments. He, xiv EpitTor’s INTRODUCTION however, refused them all, and sought his very considerable estates inherited from his father. In the course of the settlement of certain bound- ary and feudal rights, the Prussian Government decided to give Piickler the title of Prince anda considerable sum of money. For the better part of ten years he devoted himself to carrying out his great plans for his estates, even importing American trees for which he had conceived an admiration during a visit he had paid to the United States. Eventually, however, he found his funds so much exhausted that about 1828 he bethought himself of mak- ing a journey again to England with an idea of bettering his fortunes in some mysterious, whim- sical way, but chiefly, it may be surmised, be- cause he loved England and travel. During this trip in 1828 his travels extended over England and Ireland, and resulted in the instructive and witty letters afterward published in Stuttgart under the name of Briefe eines Gestorben (*« Letters of a Deceased Person’’). They were translated into English under the name Tour of a German Prince, etc., etc. These letters became celebrated, indeed so much so that Goethe wrote at the time in the Berliner Buch that Piickler’s letters had been long a pattern in all that relates to land- scape gardening. Goethe says, these letters « be- long to the highest class of literature.’ As litera- ture they certainly take high rank both for their fine and true conception of landscape gardening principles and for their descriptions of scenery. Magdalen College, Oxford The Gravel Walk from the West in 1847 EpitTor’s INTRODUCTION XV They possessed, moreover, a charm and wit that recalled the touch of the incomparable letter- writers of the eighteenth century: a century of which Prince Piickler was a product in certain singular ways; truly a grand seigneur with all his large and modern ideas; a soldier, a patriot, a philosopher, and a humanitarian; verily a land- scape gardener of a most unique type! He came back to Germany from England no richer except in literary fame. From that time the major part of his attention was given to the development of his estates and to the elaboration of his notes and maps which later he published in the form of the present book. Traveling he naturally could not forego, and his advice, moreover, was sought from time to time for the improvement of great estates throughout Europe from the Royal Park at Babelsburgh, near Potsdam, to the Bois de Boulogne in Paris. In 1845 he had largely developed his estates at Muskau, as may be seen to-day, but he had like- wise so completely exhausted his means that he was at last forced to sell his beloved ancestral home to Frederick of the Netherlands and retire to Braunitz, a smaller estate at some distance away. It is said that so bitter was his disappointment at leaving Muskau, that although he lived more than thirty years afterward he never again visited his old home. During these thirty years he con- tinued to improve Braunitz, to write, and to travel, and to take part in most of the great events of the day. In 1863 he was made a member of XVi EpiTor’s INTRODUCTION the Prussian House of Lords (Herrenhaus), and in 1866, when eighty-one years old, he attended the Prussian General Staff in the war with Austria. In 1871 he died full of honors, and with the - consciousness, in spite of many failures and poign- ant disappointments, of having made for himself a great career. The reason for thus dwelling at length on the career of Prince Pickler is because it goes far to explain why he became exactly the sort of landscape architect he was. Yet it was not, altogether, the character of his ancestors, his en- vironment, nor his upbringing that accounted for . Prince Piickler. He had, fortunately for him, just the background and stage-setting that would enable him to grace the part that circumstances and personal taste called on him to fill: but there was a certain fire of genius in the man Pickler that was sui generis, something of his very own. Like all geniuses he was of his age, and yet not of his age. No other landscape architect ever resembled him, or perhaps equaled him, if his accomplishments and work are duly weighed. He was born and brought up, it must be remem- bered, in the eighteenth century, imbibed its charm in his early days and kept all his life in his words and bearing something of its savor. He could not help being, as shown by his letters, a delightful companion and the old-time gentle- man. As the years passed, however, and he breathed the air of the new century, he naturally became inspired by its humanitarian ideas and its broader vision. He could not help belonging Epiror’s INTRODUCTION XVil to the romantic school. It was in his blood: it developed in his philosophy and in his art and kindled into vivid life whatever he said, wrote, and did. All his wild adventures and strange visions and dreams, his love of Nature, his vague, humanitarian schemes, even his somewhat high- flown sentiments, expressed on all sorts of topics, mark him as a type of the romantic artist. He could, however, paint life with a broad and flow- ing brush and at the same time with a simplicity that explained ‘perhaps why he was so keen and appreciative an admirer of Mme. de Sévigné, little as she had in common with the romantic school. For simplicity as well as romantic fervor what can be better than the following passage found in one of his letters where he speaks of a lovely lady dwelling obscurely in poverty in a remote part of Ireland :— I wish I could describe this sweet and lovely being to you in such a manner as to place her visibly before you, certain that you, like me, would love her at first glance. But I feel that all description falls short. All about her is heart and soul. She was dressed in black with greatest simplicity, her dress was up to the neck but fitting close to her beautiful form. Her person is slender and extremely youthful, full of gentle grace, and not without animation and fire in her movements. Her complexion is of a pure clear brown and has the soft polish of marble. More beautiful and brilliant black eyes, or teeth of more dazzling whiteness I have never beheld. Her mouth, too, with the angelic, childlike char- acter of her smile, is ‘enchanting. Her refined, unaffected good breeding, the sportive grace of her gay and witty conversation were of that rare sort which are innate, and XVIii EpiTor’s INTRODUCTION must therefore please, whether in Paris or Pekin, in town or country. The greatest experience of society could not give more ease and address, and no girl of fifteen could blush more sweetly or jest more joyously, and yet her life had been the most simple and uniform, and her youth was rather the unfading youth of the soul than that of the body, for she was the mother of four children, nearly thirty, and just recovered from an attack of the lungs which had threatened to prove fatal. But the fire of all her movements, the lightning flashes of her conversation, had all the freshness and all the charm of youth, giving a resistless loveliness to the gentleness of her nature. Here is, doubtless, a somewhat exaggerated picture of his imagination. An attractive woman there was, but not just such a woman as he de- picts her. Inspired, possibly, by some stray mem- ory of Byron’s verses which he greatly admired, in any case, transfusing a homely incident of his travels with the glow of his imagination, he simply did what he was always doing with his landscape architecture, and often afterwards in other ways in the changeful phases of his varied life. i Pickler’s career in England was quite typical of the man; going to that country to recuper- ate his fortunes in some mysterious way, he trav- eled like a grand seigneur in the most expensive manner; then, when funds were short or carriage lacking, on horseback or even on foot. His lit- erary imagination found vent at this time in let- ters to his divorced wife, and, strange to say, then and afterwards his beloved companion and apse YOM yy Ep1Tor’s INTRODUCTION xix confidante. These letters are truly models of epis- tolary genius. Their descriptions of scenery are especially fine, and one needs, fully to realize the greatness of his literary power, to comprehend Pickler’s peculiar value as a landscape architect. Here is one of his descriptions : — On two sides the eye wanders over an almost im- measurable plain, on the other, lies Loch Corrib, a lake, thirty miles in length, behind which are the moun- tains of Clare and in still remoter distance the romantic ridge of Connemara. The lake just at the middle bends - inland like a river, and its waters gradually lose them- selves between the lofty mountains which seem to form a gateway for their entrance. Just at this point the sun set: and Nature which often rewards my love for her, displayed one of her most wondrous spectacles. Black clouds hung over the mountains and the whole heavens were overcast; only just at this point, the sun looked out from beneath the dusky veil and issued a stream of light which filled the whole ravine with a sort of un- earthly splendor. The lake glittered beneath it like molten brass, while the mountains had a transparent steel-blue luster like the gleam of diamonds. Single streaks of rose-colored cloud passed slowly across the illuminated picture over the mountains; while on both sides of the opened heavens distant rain fell in torrents, and formed a curtain which shut out every glimpse of the remaining world. Such is the magnificence which Nature has reserved for herself alone, and which even Claude’s pencil couid never imitate. These lines purport to give simply a descrip- tion of Nature, but at the very end Pickler can- not help writing as a landscape architect, which is primarily his true vocation. XX EpiTor’s INTRODUCTION There are many fine descriptions of Nature in the letters of Piickler, and it might be well to quote one more as a further illustration of the distinction of his purely literary work :— Turn your imagination to a spot of ground so com- mandingly placed that from its highest point you can let your eye wander over fifteen counties. Three sides of this vast panorama rise and fall in constant change of hill and dale like the waves of an agitated sea, and are bounded at the horizon by a strangely formed jagged outline of the Welsh Mountains, which at either end ascend to a fertile plain, shaded by thousands of lofty trees, and in the obscure distance, where it blends with the sky, is edged with a white misty line — the ocean. The peculiarity of such a description is not only its eloquence and poetical expression, but its real value lies in its landscape conception. Probably no other man of Pitickler’s time could have brought together, in a single picture, just the right elements, and grouped them in such a way as to set before one a great landscape scene in so fine a manner. It is a case, as may be seen over and over again in reading Piickler’s letters, of a landscape architect developing a great landscape and transfusing it with the vivifying glow of his own trained imagination. In other words, Pickler knew just what to select from the landscape to present its truest and most valuable character. Prince Pickler was, however, a good deal more than a lover of Nature in her higher moods and a skillful artist in creating effects akin to EpiTor’s INTRODUCTION XXxi Nature’s best efforts: he was a great gentleman with forbears of a thousand years; he was a sol- dier and an economist devoted to the interests of his peasant laborers and German countrymen. Hardly ever had the interests of one man ex- tended so widely; certainly those of no landscape architect. To show the diversity of his interests I will quote a passage about Oxford: — I have walked over Oxford and I cannot express with what intense delight I wandered from cloister to cloister, and refreshed myself in this living spring of antiquity. There is a magnificent avenue of elms which like the buildings date from the year 1520. From this queen of avenues in which not a single tree was want- ing, and which leads through a meadow to the river, you see on one side a charming landscape, and on the other a part of the city with five or six of the most beautiful Gothic towers— ever a noble view, but to- day rendered almost like a piece of fairy enchantment; the sky was overcast, the wind drove the black, fan- tastic clouds like a herd of wild beasts across it: at length the most beautiful rainbow vaulting from one tower and descending on another, spanned the whole city. Read this weird and soul-stirring description of Kenilworth Castle: — The day was gloomy, black clouds rolled across the heavens, and occasionally a yellow, tawny light broke from between them, the wind whistled from among the ivy, and piped shrilly through the vacant windows. Now and then astone loosened itself from the crum- bling buildings and rolled clattering down the outer wall. Not a human being was to be seen; all was soli- XXil EpiTor’s INrRoDUCTION tary and awful; a gloomy but sublime memorial of de- struction. There is more than the suggestion of mysti- cism in this passage, but here is the real thing : — I entreat you [he writes to a dear friend], be with me at least in thought, and let our spirits journey together over sea and land and look down from the summit of mountains and enjoy the sweet repose of valleys, for I doubt not that spirits, in forms as infinitely various as infinity itself is boundless, rejoice throughout all worlds in the beauty of God’s magnificent creation. A mystic Pickler. always was and always re- mained. He was always dreaming and seeing visions. There was a touch of madness in some of his strange fancies. The reader of his book will remember the lake he designed which was to rear above the surface of its waters funereal me- morials ; i.e., rocks inscribed with names intended to commemorate his ancestors interspersed and surrounded by weeping willows. For magnificence of description and grandeur of outlook, all transfused with the magic of his imagination, it would be hard to find anything better of its kind than the following description of Warwick Castle which, on account of its length, is given only in part: — Let your fancy conjure up a space about twice as large as the Colosseum at Rome, and let it transport you into a forest of romantic luxuriance. You now overlook the large court surrounded by mossy trees and large buildings, which, though of every variety of form, combine to create one sublime and connected Tintern Abbey EpiTor’s INTRODUCTION XXill whole, whose lines now shooting upward, now falling off into the blue air with the continually changing beauty of the green earth beneath, produce, not symmetry in- deed, but the higher harmony elsewhere proper to Na- ture’s work alone. The first glance at your feet rests on a broad, simple carpet of turf around which a softly wind- ing gravel walk leads to the entrance and exit of the gi- gantic edifice. Look backward and your eye rests on the two black towers of which the oldest, called Guy’s Tower, rears its head aloft in solitary threatening majesty high above all the surrounding foliage, and looks as if cast in one mass of solid iron; the other built by Beauchamp is half hidden by a pine and chestnut, the noble growth of centuries. Broad-leaved ivy and vines climbalong the © walls, here twining around the tower, there shooting to its very summit. On your left lies the inhabited part of the Castle and the chapel ornamented with many lofty windows of various size and form, while the oppo- site side of the vast quadrangle, almost entirely with- out windows, presents only a mighty mass of embattled stone, broken by a few larches of colossal height, and huge arbutuses which have grown to a surprising size in the shelter they have long enjoyed. But the sublim- est spectacle yet awaits you. On the fourth side, the ground, which has sunk into a low, bushy basin form- ing the court, and with the buildings also descending for a considerable space, rises again in the form of a steep, conical hill along the sides of which climbs the rugged walls of the castle. This hill and the keep which crowns it are thickly overgrown at the top with underwood, which only creeps round the foot of the tower and walls. Behind it, however, rise gigantic venerable trees tower- ing above all the rocklike structure. Their bare stems seem to float in midair, while at the very summit of the building rises a daring bridge, set, as it were, on either side with trees, and as the clouds drift across the blue sky, the broadest, most brilliant masses of light XXIV EpiTor’s INTRODUCTION break magically from under the towering arch and the dark crown of trees. Prince Piickler’s description of Tintern Ab- bey — Wordsworth’s Tintern Abbey —should not be passed by: it is so fine: — It would be difficult to imagine a more favorable situation or a more sublime ruin. The entrance to it seems as if contrived by the hand of some skillful scene painter to produce the most striking effect. The church, which is large, is still almost perfect; the roof alone and some of the pillars are wanting. The ruins have received just that degree of care which is consistent with the full preservation of their character. All unpicturesque rub- bish that would obstruct the view is removed without any attempt at repair or embellishment. A beautiful smooth turf covers the ground and luxuriant creeping plants grow amid the stones. The fallen ornaments are laid in a picturesque confusion and a perfect avenue of thick ivy stems climb up the pillars and form a roof over head. The better to secure the ruin, a new gate of antique workmanship is put up. When this is sud- denly opened the effect is striking and surprising. You, at once, look down the avenue of ivy clad pillars and see the grand perspective lines closed at the distance of three hundred feet by a magnificent window eighty feet high and thirty feet broad: through its intricate and beautiful tracery you seea wooded mountain from whose sides project abrupt masses of rock. When it comes to landscape gardening criti- cism, we find all through his letters passages that abundantly prove that his mind was continually occupied in studying his art wherever he traveled. Here is a bit on city planning and the landscape connected with it which might have been written EpiTor’s INTRODUCTION XXV by some of the best authorities of the present day : — Faultless on the other hand, is the landscape garden- ing part of the park [Regent’s], which also originated with Mr. Nash, especially in the disposition of the water. Art has here completely solved the difficult prob- lem of concealing her operations under the appearance of unrestrained nature. You imagine you see a broad river flowing on through luxuriant banks, and going off in the distance in several arms, while in fact you are looking upon a small piece of standing though clear water created by art and labor. So beautiful a landscape as this with hills in the distance, surrounded by an en- closure of magnificent houses, a league in circuit, is cer- tainly a design worthy of one of the greatest capitals in the world, and when the young trees are grown into majestic giants will scarcely find a rival. In the execu- tion of Mr. Nash’s plan many old streets have been pulled down, and during the last ten years more than sixty thousand houses built in this part of the town. It is, in my opinion, a peculiar beauty of these new streets, that, though broad, they do not run in straight lines, but make occasional curves which break the uni- formity. ; It is interesting to follow the working of Pickler’s mind as he studies his subject, how the principles of his art were formulating themselves in his mind to be afterwards realized and actually executed on his own place at Muskau where the result can be seen to-day. Here is some keen criticism of English scenery : — The beauty of the country and the extraordinary neatness and elegance of every place through which my road lay to-day struck me in a most agreeable manner XXVi EpitTor’s INTRODUCTION . . . the picture has but one fault — it is all too culti- vated, too perfect, thence always and everywhere the same, and consequently, in the long run wearisome. Indeed, I can even conceivethatit must become distaste- ful in time, like the savory dish of dainties to the stom- ach of a sated man. That Prince Pickler did not hesitate to criti- cize the celebrated estates in England is indicated by the following passage : — We have hastened to see the wonders of Eaton Hall, of which, however, my expectations have not been very high. Moderate as they were they have been scarcely realized. The parks and gardens were, to my taste, the most unmeaning of any of their class I had seen, although of vast extent. On the other hand, here is a description in another of Piickler’s letters of what he considers an ideal park or country estate : — Mr. W.’s park is certainly one of the most perfect creations of that kind and owes its existence entirely to his perseverance and good taste. It is true that he could nowhere have found a spot on earth more grateful for his labors, but it seldom happens that art and nature so cordially unite. It is enough to say that the former is perceptible only in the most perfect harmony ; other- wise it appears to vanish into pure nature, — not a tree or a bush seems planted by design. The vast resources of distant prospect are wisely husbanded ; they come upon the eye by degrees and as if unavoidably ; every path is cut in a direction which seems the only one it could take without constraint and artifice; the most enchanting effects of woods and plantations are pro- duced by skillful management, by contrast of masses, by felling some, and thinning others, clearing off and eg NUOILG IOUDASOIL) SPLOT, 1S ajquoH ayy JO Wag ayy aurysayD Ur saysay[D Jo AAD ays wau aad] saary ayy uo |[vPY voy 4, puagay ay} Burvsq Jug PIO ut wo IPH uojey errrreryyy ee es Ep1iror’s INTRODUCTION XXV1i keeping down branches, so that the eye is attracted, now into the depth of the wood, now above, now ben low the boughs, and every possible variety within the region of the beautiful presented. This beauty is never displayed naked, but always sufficiently veiled to leave the requisite play for the imagination ; for a perfect park — in other words, a tract of country idealized by art— should be like a good book, which suggests at least as many new thoughts and feelings as it expresses. The dwelling-house 1s not visible till you reach an opposite height; it then suddenly emerges from the mass of the wood, its outline broken by scattered trees and groups, and its walls garlanded with ivy, roses, and creeping plants. It was built after the plan of the possessor, in a style not so much Gothic as antiquely picturesque, such as a delicate feeling for the suitable and harmo- nious conceived to be in keeping with the surround- ing scenery. The gardens lay in all their indescribable glow of beauty in a narrow and fertile valley full of high trees under which three silver springs gush forth, and flowing away in meandering brooks took their course in all directions amid impervious thickets of blooming thododendrons and azaleas. Of Chiswick, Pickler has the following per- tinent criticism to make: — I found the garden much altered, but not, I think, for the better; for there is a mixture of the regular and irregular which has a most unpleasant effect. The ugly fashion now prevalent in England of planting the pleasure-ground with single trees and shrubs, placed at a considerable distance apart almost in rows, has been introduced in several parts of the grounds. This gives the grass-plots the air of nursery grounds. The shrubs .are trimmed round so as not to touch each other, the earth carefully cleared about them every day, and the XXVili EpiTor’s INTRODUCTION edges of turf cut in stiff lines, so that you see more of black earth than of green foliage and the free beauty of nature is quite checked. Mr. Nash, however, adheres to a very different principle, and the new gardens of Buckingham Palace are models to all planters. This criticism of Blenheim and the apprecia- tion of the landscape architect, Brown, are spe- cially interesting : — The park is five German miles in circumference, and the piece of water, the finest of its kind existing, occu- pies almost eighty acres. The pleasure-grounds are on an equally grand scale; forty men are ordinarily em- ployed in mowing. Opposite the house the water forms a cascade, so admirably constructed of large masses of rock brought from a great distance, that it is difficult to believe it artificial. One cannot help admiring the grandeur of Brown’s conceptions as one wanders through these grounds: he is the Shakespeare of gardening. Doubtless the Prince here allowed himself to say a little more in favor of this famous place than he would have on sober thought. It should be remembered that Ptickler was entertained in England everywhere by the aristocracy and even royalty in the most magnificent manner, and consequently it is remarkable that he should have criticized adversely any of the English estates. Think for a moment: would any one at the pres- ent time make a tour of American and English estates and write in his letters as boldly and criti- cize as pointedly as Piickler did a hundred years ago? Perhaps it would be healthy for the art of EpiTor’s INTRODUCTION Xx1x landscape gardening if some one, competent and independent, would undertake to write a few let- ters like those of Pickler. In order to see that he was little influenced by what he saw of Brown’s work at Blenheim, it is only necessary to wander over the grounds of the park at Muskau a few hours. The satiri- cal lines of Peacock, said to refer to the art of Brown, could hardly be applied to anything de- signed by Pickler : — Here sweeps a plantation in that beautiful regular curve; there winds a gravel walk; here are parts of the old wood left in these majestical regular clumps dis- posed at equal distances with wonderful symmetry; there are some singular shrubs scattered about in ele- gant profusion; here a portugal Jaurel; there a spruce fir; here a juniper; here a lauristinus; there a spruce fir; here a larch; there a lilac; here a rhododendron; there an arbutus. The stream you see has become a canal: the banks are perfectly smooth and green, sloping to the water’s edge." Piickler wrote also more than once in praise of Repton’s work, and even brought Repton’s t Headlong Hall. The Prince’s criticisms of the landscape garden- ing of Germany are severe and the comparisons he makes with England are much to the disadvantage of his Fatherland. However, he had great hopes of the Royal Gardens at Potsdam, which were being laid out at that time by the famous landscape artist Lenné, and which are to-day the glory of Germany, and it should be said here that a few of the strictures made by Piickler in the early part of the nineteenth century would apply to much of the German landscape gardening of to-day. I do not mean to imply that a large part of the landscape gardening of Germany is not open to criticism viewed from a high artistic standpoint, just as is that of England; but it may be fairly said that German landscape gardening approaches that of England more nearly now than it did in the time of Prince Piickler. XXX EpiTor’s INTRODUCTION son from England to help him in improving Muskau. He speaks appreciatively of many land- scape architects and horticulturists or gardeners, explains their ideas, and even quotes them at length, and does not hesitate to criticize them as he did in the case of Repton’s son. Nor did he claim for himself any special academic standing. He did not apparently consider himself a pro- fessor of the art, nor did he undertake to found any special school of landscape gardening. Rather he felt like a great amateur who engaged him- self in a pleasant occupation with profound se- riousness, and faithfully devoted himself to it because it was the joy of his life. Probably, if he had desired posthumous fame, he would have written more for publication. It sufficed him to make a fine map of the park of Muskau and describe it more or less completely and add thereto sundry “hints,” as he terms them, although their character is so fundamental and comprehensive that it would be difficult to find anything better of its kind in landscape-gardening literature. A quaint, original, free spirit of a man! He did his chore in life with little regard to fame, and none too much for rules or conven- tions. Consequently, it is not strange that, with his broad and almost prophetic outlook, he should impress us as almost a man of the present day. Certainly, as one walks and drives at the present time around his park at Muskau, it is impossible not to recognize the kinship of his work with modern landscape gardening. He seems to have Uapliey) [euoy pur apesey seq apses wey ue[g EpiTor’s INTRODUCTION XXXi ¥ realized his ideas with such force and vividness that when he finally executed them the excel- lence of his work was so evident that except in minor details it has remained unmolested until the present time. It is not always' so with great places. Repton built Bulstrode for the Duke of Portland in 1810 and gives an elaborate map of it as one of his important works, yet Prince Puckler notes in one of his letters that, at that time, in 1829, it had been pulled to pieces and the ground ploughed up. We can all remember instances of a similar kind. It may be possible, and even probable as already noted, that the land- scape art of the park at Muskau may have been of such evident excellence that, as the estate passed from one owner to another, being at present in the possession of Hermann von Arnim-Muskau, each one has instinctively kept intact its essential beauty. For similar reasons, Central Park, New York, has acquired and retained defenders who, amid the continued storm and stress of the attacks from all sorts and conditions of men, have man- aged to keep its landscape soul alive down to the present day. Quite otherwise than with a paint- ing the park or estate must display the finest kind of art or it will not find the doughty defenders needed to resist the enemies that will be sure to rise up on every side from the midst of good people who really think themselves the best of friends. Nor do degeneration and destruction of parks result generally from neglect, as in the case of Babelsburgh, near Potsdam, much of the XXXIi Epiror’s INTRODUCTION beauty of which is the result of Prince Puckler’s ideas and advice, but it comes from sinning against the light by those who ought to know better. Fortunately, if the art is really sound and true there generally seems to be a David to come for- ward and redeem the delectable land from the hands of the Philistines. The full development of landscape architecture came late. Greek art in architecture, sculpture, song, and the drama struck a high note which reached almost perfection two thousand years before the glimmerings of true landscape archi- tecture appeared in the seventeenth century. Nature hardly appealed to pagan artists except in the form of a human being. When Christ said, “Consider the lilies,” he struck a new note, which, although submerged and lost in the monastic sterility of the Middle Ages, began to secure recognition of its true value in the minds of men like Du F resny who first applied his genius to the landscape concep- tion of a new Versailles, which was unfortunatel not accepted by Louis XIV. All through the eighteenth century this lily of Christ’s own thought continued to open its petals until in the early days of the nineteenth century, in the works of Repton and Prince Pickler, the goodly flower of landscape architecture appeared in full bloom. It is not that finer trees and shrubs, better turf and wider vistas have not obtained in later days. That goes without saying! It is that men have learned how to design a landscape on natural EpiTor’s INTRODUCTION XXX1l1 lines, to take a terrain and study out just what it is worth for the purpose of creating a landscape which shall be evolved from its own peculiar constitution and capacity for beauty. Better work may be done and has been done; note Central and Prospect Parks, New York City, designed by Olmsted and Vaux. These men, as well as Prince Pickler, also based their work on funda- mental principles of art, and in the best land- scape architecture of the future these principles will not and cannot be changed, for they are in- herent in the nature of the subject. As an example of the way Pickler indicated his principles of design it may be permitted to quote a final passage from one of his letters: — The Park at Mount B. affords a perfect study for the judicious distribution of masses of water to which it is so difficult to give the character of grandeur and sim- plicity that ought to belong to them. It is necessary to study the forms of nature for the details, but the prin- cipal thing is never to suffer an expanse of water to be completely overlooked or seen to its whole extent. It should break on the eye gradually, and if possible lose itself at several points at the same time, in order to give full play to the fancy; the true art in all landscape gardening. The estimate of the genius of Pickler, enunci- ated by Goethe nearly a hundred years ago, has been already quoted. It would seem well to com- pare this with the latest and most authoritative criticism of Ptickler made in one of the letters of the late Charles Eliot, the best writer on land- XXXIV Ep1Tor’s INTRODUCTION scape architecture of the present generation. He writes as follows: Piickler “would evolve, from out of the confused natural situation, a’compo- sition in which all that was fundamentally char- acteristic of the scenery, the history, and indus- try of his estate, should be harmoniously united.” In other words, as the same author writes farther on, “he would not force upon his native land- scape any foreign type of beauty; on the contrary, his aim was the transfiguration, the idealization of such beauty as was indigenous.” Again Charles Eliot writes: — One circumstance greatly favored the accomplish- ment of his design — namely, the very fact that he had to do with a valley and not with a plain or plateau. The irregular rising land skirting the river levels sup- plied the frame for his picture: the considerable stream flowing through the midst of the level with here and there a sweep towards the enclosing hills, became the all connecting and controlling element in his landscape. Well he knew what artists call breadth and unity of effect was fully assured if only he abstained from in- serting impertinent structures or other objects in the midst of this hill-bounded intervale. With his usual disregard of difficulties, Pickler boldly diverted the river, first into a broad lake, then into the moat of the castle, and finally into a brook through the garden, where, unlike the London rivers which the poet Gray says “only glide and whisper,” the water dances along over rocks and “roars gently.”” This beautiful piece of work looks so natural one cannot believe wIsqus[g Ww aye] oy) Jo Mara EpitTor’s INTRODUCTION XXXV it artificial, and that is because Puckler faith- fully applied his principles of art, not after the Englishman Brown’s methods, but according to Nature’s way. This kind of boldness and nature-wise treatment appears everywhere, as may be seen by any one visiting the park to-day. While one wanders around the shores of the lake out on the lawn and passes through the garden and across the bridge and up and up to the heights where the remnants of the sacred groves stand, one finally turns and surveys the scene of “tower andtown,’’ castle and baths, and thesmoke of the factories, all codrdinated and unified in one great picture as far as the eye can see, five thou- sand acres, and miles of territory. The parts are as completely harmonized as an opera, or a song, or a great picture. After dwelling on this scene, are we not justi- fied in asserting that in all essential matters Prince Pickler has stamped “ the last word” on his park at Muskau. There may be parks, and doubtless are, more perfect in this or that part, but it must be conceded by good judges that Piickler has, in spite of his limitations, mistakes, and fail- ures, created one of the few great parks of the world. The book, Hints on Landscape Gardening, although it may seem to deal chiefly with Pickler’s letters from England, is really a kind of notebook rather than a formal treatise. It is, however, very informing of the principles and practice of Pickler in his landscape treatment XXXVI Epiror’s INTRODUCTION of his estates at Muskau. It is, in part, a disser- tation occupying itself with many things be- sides landscape architecture, but it is full of sound ideas and suggestions. It does not devote itself chiefly to the discussion of trees and shrubs, as do many books of a similar kind, but it gives you the underlying rules of the art. You will readily excuse the digressions, which Pickler himself deplores, when you come to study the system of practice and the details of the plan by means of journeys in the book which take you miles around the park. It is doubtful whether so extended a study of a great park was ever written before by the man who designed the entire scheme. The Prince did not undertake to instruct the reader fully and completely. He claimed to have had “a fairly long practical experience, much careful study of practical ex- amples combined with a passionate love of the art of gardening in the widest sense,” all of which enabled him, he thinks, “to give some valuable hints and to draw up some useful rules.” His philosophy, his art, and his poetry do seem at times, however, to render his treatise hardly scientific in the ordinary sense of the term, and yet his advice is almost always sound and sensible; moreover, with it all, he not infre- quently drops into the frame of mind of the man who, as the old phrase has it, “talks as he walks and thus to himself says he.” It is simply Prince Pickler with all that goes to make Prince Piick- ler. He is a prince and, at the same time, some- EpitTor’s INTRODUCTION XXXVI thing very like a socialist, and not, by any means, always a gardener, deeply as he is interested in horticulture. He had no desire to speak unkindly of any one, but always his “free spirit” de- manded scope of expression. Doubtless he wan- dered far afield in his musings, but if the reader will only dwell for a little on some of his sen- tences that seem to him, at first, discursive and even possibly absurd, he will finally come to find in them food for much thought. It is the man Pickler whom we cannot help wishing to know quite as much as his interpretation of his art. He was certainly a personality. Can any one re- member as strong and interesting a personality among landscape architects? The author’s treatment of his subject in his book on landscape gardening is simple. He lays down, or rather hints and intimates, as the title of the book indicates, principles and ideas that should control, in chapters devoted to the laying- out of a park, to enclosures or fences, to the lo- cation of buildings, to the making of country estates, to trees and shrubs and their grouping, to roads and paths, water features, islands, rocks, grading, maintenance; all of which are illus- trated by examples taken from the estate of Muskau. He evidently did not overestimate the value of plans, excellent as his own were, deeming them frequently deceptive. Personal superintendence of the work, supplementing and developing still further the ideas of the plan, evidently for him XXXVIil Ep1tTor’s INTRODUCTION were of prime importance. Some things he says about construction of roads and paths and the management of plants, trees, and shrubs, etc., might well be revised in the light of the im- provements that necessarily come with the ex- perience of nearly a hundred years, but it is astonishing, at the same time, to find how much of his advice agrees with the best practice of modern days. Indeed, when all is said that can be said about Pickler’s limitations, the question is still in order, where else, except in his pages and those of Whately, can be found an equally fine pres- entation of the great art of landscape architec- ture? Others writing on the same subject will even seem to some, by comparison, dry and aca- demic. Frederick Law Olmsted, almost alone, has written passages that emit a like sparkle of genius. Poetically inspired words and wit and wisdom continually emerge from Prince Piick- ler’s strange, mystical meditations. He cannot help writing in this vein even on what would be ordinarily considered quite prosaic subjects, as shown by the following quotation :— What the gold backgrounds of the old masters, which set out the sweet, lovable faces of madonnas and saints in so ideal a manner, are to religious pictures, green, luxuriant grass spaces are to a landscape. Here, too, is a quotation, illustrative of what I mean, which is decidedly quaint and original and certainly poetical, far and away different EpiTor’s INTRODUCTION XXX1X from what one would expect to find in this par- ticular context: — Even so one might compare a higher garden art with music and, at least as fitly as architecture has been called “frozen music,” to call garden art “ growing music.” It, too, has its symphonies, adagios, and alle- gros, which stir the senses with vague but powerful emo- tions. Further, as Nature offers her features to the landscape gardener for use and choice, so does she of- fer to music her fundamental tones; beautiful like the human voice, the song of birds, the thunder of the tempest, the roaring of the hurricane, the bodeful wail- ing of branches — ugly sounds like howling, bellowing, clattering, and squeaking. Yet the instruments bring all these out and work, according to circumstances, ear- splitting sounds inthe hands of the incompetent, en- trancing when arranged by the artist in an orderly whole. The genial Nature painter does the same. He studies the manifold material given him by Nature and by his art works the scattered parts into a beautiful whole, whose melody flatters the senses, but unfolds its high- est powers and yields the greatest enjoyment only when harmony has breathed true soul into the work. Furthermore, it may be said, in addition to these conclusions of Prince Piickler, that enter- ing more deeply and widely into the heart of Nature than either painting, music, or sculpture, landscape architecture “is a union of many di- verse elements, all constantly changing and act- ing upon each other, such as we see in some fair meadow, lit by sunshine after rain, wherein all things, — from the chemical ingredients of the grasses, and the lines of the flowers, to the con- stituents of the stream that flows through it, to xl Ep1Tor’s INTRODUCTION the colors of the sky and the cloud shadows, and the songs of the birds and the humming of the little insects, and the quiver of the butterfly wings, — and each and all affected and affecting each other, yet unite to create a whole which has a deeper harmony than other arts, because it is alive and changes in all its parts from moment to moment.” The age in which Pickler lived was not ex- ‘actly that of great or original architects. This _was the case particularly in Germany. It was the | period of learning and versatility, and was chiefly imitative in the character of its art, and essen- ‘tially classic. Schinkel planned a replica of the Parthenon at Athens to be erected in the Crimea. It is difficult to understand how Prince Pickler could have been so carried away by his admiration of Schinkel whose fame has not come down to us with any real distinction. Schinkel’s undoubted versatility both in architecture and painting and his great learning in Greek art gave him vogue at the time. It is probable that many of the extra- ordinary conceptions found in Puckler’s flower designs, bridges, and temples, fortunately seldom carried out, owe their objectionable features to the influence, if not the pencil, of Schinkel. It is seldom, indeed, that we find a landscape architect of parts who is also a really competent architect, and the reverse is likewise true. At first thought, it might seem quite feasible to com- bine the work of the two professions, but, in actual practice, the attempt generally fails. Cer- EpitTor’s INTRODUCTION xli tainly Le Notre did not succeed. Calvert Vaux was a trained architect originally, but his abid- ing reputation is entirely based on his work as a landscape architect in designing Central Park, New York, and other great parks of a similar character. Mr. Olmsted, perhaps the greatest of our latter-day landscape architects, never at any time undertook to assume the réle of architect. On the other hand, it is doubtful whether any eminent architect of the present day would as- sume to lay out an entire park or country estate. He does undertake to lay out gardens (called, it is true, by Pickler “extensions of the house’’) with a limited measure of success, for how can he design a garden with intelligence, without an intimate knowledge of plants which he rarely has. A garden should be something more than a problem of architecture. It may be claimed and is claimed by most landscape architects that landscape architecture, like all work which seeks to deal with live Na- ture, requires unity of idea everywhere, and that, with many differences, parks and gardens should be considered fundamentally the same. In the case of both gardens and parks the landscape architect deals with simple, open spaces, and in- tricate, complicated, crowded spaces, with high and low trees and shrubs, perennials and bedding plants and grasses, each requiring artistic rela- tions, one with the other. In reviewing the various designs of Piickler, it is interesting to note that some of the excel- xlii EpitTor’s INTRODUCTION lent advice that he gives is disregarded in the actual designs that he proposes to use, and actu- ally used, in some cases, in his park. No one, it must be remembered, however, is entirely con- sistent in his ideas nor is it desirable he should beso. Certainly Pickler with his peculiar genius could not be expected to be a paragon of con- sistency. What Pickler writes on Italian villas shows how instinctively his good taste leads him to right conclusions. He says: — In general, a certain irregularity is preferable in build- ings in a park, as being more in conformity with Nature and more picturesque. . . . This same principle ap- pears in the designs of the ancient villas... . Traces of this principle are also found in the Italy of the Renais- sance, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries: buildings half hidden by others, large and small windows on the same face of the building, side doors, projecting and receding corners, ... cornice, roofs jutting out, and balconies unsymmetrically placed, in short, everywhere a great but by no means inharmonious irregularity, which pleases the fancy because the reason for every departure from regularity is evident or may be sur- mised. The garden art of the Romans, which, through the study of the classical writers, and especially through the description which Pliny gives of his villa, again came into practice in the fifteenth century in Italv, and which has later, in the so-called French gardens, altered into colder, less comfortable forms, deserves particular consideration on this very point. This rich and sump- tuous art, which may be called an extension of the art of architecture from the house to the garden, — or, as the English might say, the approach of the landscape to the very doors of the house, — may be most suitably applied to this purpose. Ep1irTor’s INTRODUCTION xliii It should be said, however, that many of Piickler’s most extravagant garden designs were never carried out, either by himself at the time, or by others at a later date, and to-day there is little that is bizarre or offensive to good taste to be seen at Muskau. The ideas of Piickler which are essential to the development of his original and comprehensive design have been unquestion- ably, to a large extent, realized and retained. Pickler has this paragraph in his book : — To avoid all misunderstanding, I repeat that, in or- der not to break the thread of my description at every moment, much which is only proposed. has to be de- scribed as though already complete; and that hardly one third of the place has been so far carried out, al- though perhaps three quarters of the work has been done. The difficulties he had to overcome were enor- mous, as explained in his journeys with the reader around his estate. Puckler’s passionate love of trees and his pride in his ancestors is illustrated by the following passage, which, on account of its peculiarly characteristic quality, seems to demand special | mention in these preliminary pages: — . The finest forms of mountains and lakes, the bril- liancy of the sun and sky, combined with the naked rocks and bare lakes, cannot replace meadows and the... diversified, pleasing green and rich foliage. Fortunate the man to whom his forbears have bequeathed lofty woods of old oaks, beeches, and lindens, these proud giants of our Northern clime, standing still untouched by the woodman’s murderous axe. He should never regard xliv EpitTor’s INTRODUCTION them without veneration and delight, he should cher- ish them as the apple of his eye, for neither money nor power, neither a Croesus nor an Alexander, can restore an oak a thousand years old in its wonderful majesty after the poor laborer has felled it. Terrible and swift is the destructive power of man, but poor and weak is his power to rebuild. May an ancient tree be to you, kind reader, who love Nature, a holy thing. The concluding paragraph of the book makes a fine ending to his dissertation on his much- loved pursuit : — For when once the landowner has begun to idealize his property, he will soon become aware that cultiva- tion of the soil will secure for him not only pecuniary advantage, but also real artistic delight, and how thank- ful Nature is to him who dedicates his powers with love. So then, if each one does his best for his own tirelessly and thoroughly, and the thousand facets combine easily and well to form one ring, the lovable dream of the St. Simonians might become true of a universal cult of our mother earth. For this purpose, however, it would be well to turn aside a little from these sad politics, which absorb everything and give so little in return, and revert a little more to happy art, whose service is in itself a reward ; since for the ruling of the State we can- not all strive. But to seek to improve himself and his property is in the power of each one of us, and it is even a question whether in such a simple manner, in honest and homely endeavor, the so-much-desired freedom may not be attained with more calm and safety than by the many experiments in superficial theoretic forms of State. For he only can be free who commands himself. The letters from England, however, form the best kind of introduction to the real Pickler and Ep1Tor’s INTRODUCTION xlv his book on landscape gardening. There is noth- ing more informing of the growth and the aspi- rations and inspirations of a man than his letters to a close friend or dear relative, and the greater the man, the more ready, generally, and it seems in most cases, the more able, he is to reveal on paper his actual heart and soul,—cor ad cor loguitur. SAMUEL Parsons HINTS ON LANDSCAPE GARDENING AUTHOR’S INTRODUCTION Author’s Introduction Permtrt us to bring the beautiful also into our de- sign: for I do not see why we should disassociate the beautiful from the useful, for what—to come to the point— what is useful? Merely what nourishes us, warms us, and shelters us from the weather? And why do wecall such things useful? Only because they tolerably ad- vance the welfare of mankind? Yet the beautiful ad- vances it in a far higher and greater degree; therefore among useful things the beautiful is the most useful of al]. (Vom ReEcIzREN, German Memoirs.) N the greater part of Germany, it must be admitted, we have scarcely yet awakened to the practical and successful pursuit of utilities, and but few*have directed their intelligence and ener- gies, without consideration of advantage, to the beautiful; a general, intelligent combination of both aims is yet rarer. This applies most of all to every kind of landed property, and it is certain that herein England has advanced beyond our level of civilization by nearly a century : what is there accomplished with ease, here remains all but impracticable. But it is time that our well-to-do landowners sought a closer rapprochement with the English system and without slavish imitation studied rather the intention than the form, always giving due consideration to the conditions of locality. If I cite England as an example, it is not be- 4 Hints on LAnpscAPpE GARDENING cause it is the fashion, or from Anglomania, but from the firm conviction that England must for a long time remain an unattainable model in the art of a worthy, and, if the expression may be permitted, a gentlemanly (gentlemanartigen), en- joyment of life, especially with regard to coun- try life, in general ‘comfort’? combined with the fullest appreciation of a noble sense of beauty in every form, as far removed from effeminate, Asi- atic voluptuousness as from Continental squalor and dirt, which has its origin, not in poverty, but in bad habits and neglected household arrange- ments. _ In this higher cultivation of the pleasures of life landscape gardening has also developed to an extent that no period and no other country seem to have known; and, in spite of a generally gloomy and sunless climate, England has devel- oped it into the most delightful pursuit for the friend of Nature, for the connoisseur who loves her most when she appears in unison with the shap- ing hand of man, as the raw jewel first obtains its greatest beauty only through polish. I do not by this wish to say that Nature at her wildest, left alone to her simple, often sublime, and some- time even awful, grandeur, may not evoke the deepest, nay, the most religious, sentiments; but for /asting welfare human care and intelligence are indispensable. Even in painted landscape, we demand something which reminds us of human effort,—as we say, to animate it. Yet a far greater variety is required in real, than in painted, WOMIDG TATY 9} pur [PH uoppeH \ AuTHor’s INTRODUCTION 5 landscape, and it is much more agreeable, as well as beneficial, to the feeling human heart when, as in England, we can admire in Nature, almost everywhere idealized by art, not only the palaces and gardens of the great in their pride and mag- nificence, but also, zz harmonious whole, the modest dwellings of small farmers laid out with as much charm, and finished as completely. For they also, like the proud castles, peep sweetly out from primeval trees or repose on gay meadows, sur- rounded by blossoming shrubs, and show with equal clearness, by appropriate form and sober cleanliness, the delicate taste of their owners. The poorest can deck his straw hat with flowers and tend, after his daily work, a well-kept garden, however small, where naught but velvet lawn grows, “ ‘midst rose and jessamine odors.” Must we not be filled with a real sense of 7 shame when we look for a counterpart here and still find the greater part of our country seats whose chief view looks on the manure heap, at whose gates for the greater part of the day swine and geese disport themselves, and whose interiors can show, as an attempt at cleanliness, only com- mon boards strewn with sand? I have frequently seen in my Fatherland in North Germany very well-to-do persons, owners of hundreds of thousands of marks, living in such pseudo-castles — mansions, as they called them — as an English farmer no doubt would without hesitation have taken for stables. Is such a place the seat of a gentleman? A 6 Hints on LAanpscArpE GARDENING property embellished by the cabbage garden, usually close to the house, with at the most a few carnations and single lavender plants surrounding his onions and beet roots; alleys of crooked fruit trees sadly hemmed in by cabbages and turnips! Should a few old oaks or limes from his fore- fathers’ day have withstood the tooth of time, then the good husbandman seldom fails to rob them of their foliage for his sheep, so that they stand there like. naked victims, stretching out their branches to heaven, as if for vengeance. Yet more painful is it when the owner, bitten by the fashion, has conceived the notion of laying out his gardens in so-called English style. The straight roads are then turned into cork- screw forms which are just as mechanical, ser- pentining in the most tedious manner through young birches, poplars, and larches, and gener- ally either impassable after every shower from mud, or in dry weather making the visitor wade perspiring through loose sand. A few exotic shrubs, which grow badly and are much less beautiful than native ones, are planted, mixed with young firs on the borders. After a few years they encumber the ground, have to be lopped, later on lose their lower branches, and thus pre- sent to our view only bare stems with the naked earth between, while on the spaces left open the badly nourished grass and stumpy exotics give a picture neither of a free natural, nor of an arti- ficial, garden. If the plan is more seriously carried out and AutTuor’s INTRODUCTION 7 on a larger scale, the imperceptibly flowing ditch is widened to what is called a stream, a gigantic bridge is built of rough birch trunks in a formid- able arch over the modest brook, two or three stiff avenues are cut through the wood to give distant views, and here and there the much- affected temples and ruins are dotted about, of which the first usually become in a short space what the second pretend to be. This, with a few exceptional cases, is as a rule \, the highest achievement of such an undertaking, | which really only causes regret that good land should be so uselessly withdrawn from field and vegetable culture. Meanwhile all this has been ridiculed with more or less wit often enough, but 7¢ zs seldom better done, even now, and for this reason alone do I here repeat, that many great and costly plans, begun with the best intentions and executed at some expense, unfortunately too evidently bear. traces of the very poor place which the art of landscape gardening as yet holds in our Father- land. It is true that there are a few exceptions, but a completed example which could be set be- side the best English plans has not come within my experience. We may hope, however, that the royal gardens, under the direction of the excel- lent director, Lenné, which are to surround all Potsdam with a park, will present us with such an example. Far from intending to instruct in any exhaus- tive manner on this subject, a fairly long prac- 8 HIntTs on LANDSCAPE GARDENING tical experience, the careful study of excellent examples, combined with a passionate love for the subject and the earnest perusal of the best works on the art of gardening in its widest sense, have enabled me, I think, to give some valuable hints and to draw up some useful rules, which will appear to the expert not quite unworthy and which may appear opportune to some dilettante in Nature-painting, if I may so call the creation of a picture, not with colors, but with real woods, hills, meadows, and streams, and which may put it in the category of the arts. For rightly under- stood and judiciously carried out, these sugges- tions may put one ina position, without having to travel the costly and difficult road of experi- ence, to entrust to the park director, engineer, inspector, gardener, or whatever he may be called, merely the technical execution of his own ideas, and thus himself present a work of art, sprung from his own individuality, formed out of his own temperament, instead of having a garden or rather a region made, as one orders a suit of clothes at the tailor’s. Much will be found, if not familiar, yet per- haps not exactly new, and many an idea may have been better expressed, especially in English works, which, however, are apt to be tediously prolix and to dilute every millionth part of salt with a caskful of water.’ * When this work was nearly finished, my attention was drawn to a manual on the same theme, recently published in Leipsic. I was pre- pared to suppress my work, but found on perusal of the manual, noth- ing but a laborious compilation of badly digested recipes from English AvuTuor’s INTRODUCTION 9 The compression and brevity which I have aimed at in matters of common knowledge will, I hope, earn the gratitude of the reader, but as a small merit I may claim that really nothing has been copied from books, but that everything which I give has been found to be true from per- sonal experience and practically verified. For the better understanding of what follows it will be necessary briefly to give the manner in which I intend ordering my remarks. I shall show by titles in their order the con- tents of each chapter, and for this I shall for the most part utilize the park laid out by myself, since my theory, as I have said, is chiefly carried out in this park. : Drawings, which make the text more read- able, have been inserted wherever necessary for complete comprehension. A thorough exposi- tion of general principles is followed by a short history and description of the park itself, with continual reference to the rules previously laid down. It is not, however, my intention to go into too great detail, but to set forth the results obtained rather than the particular road taken, and, as the title “Hints” shows, in no way to give a complete manual, confining myself to those matters in which we seem to be chiefly lacking, and finally leave to the technical work- man or expert whatever lies in his province. works. What Blumenbach said of phrenology applies to this book: «¢ The true is not new, and the new is not true.’’ Repton has sup- plied most of the useful matter, but, for the most part, it has been mis- understood. PART FIRST HINTS ON LANDSCAPE GARDENING IN GENERAL Chapter I The Laying-out of a Park HE indispensable foundation for the build- ing of a park is a controlling scheme." It should be begun and carried out with entire con- sistency. It is therefore necessary to have it thor- oughly thought out from the first, and guided all the way through by one controlling mind, a mind that should make use of the thoughts of many others, welding them into an organic whole so that the stamp of individuality and unity shall never be lost. But let me not be misunderstood; a general plan should govern the whole; there must be no room for random work; in every de- tail the guiding, creating brain must be seen; and it is essential that the scheme should originate from the special circumstances of the artist, from the experience and conditions of his life or the former history of his family, limited by the lo- cality with which he has to deal. I do not ad- vise, however, that the whole plan should be worked out in exact detail at first and doggedly * One principle should, above all, underlie the art of park design; namely, the creation, from the material at hand, out of the place as it stands, of a concentrated picture having Nature as its poetical ideal; the same principle which, embodied in all other spheres of art, makes of the true work of art a microcosm, a perfect, self-contained world in little. 14 Hints on LanpscaPE GARDENING maintained to the end. I would, to a large ex- tent, recommend just the opposite; for even if the main scheme comprehends many features which may be considered from the start, in work- ing it out, the artist must continually follow the inspiration of his imagination. From time to time the painter will alter his picture (which, after all, is much less complicated than the pic- ture the landscape gardener has to create), here and there making a part more true to the gen- eral effect or to Nature, here improving a tone, there giving more accent, more power to a line. Why, then, should the landscape gardener, who works in material so refractory, so changeable, and often so impossible to estimate in advance, and who, moreover, has to unite many different pictures in one,—why should he be expected to succeed in hitting the mark at the first at- tempt infallibly? Much will be discovered as he goes on studying, observing, both within and without the confines of the place,—the light effects on his raw material (for light is one of his chief assets), establishing cause and effect, and thereby finding new ways of working out in detail his early motives, or giving them up altogether if other ideas for the treatment of parts occur to him as being better. ; To leave, undisturbed, some particular feature which has proved a failure, is pitiable. The rea- son the blemish is left is because it has cost so much time, so much money, and because a change would add to the expense, costing as much Tue Layinc-ouT or a Park 15 again or even more. Constant discipline is indis- pensable in the proper exercise of any art, and when means are not sufficient to treat every part of a park as it should be treated, what money there is had better be devoted toward the im- provement of the old established features than to the making of new ones. The postponing of al- terations which are recognized as advisable is a dangerous proceeding also, because existing faults easily lead to the wrong treatment of new fea- tures. ; It has been truly said that “artistic produc- tion is a matter of conscience’’; hence a person with an artistic conscience cannot remain con- tent with parts that have been recognized as not up to the standard, or as failures. Following the example of Nature, which starts and completes her humblest work with the same assiduous care that she bestows upon her most sublime crea- tions, one would rather make any sacrifice than leave the blemish one has become aware of, even if in itself it is but a subordinate matter. Although in my work at Muskau I never de- parted a moment from the main idea which I shall have occasion later to describe, yet I con- fess that many portions have not only been re- touched, but that they have been entirely changed, often once, sometimes three and even four times. It would be a great error to suppose that confu- sion results from repeated alterations undertaken with intelligence, for sound reasons and not from caprice. Rather than that they should be un- 16 Hints on LanpscaPpe GARDENING dertaken from pure caprice it would certainly be best never to have alterations for. improvement. {n general the dictum, monum prematur in annum, holds good. One must never rest with correcting and refining until the best possible results have been attained ; a principle never to be relinquished and which oftentimes alone proves to be the great teacher." One can see from this how unwise it is to invite a strange artist for some days or weeks, or even months, with the view of making a plan in which every road and every plantation, the com- manding features and all the details, are exactly fixed; and worse still, to send such a person merely a survey of the place, he having no know]- edge of the character of the region, of the effects of hill and dale, of high or low trees in the im- mediate foreground or in the distance, so that he may proceed at once to draw on submissive paper his lines, which, no doubt, may look very pretty and well there, but which realized into facts are bound to achieve at best an inappropriate and unsatisfactory design. One who intends to build up a landscape must do so out of the actual ma- * Some years ago, when I was showing my place to a lady of intel- ligence and understanding, she modestly remarked that she understood but little of the matter ; that she could call to mind many more pic- turesque, grandiose places than mine, but that here, with the general impression of quietness and simplicity, something new appealed to her at every turn. Noremark could have been more flattering to me, and if her opinion is well founded I may consider my work truly successful, a result which may be attributed largely to the two principles followed: to have one main idea, and yet never to allow any feature to remain which had proved in any way to be a failure. Tue Layinc-ouT oF a Park t7 terials from which that particular landscape is to be created, and he must be familiar with them in every particular. Both in plan and execution he works quite otherwise than does the painter on his canvas; he deals with realities. The beauty of a bit of real Nature, which by the art of the painter can only be partly hinted at, cannot ona plan be given at all. I am inclined to believe, on the contrary, that, except in a very flat region where no views are possible and where little can be achieved anyhow, a plan which is agreeable to look at, with lines pleasing to the eye, cannot is that in order to achieve fine results in landscape gardening one is often obliged to select lines which in a plan drawn on paper have no charm. , truly stand for beauty in Nature. My experience \ Chapter II Size and Extent wt. OR the landscape architect to achieve a great effect, it is not necessary that a park should \. be large. An extended estate is often so bungled, so belittled by incompetent treatment, that, lack- ing in unity, it appears quite small. I may here remark, by the way, that I think Michael An- gelo was totally wrong when he said about the Pantheon, “‘ Ye marvel at it on the earth, I will set it in the heavens.” He meant thereby to achieve a more imposing effect, and as he said, so he did. He gave to the dome of St. Peter’s the same size as that of the Pantheon, but how unfortunate is the result! The dome of St. Peter’s, looming up in the air above the enor- mous masses of the building, appears in propor- tion small and insignificant, while the dome of the old Pantheon, placed on the right base, ap- pears after centuries as sublime as the arch of the firmament. Poised on the summit of Mont Blanc the Pyramids would hardly appear as large as sentry boxes, and Mont Blanc itself, seen from the dis- tant plains, looks like a little snow-hill. Large and small are, therefore, relative terms. It is not from the thing itself that we judge, but from its Size AND ExTENT 19 appearance in given surroundings, and it is here that landscape architecture has the widest of fields. For instance, a tree a hundred feet high, which in the middle distance hardly rises above the horizon, will at a short distance tower above it; hence, with intelligent management, with due appreciation of the value that a relation of fore- ground has to distance, it is possible to give character and expression to the landscape and to secure an effect of grandeur and extent. I cannot help remarking here that if I have always held up as a model the general appear- ance of English parks, which testify to a uni- versally diffused taste for park culture and em- bellishment, I still believe that in many ways England might have done much better. It seems to me that with much beauty most English _ parks have one blemish which makes them, on —2 eae long acquaintance, rather tedious and monoto- nous. I have in mind neither the English “ pleas- ure-grounds”’ nor their gardens, — which are full of variety, —but their parks. For instance, in re- gard to the deliberate treatment of these parks as features laid out on a diminutive scale, the effect seems to be altogether inadequate when com- pared to the grandeur and magnificence of the open country around them. Indeed, in my opin- ion, the outside country not infrequently resem- bles far more a region ennobled by art in variety than the parks. Many English parks are in fact nothing but interminable meadows serving as pastures for 20 Hints on LanpscAPE GARDENING numerous herds, either of tame deer, sheep, cat- tle, or horses, with a few picturesquely arranged groups of lofty old trees. The first view of such noble spaces is imposing. One has the impression of a splendid picture, but it is the same picture and the impression therefore is always the same. Many blemishes become evident in the detail. All tree-trunks being browsed upon up to a certain height by the cattle (often with an effect quite as regular as if trimmed with shears), much and needed variety of form is lost. The shrubbery cannot be preserved without special enclosures ; and hence it is needed to diversify the scene, and help make, within the picture of the ensemble, many subordinate ones; indeed, every newly planted tree must be enclosed ; and such artificial enclosures gives to the picture a very stiff look. : A single path usually leads through these wide grassy expanses to and from the castle, which, in the middle of the lawn, stands bald and cold in lonely majesty while cows and sheep browse up to the marble steps leading to it. It would not be surprising if the visitor, feeling quite for- lorn in such monotonous and lonely grandeur, should be under the impression that he had come upon a bewitched region no longer inhabited by man, where John Bull had been really trans- formed into the shape of a beast. This effect could easily be avoided if allotted spaces were set apart for cattle as well as for deer, instead of having the whole park given over to them. It seems to have become a fixed idea with the S1zE AND EXTENT 21 English that a landscape without cattle is bound to be melancholy, and, on the other hand, they consider the animation by human beings to be proportionately objectionable, and private gar- dens are, as a rule, barred to the stranger." The democratic, humane use of our great German estates is foreign to them, but their excuse is perhaps to be found in the roughness of their mob. “ T have previously stated the proposition that size is not an absolutely necessary element in the making of a park; yet, where possible, I think it very desirable, in order that a greater variety of parts may be gained, a quality which will always present the supreme charm of novelty, Laid out with equal intelligence I should always prefer the more extensive to the smaller park, even if the latter should be more favored by Nature. In Prussia, where land has so much less value than in other countries, such large estates are easily obtainable, and I advise every one of my countrymen to strive for large places. It is certain that, considered as a little world sufficient unto itself, a park where one cannot ride or drive for an hour at least without going over the same roads, and which does not comprise many roads and walks, very soon tires one, if confined to italone. But where a rich, picturesque Nature has already idealized the region around and has made it, as it were, into a great work of art, as in the case of many parts of Switzerland, Italy, * This is not the case at the present time. 22 Hints on LANDSCAPE GARDENING South Germany, or Silesia, then I am, on the whole, of the opinion that projects of parks are hors da’ euvre. It would be like a little landscape , in the corner of a magnificent Claude Lorrain. There one’s work should be confined to the lay- ing-out of good roads, that the enjoyment of such rare scenery may be made easier, here and there taking down some isolated trees in order to open views which are hidden by Nature, always indifferent to the display of her beauties. \~ Near the house, however, one should seek for ‘the charm of a garden of modest proportions, which, whenever possible, would contrast with * Nature around. In such a garden one should have in view, not so much the variety of a land- _ Scape, as comfort and charm, safety and elegance. ~The garden ar art of the Romans, which, through the study of the classical writers, and especially through the description which Pliny gives of his villa, again came into practice in the fifteenth century in Italy, and which was later, in the so- called French gardens, altered into colder, less comfortable forms, deserves particular considera- tion on this very point. This rich and sumptu- ous art, which may be called an extension of the art of architecture from the house to the garden, —or, as the English might say, the approach of the landscape to the very doors of the house, — may be most suitably applied to this purpose. Imagine, for instance, among the precipices and waterfalls, the dark pine woods and blue glaciers of mountainous Switzerland, a classical, antique a SIZE AND ExTENT 23 building, a palace from the Strada Balbi, sump- tuous in its decorative flourishes, surrounded with high terraces, with rich, multi-colored parterres of flowers, studded with marble statues and alive with the movement of waters, — what a contrast would this be to the tremendous, naked grandeur of the setting of mountains? A few steps aside in the woods, and palace and gardens would have vanished from view, as by magic, to make room again for the undisturbed loneliness and majestic wilderness of Nature. Farther on, perhaps, a bend in the road would open up an unexpected vista, where, in the distance, the work of art, like a realized fairy dream, would show through the dark firs, glowing in the light of the setting sun, or rising over the mysterious darkness of the valley in a mass where, here and there, the tiny sparkles of lighted candles would glow. Would not such a picture be wonderful, and owe its chief beauty largely to contrast? When Nature offers new material, the scheme must be differ- ent; then the park, an oasis in a broad, flat space, must first create its own environment. Although the same laws are everywhere the foundation of beauty, they have to be interpreted and expressed in various ways. In such a case, where no im- pression by great contrasts can be achieved, one . must carefully seek to create a pleasant and gen- tle harmony, bringing the few large elements, such as distant views, into correspondence with the character given to the park. The size of the domain then becomes a chief consideration. In e ‘24 Hunts on LanpscapE GARDENING the former example it is necessary to embellish only a single spot to make ‘all surrounding Na- ture serve one’s own purpose. Here, the treat- ment should extend to the whole region. Exam- ples which lie between these two schemes will require modifications of both propositions and should be tastefully treated according to the re- spective localities. In all these cases the princi- ples I have laid down are basic ones. w Chapter III Enclosure HAVE often heard the opinion expressed that nothing is more contrary to the way of Nature — to which, after all, landscape gardening seeks to conform itself — than the enclosure of a park; but I think otherwise, and quite approve of the English fashion of having every park enclosed with great care. This enclosure, however, should be varied and in large part it should not be felt inside the park. At bottom this question of en- closure is rather a matter of expediency than of esthetics, and yet as an element of beauty I do , Mot condemn it. Are not such beautiful, unculti- * vated spots marked off as it were by distinct boundaries, and does not such a division often increase their charm? For example, a valley shut in by a dense forest or by impassable rocks, an island surrounded by running water, give the feel- ing of home, of entire possession, of security against intrusion or disturbance, allowing us to enjoy all the more comfortably the beauty of the surroundings. And, therefore, in a park the pres- ence of a protecting wall or fence should be wel- comed as a highly desirable element, necessary, in excluding the unwelcome intruder, for the peace and security of our enjoyment, but which 2 26 Hints on LanpscarpE GARDENING should be so designed as to permit our going out from the park into the surrounding country. Hence the sight of an enclosure can be obnox- ious only to those who hold so exaggerated a notion of freedom that, hating everything that bears the name of barrier, they would wish to overturn even imaginary barriers! In England, as I have said before, not only every park, but, on account of the precious cattle, every section of | it, every coppice and every exposed young tree, is surrounded with a fence, and though, from being carried to excess, this disturbs the general effect, I have frequently found that here and there a fence is very picturesque, especially . where the character of the landscape changes, the ‘fence then preparing the mind for new impres- sions and affordin g an easy transition to new scenes. < So for security’s sake let our parks have an en- closure high and strong, assuming that this is possible — for, to be sure, just as French cookery books very wisely begin their receipts with “ Ayez une carpe, ayez un perdreau, etc.,”’ I preface my advice with the proviso that, locality being favor- able and means at hand, the park should be en- closed. But inasmuch as the heavier and bigger the wall, the worse as a rule, is its appearance, and bearing in mind also that it is a great mistake to limit the field of fancy by too familiar a view of its limits, a close and broad plantation should hide the greater part of it. If such a barrier is made by a wooden fence, it should never be seen, but supplied with interesting points at intervals, - roe ENCLOSURE 29 and a deep ha-ha or ditch alongside, while all the abruptness of the hollow thus made can be avoided by covering it with varied plantations. The paths should approach this ha-ha or ditch only when —for instance, by means of a small bridge—one wishes to sally forth through an opening into the surrounding country. The method of screening the bridge and the bound- aries should be as varied as possible. In one place the foliage should run twoor three hundred paces along the boundaries, showing a high plantation of trees; in other places again, it should be made up of narrower and lower groups of trees, so that over and beyond one can catch glimpses of the outside country. In other places, these distant views should be visible above coppices and under isolated trees, standing among but high above — the shrubbery. If a wall surrounds the park, this can, at intervals, be allowed freely to emerge, bro- ken only by scattering bushes and trees, and will look best in a ruined or unkempt state, covered with ivy and Virginia creeper, or the foliage may be merged into a building, a gallery, etc. ~ Under such conditions the wall will never be a __ disturbing influence, but an improvement. If the locality permits, — probably only in a few cases, —I would propose the following plan as my ideal for an enclosure for our climate, although I could follow it only in certain por- tions of my estate. On the boundaries of the park, wherever open views are not desirable, a trench one Ruthe (a rod =twelve feet) wide, should 28 HinTs on LAnpscaPE GARDENING be dug and sown with blackthorn or acacia seed, which even in poor ground, in a few years makes an impenetrable mass. Next I should set a plan- tation of firs, mixed with a few deciduous leafed trees and bushes, so as to secure variety of color in summer. For the portions that are to be kept lower we must in our climate take juniper, yew, and medium-sized pine trees, and perhaps also the ordinary spruce and white fir, both of which may easily be kept low by trimming. Along this plantation on the boundary, sometimes broad, sometimes narrow, but hardly ever more than three Ruthen (three rods =thirty-six feet), should run irregularly a grass road thirty-six feet wide. On the side toward the interior of the park should begin the mixed plantation for forming a screen for the general view. Here deciduous leafed trees should predominate and in summer hide the too monotonous evergreen foliage which should be left conspicuous only where it is desirable. It is surprising how such an arrangement enlivens a park even in melancholy winters, and how the lawn or grass path even amid snow and ice, where everything else is bare, makes the most charming walk. The evergreen foreground, which covers the boundaries both winter andsummer and bor- ders the grass path, gives color to the whole re- gion, thus supplying a quality much desired in winter days; although a well-grouped and de- signed park should, during all seasons of the year, even without color satisfy our sense of beauty, especially in winter, when all ordinary decora- yteq fo Arepunog TO} SY Sselty "] ILVIG ENCLOSURE 29 tion is absent, making an interesting picture by the harmony of its masses of trees, lawns, water, its pleasant lines of paths and banks. That the border plantation of pines and other evergreen trees should be made so as to give the appear- ance of a natural growth is obvious, and in the chapter on “ Plantations ” examples will be given in detail. Meanwhile the sketch in Plate I will make my views clearer. At a the green path from the park is practically hidden; at 4 it appears only as a cutting which loses itself in the shrubbery. e- Along the boundary wall of many English _ parks, carrying out in old times the work of - Brown and his followers, there runs a path be- - tween an almost regular band of foliage planted with shrubs and trees, so that the wall is often conspicuous between the tree-trunks. Brown may be called the Shakespeare of the art of garden- ing, but his work, while highly beautiful and © poetical, was often crude, angular, and uncouth. This criticism is especially applicable to the work of those who, undertaking to follow his teach- ing, often imitated only his faults and were seldom «able to achieve his beauties. My reader must not confound my plan with this English plan, as the green path that I advo- cate is a part of the lawn, and has no definite dis- tinction from the lawn, but simply melts into it. The English idea originated in the infancy of landscape gardening, when parks of such size were first laid out, and when it was a matter of vanity to make them appear as large as possible; 30 630s Hints on LanpscapE GARDENING but the means defeated the end, since they osten- tatiously pointed out what they should have ar- tistically concealed. Apart from this enclosure, which is necessary for protection, it is obvious that every interesting feature of the distant land- scape should be included in the park, all outer rays concentrating into this focus. Distant views of great extent, lying away beyond the actual grounds, give an appearance ot measureless extent. When such opportunities are skillfully utilized, they greatly surpass the reality. They must, how- ever, be so managed that one should never be- come aware of the intervening park boundaries. Moreover, such special features should never be seen twice in the same way. For instance, many partial glimpses may be given of a distant hill, but only once should the hill be revealed in its entirety. The same applies to the town or city. Such effective ive planning, affording glimpses which tempt one’s imagination and excite the pleasure of anticipation, and compositions in which each art is interdependent, are far more difficult to achieve than full revelations. When people stum- ble on a remarkably beautiful view and, after lin- gering long, remark, «What a pity that great tree stands in the foreground, how much grander the view would be if it were absent,’ they would be much astonished if one did them the service to hew away the tree. They would have a stretch of country before them, but no longer a picture — for a garden in the great style is really a pic- ‘ture gallery, and a picture demands a frame. ys Chapter IV Grouping in General, and Buildings iG a landscape to be created, nearly all objects, large as well as small, call for a well-considered grouping. The best guide here is innate taste. Later on I will give some instructions as re- gards details, and will formulate here only the following general rule: If the lights and shadows \ are arranged in due proportion in the picture, the grouping as a whole will be successful. Grass- plots, water, and fields, which do not themselves throw any shadow, but only receive it from other objects, are lights in the hands of the landscape artist, while trees, forests, and houses (and rocks whiees they can be used) must serve as shadows. The unpleasant effect should be avoided of restlessness and dispersion arising from an excess of detail and too much inter- rupted light; and, on the other hand, the pic- ture should not be darkened by a few immense blotches of shadow, nor should the meadows and the water present too great an expanse of level space, but should be laid out so as to be lost to view here and there in dark groups of vegetation, or so as to appear suddenly as carefully calcu- lated points of light amid the darker ground- work. Buildings should never stand freely ex- 32 Hunts on Lanpscape GARDENING posed, lest they appear as spots, unconnected with the natural surroundings. Concealment enhances beauty, and here something should always be left to the iniagination. The eye frequently finds more pleasure in a single chimney in the dis- tance, with its spiral of gray smoke curling up- ward against a background of trees, than in a bare palace exposed to view on all sides, which Nature has not yet lovingly approached and em- braced. It is highly important that buildings should always take on the character of the land- scape in which they figure." Many of our Ger- man architects regard this too little. Buildings in a city, for instance, must be different from build- ings in a park. In the one case they are com- plete in themselves; in the other, they are only a component part of the whole and.are depend- ent on it for picturesque effect, which they in turn are also called upon to produce; hence their effect in the landscape must be carefully studied. In general, a certain irregularity is preferable in buildings in a park, as being more in conform- _ ity with Nature and more picturesque. A temple devoted to a cult, a theater, a museum devoted to art, doubtless demand symmetry and a more severe style, but the mansion or villa gains by greater irregularity, in comfort as well as in pic- (, turesqueness. This same principle appears in the * A contrast may also occasionally fit in with the character of the whole, but it must always harmonize, as I have pointed out in the ex- ample in the last section: the sublimity of wild nature and magnificent art. A pretty villa would not be a fitting contrast, while an imposing ruin would present an analogy, but no contrast. JEUIID AA YE BSNOFY Uapieyy s,dy}2905 GrouPING IN GENERAL, AND BUILDINGS 33 designs of the ancient villas and country houses, as we may gather from the ruins. The most note- worthy example is perhaps the villa of Hadrian near Tivoli. Traces of this principle are also found in the Italy of the Renaissance, in the fif- teenth and sixteenth centuries: buildings half hidden by others, large and small windows on the same face of the building, side doors, projecting and receding corners, occasionally a high, bare wall with a richly ornamented cornice, roofs jut- ting out, and balconies unsymmetrically placed, in short, everywhere a great but by no means in- harmonious irregularity, which pleases the fancy because the reason for every departure from reg- ularity is evident or may be surmised. The site of a building must also be carefully considered. For instance, a feudal castle in the midst of a level field of grain, as we find at Ma- chern near Leipzig, appears somewhat comical; and so is the Egyptian pyramid which is to be found there in the idyllic surroundings of a gay birch wood. As well imagine a straw-thatched hut surrounded by a French parterre. All these are undesirable contrasts that destroy the har- mony. For example, pointed Gothic buildings would make an unfavorable impression if set among spruces and Lombardy poplars, while among oaks, beeches, and pines they would be quite in place. On the other hand, spruces and poplars harmonize with the horizontal lines of an Oriental villa. The importance of harmonious beauty has for a. 34 Hunts on LanpscapE GARDENING its corollary that the purpose of a building must be evident in its style. A Gothic house, for in- stance, which is nothing else and has no other significance, being built just for the sake of hav- ing something Gothic on the grounds, produces a feeling of dissatisfaction. It is a hors d’auvre, uncomfortable as a dwelling, and as a decoration unrelated to its surroundings; but if we see on a distant hill the spires of a chapel rising above the ancient trees, and we are told that this is the burial-place of the family, or a temple actually used for worship, then we feel satisfied, because we find utility combined with fitting beauty. The same effect of dissatisfaction is produced by an immense palace set on a small estate, sur- rounded by the huts of poverty, or a vast park with an insignificant cottage in the center. Buildings, then, must stand in appropriate re- lation to their surroundings and should always have a positive purpose. Hence, one should be very careful in the matter of temples, which in ancient times had a quite different, popular re- ligious significance, and also with meaningless monuments, if they are to leave a deeply moving and not a trivial impression. The trite, incoher- ent manner in which in these days mythology is taken up, makes it desirable to abandon it en- tirely, and similarly to refrain from the rule of inscriptions which are intended in certain locali- ties to arouse certain sentiments. Even were they from Goethe himself, as in Weimar, these in- dubitably find in his writings a better place. GrouPING IN GENERAL, AND BUILDINGS 35 Only where they are occasionally necessary, as on the finger-post at a crossroad, does one thank- fully acknowledge the required direction. The most amusing example under this heading must surely be the one represented in the “ Gardeners’ Magazine” by a fine drawing of a bench dedi- cated to friendship, whose back forms the words ‘“Orestes and Pylades.” Near it stands a music pavilion, crenelated with music notes, from which the passer-by can at once sing “ Freut euch des Lebens”’ as. he goes. Such a lesson is splendid, for it brings culture within the scope of the most limited intelligence. R In England also one is not free from such ab- © surdities. Thus, I found, in an otherwise very pretty villa near London, in the shrubbery a plump, wooden, white-daubed Amor, with puffed cheeks, hanging by ropes ‘between branches, and threatening to shoot the passer-by with his arrow; and twenty steps farther on some apes of the same material, which played on the lawn like fos- silized figures. On inquiry I found that the taste- ful grounds belonged to a newly wed young brewer who had just returned from the Conti- nent with his bride; hence Amor and the Apes were sufficiently explained! The most important building in the park is naturally the dwelling-house. It should be suited, not only to the surroundings, but also to the posi- tion, the means, and even to the calling of the owner. The roomy castle and its battlements and towers are perhaps unsuitable to the merchant, 36 Hunts on LanpscapE GARDENING but quite becoming to the noble aristocrat, the fame of whose family has been handed down for centuries, and whose forefathers really needed them to make strongholds of their abode. The © elder Repton (Amenity Repton, so-named) went so far as to hide entirely with trees the fine view of the city of Bristol, in order that the owner of a certain villa, a merchant who had retired from business, should not be unpleasantly reminded of his past cares and worries by beholding the city where he had spent his laborious days. This is thoroughly English, as well as the endeavor of many egotists there to hide from view everything that belongs to their place, no matter how pic- turesque it is. Without going so far, I will say here that the view from the dwelling-house should harmonize as much as possible with the individual taste of the owner, since the eye al- ways rests on it, and hence the view of the house should be secondary to the view from the house, while the reverse might hold good for most of the other buildings of the park. I will remark here, by the way, that the points of the compass should also be considered. A per- son in our climate occupying the north side of a dwelling will often hear the storm winds howl, and will behold all objects under a somber veil, while his neighbor who occupies the south side beholds a clear sky and a sunlit landscape. Where there are genuine old castles, or manor houses, which have been in the possession of the family for a long time (not zew buildings in imi- apsed yore AA GROUPING. IN GENERAL, AND BUILDINGS 37 tation of an o/d style), I am of the opinion that their ancient character should be preserved when they are enlarged or made more comfortable, even if a much finer building might be erected on the spot. The memory of a by-gone time, the majesty of years, also counts for something, and it is a real misfortune that our pasteboard age has destroyed so many of these relics. Thus, quite recently a splendid castle in my neighbor- hood, the possession of one of the first nobles of the land, was pulled down at great cost and sup- planted by a three-cornered structure resembling a Leipzig goods store built by an up-to-date architect, in which the yard measure, flanked by bales and cases, would have been the only appro- priate insignia. The English have not yet been guilty of this folly, and nowhere else are family possessions more religiously and more proudly preserved. We also find there many estates of mere bour- geois families which for more than six centuries have passed from father to son, and with so little change in general that, for instance, in Malahide in Ireland, the family seat of the Talbots, even the woodwork and the furniture of entire apart- ments date back to those early years. And who can behold the splendors of majestic Warwick Castle, with its colossal tower a thousand years old, or the royal seat of the Duke of Northum- berland, without feeling penetrated with romantic awe, and without delighting in the matchless beauty of these grand piles? 38 Hints on LanpscaPpe GARDENING On the other hand, it is a mistake to erect buildings intended for peaceable dwellings in the style of a castle or stronghold. The most costly examples of this kind in England are Eatonhall and Ashridge, where millions: have been spent in creating a child’s toy, immense fortresses set in flower gardens, whose innumerable turrets and battlements looking down upon the hothouses filled with exotic plants seem ludicrous, and whose owners, in the words of a waggish traveler, should walk about their pleasure-grounds like Don Quixote, with shield and armor, to be in har- mony with their buildings. A dallying with things Gothic is as silly asa man in second child- - hood. aoe Chapter V Parks and Gardens ARKS and gardens are two very different things, and it is perhaps one of the chief drawbacks of all the German and English grounds that I know, that this distinction is almost never sufficiently observed, so that, as Miillner says, we too frequently meet with only a hodge-podge of art and nonsense. Although the term “park” in the larger sense is generally applied to the en- tire landscape design of the region, including all dwellings, it really means, more accurately de- fined, a combination of “pleasure-grounds”’ and gardens within the larger area of the main park." The park must have the character of untrammeled& : Nature, where the hand of man is visible only in the well-kept roads and the judiciously scattered buildings. It seems to me, however, a lack of taste to ignore the human element altogether, and, in order to keep the illusion of wild Nature, to have to wade through the tall grass and tear one’s self on thorns in the woods, and come upon a. te oe « The word *« peice acne ”? is difficult to translate accurately into German, and I therefore consider it better to retain the English expression; it means a ¢errain, abutting on the house and decorated and fenced in, of far larger dimensions than gardens usually are; some- thing that establishes a gradation between the park and the true garden, which should appear to be really a part of the house. : 40 Hints on LanpscaPpE GARDENING a bench for the weary without a rest for the back, although Rousseau recommends all this. Such grounds should represent Nature, it is true, but Nature arranged for the use and comfort of man. If one can bring within the park a manor house with its fields adjoining, a mill or a factory, this will give it only the more life and variety, which is much to be recommended; on the other hand, one must be careful not to overdo it. In order to avoid the latter, one should endeavor to separate the different elements by a harmonious arrange- // ment of the various parts of the whole, and not | mingle them awkwardly with one another. \ The fields, for instance, should be massed in \\the farm and not scattered all over the park; everything should be allotted its distinct place and maintain its peculiar characteristics, and the transition should be appropriately defined. But if various objects have already approached too near each other, or if they are required for other purposes, then, in order to avoid overloading and confusion, let everything be given as much as possible the same character. In my park," for ' example, a fisherman’s hut leaning against high oaks is set beside a lake formed by a branch of * I will repeat here that I so frequently refer to my own park, not in a spirit of boastfulness, but because I can, of course, find no better illustrations for my theories, and I am also obliged to describe, as act- ually existing, things which are not in reality completed, but which are in process of construction and determined on the plans, as far as I have made them, because they have been sufficiently tried. I must do this for the sake of brevity, and also because I should otherwise have te wait ten more years before publishing this book, in which time, I hope, it might appear superfluous. PaRKs AND GARDENS 41 the river; somewhat higher up, not quite two hundred feet from the bank, which is steeper here, there is a wax bleachery; quite close to this, are an ice-house and the lodge of a park keeper; farther away on the other side of the river, still in the same vista, and apparently near, is an English cottage; and behind are seen the thatched roofs of the village, and, crowning all, the spire of the village church. If all these objects, which serve entirely dif- ferent purposes, and are either really very close together or are made to appear so from the road by optical illusion, were built, each one in a dif- ferent style, they would bea perfect salamagundi, offensive to good taste. In order to obviate this, it was only necessary to have all the buildings, with slight variations, preserve the rustic char- acter of the village, which is the dominating feature of this plot, and to cover the English cottage, the fisherman’s hut, the bleachery, and the ice-house, like the village, with straw or some other rustic covering. Thus, the plot ap- pears as one integral part of the park, as a pleas- ant little village spreading out on both sides of the river, inhabited by well-to-do villagers. I have thus produced unity out of multiplicity ; twenty buildings, each with a character of its own, scattered over the landscape, look like twenty separate objects, while a city of ten thou- sand connected houses forms a simple unit in its general effect. Should the view embrace a stretch of land- 42 Hnts on LanpscApe GARDENING scape, it is true that heterogeneous objects might without detriment be visible at one glance, yet the imagination can never succeed in accepting with satisfaction (what has been attempted in many parks, famous in their time the conjunc- tion of a Chinese tower with a Gothic church, two or three Greek temples, a Russian block- house, a ruined castle, a Dutch farmhouse, with, perhaps, a volcano thrown in, all being part of one picture. In contemplating such a scene, no matter how beautiful the setting, taste could not but suffer from artistic indigestion ! On the other hand, the principles which should be established for the ‘pleasure-ground ”~and gardens are entirely different; the latter may be as varied as possible, as flower gardens, winter gardens, orchards, vineyards, vegetable gardens, etc. In England I saw exotic gardens, Chinese gardens, American gardens, monastic, and even porcelain, gardens. I may repeat here with some variation what I have said before: as the park is Nature ideal- ized within a small compass, so the garden is an extended dwelling. Here the tastes of the owner may have free play, following his imagination and indulging even in trivialities.* Everything . should be decorative, designed for comfort, and « Of course there may be things that are obvious absurdities, In a garden in Vienna, for instance, I saw a house in the shape of a tub in which sits an immense Diogenes of cardboard, who seems to have just extinguished his light in deference to the ‘spectator; or elsewhere a bench, where a person who sits down upon it is drenched, after a few minutes, with a squirt of water, and other like impertinences, e ParKs AND GARDENS 43 as ornamental as the means permit. Let the lawns appear as a velvet carpet embroidered with flow- ers; gather together the rarest and the most “beautiful exotic plants, curious animals, multi- colored birds’ (provided that Nature or art will - enable them to thrive); polished benches, re- freshing fountains, the cool shades of dense ave- nues, order and fancy; in short, everything in turn to evoke the richest and most varied effects, just as one furnishes every salon in the interior of a house in a different style. Thus, one may continue the suite of rooms on a greater scale under the open sky, whose blue vault, with ever- renewed cloud canopy, takes the place of the painted ceiling, and in which sun and moon are the perpetual illumination. To draw up rules for such details is more in the province of the dec- orative gardener, still more of the individual taste of the master, and perhaps most of all should be left to the delicate taste and delightful fancy of women. Hence, as regards this point I shali only make some general remarks. It is essential that the confines of each garden, in which J always include the “ pleasure-ground,” for the sake of security should have an enclosure which separates it from the park. If the locality allows of a high terrace, or a continuous ha-ha, this would, in most cases, be * But there must be no superfluity, nor any trace of dirt or odors, and if this cannot be so managed, then the menagerie should be re- moved; for curiosities which can be admired only with the handker- chief at the nose are undesirable in a place which should be devoted only to the comfortable enjoyment of beauty. 44 Hunts on LanpscaPpE GARDENING the best enclosure for a “ pleasure-garden,” and regular lines that are not concealed, but quite visibly mark the difference, are here to be recom- mended ; for a garden is the occasion for very obvious art, and must therefore appear as such. While this barrier keeps out of the gardens the cattle or the deer grazing in the park, or visibly divides from them the meadows intended only for hay, the eye dwells with pleasure, first, upon the rich colors of the foreground, with its wealth of flowers and the emerald carpets of carefully kept lawns, and beyond, upon the open land- scape with its imposing trees or the waving grasses sown with wild flowers, where the mow- ers swing their glittering scythes in the sun or repose at noon in the fragrant hay. This contrast between free Nature and artistic cultivation, vis- ibly separated and yet melting into one harmo- nious picture, is doubly soothing to the feelings. It depends on the locality whether all the dif- ferent gardens (and the more there are the more pleasing effect of variety they produce) shall be enclosed in one large space, most fittingly near the dwelling-house, or whether they shall be scattered about the park. I have pursued a mid- dle course, extending the “ pleasure-ground ” all around the castle, and not, as is generally done in England, only on one side; the flower gardens ap- proach close to the windows, a conservatory open- ing from the salon forming a connecting link; then at a little distance, as a plot by itself, but still within the circumference of the “ pleasure- saqflesiaA JO Mala aAq-s parg os ee PaRKs AND GARDENS 45 ground,” the orangerie, the winter garden, the conservatories, and the vegetable gardens; but the orchards, the vineyard, and the nurseries I have distributed, at a distance from the castle, through the park; moreover, I have laid out sev- eral smaller gardens, in different styles, around the other principal buildings of the park, which I will describe more in detail farther on. Although all these gardens are decorated here and there by scattered flower beds, the great mass and variety of flowers are reserved for the flower gardens proper. I repeat here that the selection and distribution of the flowers must be left to the individual taste of the owner, though I will say in passing that flowers of the same kind in large masses generally make a far more impressive effect than a mixture of many different kinds in the same bed. Yet the nuances are so various, and there is so much to be considered in the design- ing, that only years of practice and experience will give the best. The light cast upon the flow- ers by the surrounding objects is a prime consid- eration. A rose in shadow and a rose in light yield quite different colors; much more the blue flowers. But especially striking is the effect brought about by the contrast of dark shade with bright sunlight on full white flowers mixed with others of brilliant color. Generally speaking, it is advisable to break strong-tinted flowers with white, in order to make the former stand out in stronger relief. A winter garden, as the name implies, must 46 Hints on LanpscaPpeE GARDENING be confined to evergreen plants, and in our cold climate it is very difficult to grow any variety. Orangeries and hothouses belong to them ; also ‘statuesand fountains, which, even when the water freezes, do not lose thicie picturesque character. Regular arrangements _ after ancient models, or French taste growing therefrom yield the best results, and if the effect of turf is desired, then evergreen creeping plants or the bright green dwarf bilberry and cranberry plants may be util- ized. I can only touch slightly on these points, partly on account of the numerous details which lie out of the scope of this work, and partly be- cause further remarks will be forthcoming in my description of the park at Muskau. ~ I close this chapter, therefore, with the re- mark that kitchen and fruit gardens, although essentially for use, can be made pleasing to the eye by the happy arrangement of the beds of the first, and in the second by the training of fruit trees en espalier or by the trellising of them on walls (see Table I c); by convenient paths, and by the utmost cleanliness and order, so that one may here enjoy the warm sunlight in the spring, or later in the year pluck the ripest fruit. In England, where everything is made to serve the utmost convenience, strawberries are planted in terraces near the paths, to be reached without troublesome stooping. And raised paths are made under the fruit trees, so that cherries and apples grow on the level of the stroller. Several lengths of wall are built in the middle of the kitchen PARKs AND GARDENS 47 garden, affording, not only a protected sunny side, but also a shady side, and all kinds of fruit trees areskillfully trained on them. English fruit, even in the open, gets too little sunlight, and the ripest are still, as in the time of the Duc de Langeais, the cooked apples." « The well-known saying was, ‘“‘ Qu’en Angleterre il n’y avait de poli que l’acier et ne fruits murs que les pommes cuites.’’ (¢* There is in England nothing polished but steel, and no ripe fruit but the baked apple.’’) Chapter VI Concerning the Laying-out of the Lawns of Parks Meadows, and Gardens HAT the gold backgrounds of the old masters, which set out the sweet, lovable faces of madonnas and saints in so ideal a manner, are to religious pictures, green, luxuriant grass spaces are to a landscape. They are, as it were, the canvas of Nature-painting, the playground where the sun disports an element of brightness which sets out the whole landscape. Green grass en- hances the freshness of the entire landscape and furnishes a carpet for the sun to shine upon, whereas an arid, gray heath appears like a shroud even in the most beautiful spot. But while the grass plot should be green, it should not be marshy, being thereby rendered inaccessible, nor so soft and spongy that horses and wagons leave their tracks in passing over, thereby spoiling its appearance for months after. Although the latter cannot be wholly avoided in the first weeks after laying the plot out, especially in wet weather, yet if the grass is well kept it soon acquires a firm texture, even in light soil. For the making of lawns I can recommend the following rules, which the experience of sev- eral years in my neighborhood has confirmed: — Tue Layinc-outT or Lawns 49 (1) Whether in a meadow or for a park or pleasure-ground it is of no avail to sow only one kind of grass seed. With only one kind of grass, perennial or not, it is not possible to secure a close grass texture. (2) For the first two — namely, meadows and park — I consider the richest mixture to be the best, but with this proviso, that the particular kind of grass which experience has found to be the most suitable to the special soil should dom- inate, to the extent of a third to a half of the mixture. In wet ground the greater part should be timothy (Ph/eum pratense); for heavy soil, rye grass (Lohum perenne); for loam, yellow clover (Medicago lupulina) and French rye grass (Ar- rhenatherum elatius); for light soil, honey or vel- vet grass (Holcus lanatus); for high ground, white clover (Trifolium repens), etc. (3) If the plot that is to be sown is dry, it is advisable to trench it twelve to eighteen inches first, whatever the soil may be, but the top soil must be spread over the surface again if the soil below is inferior, and a sandy soil must of course be improved by muck, compost, or field soil. If the expense of digging trenches is too great, then one must plough to at least the usual depth, and in most cases still deeper with a subsoil plough. The field so prepared should be sown (here from the middle of August to the middle of Septem- ber) in rather moist weather and very thickly, and the seed at once well rolled in. On heavy soil it is best to wait for a dry day. By the end pte 50 Hrnts on LAnpscapE GARDENING of October the most beautiful green will cover the new meadows. The next year they should be mowed quite early, in order to obtain an even growth, but the seed should be allowed to ripen and fall to the ground, thus securing a greater density of turf for the following year. Nothing more is now necessary than to roll it well every year after each mowing, and every three or four years, as may be required, to fertilize it plenti- fully with a compost field soil, muck, or with manure. In this manner, on light dry soil and to the surprise of many landowners, I have pro- duced the most luxurious meadow, which, in- stead of giving out in ten years as was prophe- sied, steadily improved, and from a pecuniary point of view has. proved quite a good invest- ment, as in four years the capital spent on it has > been repaid. (4) Marshy ground should first be dried, for which the English method of underground drains is the best. This consists of large hollow tiles laid on flat tiles (bricks), making durable little canals, which are not constantly choked by débris, as is the case with drains made by filling ditches with brushwood and stones. If one has plenty of rapidly flowing water, one may often devise charming open waterways, which drain off the water even better than the tiles, and make a most attractive feature in the landscape. If cleverly constructed .in a natural way, they will improve instead of disfiguring the prospect. I recom- mend, for such little streams, the construction Tue Layinc-ouT oF Lawns 51 of open, clean-cut main channels, with sharp rather than round bends, and then, banks made ~. as sloping as possible, in order not to break the grass level too abruptly and lose too much meadow land. To give the required variety in detail to the bed of the stream, the earth may be taken away here and there, sometimes from the upper, sometimes from the lower bank, and still further to vary the effect, bushes, stones, or water plants may be set on or near the edge of the water. It is obvious that, wherever possible, watering or flooding a lawn or grass field must be carefully provided for, and that there should be one gen- eral flooding for a few days in the spring, and even after every mowing. Wherever this can be done, it is preferable to the daily watering dur- ing the hot weather, from which I have never derived much benefit. (5) If one desires to lay out lawns for “ pleas- ure-grounds”’ and gardens, grass seeds should be mixed according to the ground, but all coarse grasses, such as honey or velvet grass (Holcus lana- tus), French rye grass (Arrhenatherum elatius), thread grass, etc., should be avoided. Festuca ovina (sheep’s fescue), white clover (Lrifolium repens), and English rye grass (Lolium perenne), are generally used in England, and when the finer kind of lawn is desired, instead of rye grass, sev- eral kinds of Agrostis or red-top and other very fine grasses. In our soil and climate the most beautiful and firm turf can be best assured in a short time by sodding with selected fine park y 52 Hunts on LanpscarpE GARDENING grass which one can find everywhere on the bor- ders of fields and edges of woods. It should be cut off in long strips, rolled up, then laid on the properly prepared ground in the same way it lay before it was cut, firmly bedded with wooden pounders, all gaps stopped, a little good garden earth strewn over, and a little of the above grass mixture sown on top; the whole being finally rolled and watered. This is sure to give the de- sired result, and if later on any portion of the lawn should show patches of poor turf, I have often found, in order to make the growth strong and healthy, that it was quite sufficient to dig up such parts and sow fresh seed. The proper treatment later on is, however, the most important thing, without which no short grass can long remain in good condition. First of all it must be mowed every eight days in wet, every fourteen days in dry, weather, and it should be rolled at least as often. It is best to let the rolling precede the mowing, first, in or- der to press down little stones and other obstruc- tions, in which the scythe is apt to catch and stick, and second, so as to obliterate the stripes which the roller leaves on the lawn and which are conspicuous for several days. The usual rye scythes will serve with grass as well; but the operation requires considerable practice and a very evenstroke. Also, to avoid leaving out bits of long grass, one must mow every piece twice, down and up, in dry weather. The morning hours, before the dew is gone, are the best for mowing. Tue Layinc-ouT or Lawns 53 If these instructions are followed out exactly, it will seldom be necessary to have to weed out isolated encroachments of flowers or weeds ; they either die out of themselves, or have no time to affect injuriously the evenness of the turf. It is also a mistake to try to weed out all moss in a lawn of this kind. Many kinds, under the treat- ment I have described, in the shade of the trees, where no grass will grow, make a carpet which is like satin in softness and excels even grass in freshness. I remember to have seen in the Isle of Wight a long stretch of moss of this kind, which, in elasticity, soft green, and closeness of texture, excelled any lawn I have seen in Eng- land, and also I have succeeded in making charm ing places of this kind under high trees. As soon as the grass is cut, the lawn should be raked off and then swept carefully its entire length with sharp brooms, until it is as clean as, a floor. It is then more pleasant for walking than the best gravel path and does not at all require the anxious warnings and notice boards which in our gardens often border on the ridicu- lous. One may play ball on it all day without fear of doing it any damage. It is true that, during a severe drought, I have been compelled to water my lawns with a large fire engine con- nected with a pump which was stationed for this purpose near the castle, with sufficient power to use a leather hose having a length of more than three hundred feet. I cannot, however, as- sert that much good was accomplished thereby,. 54 Hrnts on Lanpscape GARDENING and I have abandoned it on account of the great expense. In time of extreme drought any lawn will, in spite of all irrigation, be inferior to one which has had plenty of rain, but even if, in the hottest months, the lawn should be apparently all burned up, yet it will be renewed in the au- tumn. In any case, during periods of great heat and severe drought it is advisable neither to roll nor to mow. Except: under these circumstances, the time of mowing and rolling should begin when the grass has grown an inch or two and only cease on the approach of the season of frost and snow. This continuous procedure is, of course, expensive, and in many places in Eng- land it is customary to keep well mowed only the lawn in front of the house and on the bor- ders of the “ pleasure-ground,” especially when the master is absent. The closeness of the grass, however, as well as its cleanliness, suffers, as I have often experienced, if it is not continually mown. In very large gardens it is as well to keep several men for the single purpose of mow- ing,’ and to let them mow continuously in the morning hours, so that when the last piece is finished, the work can be at once taken up at the beginning. In this way it is possible to have the lawn appear for the largest part tidy all the time, as to mow and roll and sweep such exten- sive spaces all at once in one or two mornings s t In general it is advisable to keep the same workmen on the one task. They do their work better and more quickly, and give more satisfaction. Tue Layinc-ouT or Lawns ss would require, especially with the sluggishness and slow way of working of our country folk, an extraordinary number of men, and the un- skilled labor necessarily employed would, more- over, give poor and unequal results. I have dwelt on these details, because in Ger- many few things are so neglected; indeed, in many cases they seem to be quite ignored. On my place I have proved that with similar treat- ment we can obtain as good lawns in spring, summer, and autumn as in England; on account of our harder climate it is not possible in win- ter, at the beginning of which English lawns are at their best. It is less possible, perhaps, for us to vie with the richness of the open meadows in England, especially with their wealth of flowers, of which I remember examples, where at a little distance bright reds, blues, and yellows entirely mantled the green. The field set apart for meadow is sown for a year or two with root crops, then it is laid out in little sections for the men engaged in manur- ing and working it, irregularities are leveled down, and each section worked across. When the whole field has been thoroughly worked in this manner according to its quality, — since it is seldom that even a field of ten acres is of the same quality, —I spread on the lighter soil clay and marl, on the heavier soil, sand and light loam, also a compost made of turfy earth and oak tan bark, leveling the whole once more with the spade so that the smallest inequalities are 56 Hunts on Lanpscape GARDENING worked into the trenches and hollows. The whole field is then prepared so that the roller can reach every bit of its surface.’ The best time for sowing with grass I have found to be in August; also in September when the weather permits, though August is prefer- able. The advantages of sowing in the summer are: (1) In the autumn one does not expect to have such severe droughts as in the spring; there- fore, the grass becomes thick and very strong be- fore winter. (2) On meadows the grass seed sown in the autumn grows more vigorously and safely. (3) One can level the ground and improve it with compost in the summer when the work of the spring and other pressing requirements have been attended to, according to the number of men and draught cattle available.’ Here, where wages are not exactly excessive, I have the ground, when it has been prepared as above, turned up in July in small sections. As soon as rainy weather sets in and the clods are half dry, so that the earth does not clog, I go over it once with the harrow, and sow it in the order of the following mix- tures: English rye grass (Lolium perenne), or- chard grass (Dactylis glomerata), meadow fescue (Festuca pratensis), velvet grass (Holcus l/anatus), French rye grass (Arrbenatherum elatius) and tim- othy grass in equal parts, and allow for a Magde- burg acre (.63 of an English acre) one half hun- * It may perhaps interest students to have a regular receipt for the sowing of lawns, which I have set down as suggested by my head gar- dener, giving the manner in which the most successful of my lawns have been procured, Tue Layinc-ouT oF LAwns 57 dredweight of clean seed. Generally, however, because of cost, the seed is not sufficiently cleaned, and in this case double and, on lighter ground, treble the above amount is required. Timothy grass, on account of its fine and heavy grain, does not mix well with the other seeds, and therefore to ten pounds of timothy (PAleum pra- tense) I add one pound of white clover (Trifo- lium repens), one pound red clover (Trifolium pratense), one pound of yellow clover, and one pound of sweet or Bokhara clover (Melilotus officinalis), and later spread this mixture, which is of equally heavy grain, over the space which has already been sown with the lighter mixture. Then the field is harrowed and rolled lengthways and crossways. When the greater part of the seed is ripe the next summer, I have it beaten off with rakes or small stakes before mowing. In good weather the greater part of the fallen seeds sprout again, whereby I obtain a fairly thick grass turf in one year, which otherwise I could not expect from a sown meadow for several years, unless I were to sow three times as thickly, which would be very expensive, since the harvesting and threshing of grass seed is rather difficult and depends very much upon the weather. Chapter VII Trees and Shrubs and their Grouping, and Plantations in General ‘HE first requirement of a landscape is the _vigorous growth of all plants. The finest forms of mountains and lakes, the brilliancy of the sun and sky, combined with the naked rocks and bare lakes, cannot replace meadows and the luxu- riant growth of various forms of trees with their diversified, pleasing green and rich foliage. For- tunate the man to whom his forbears have be- queathed lofty woods of old oaks, beeches, and lindens, these proud giants of our Northern clime, _. standing still untouched by the woodman’s mur- ~ derous axe. He should never regard them without veneration and delight, he should cherish them as the apple of his eye, for neither money nor power, neither a Croesus nor an Alexander, can re- store an oak a thousand years old in its wonder- ful majesty after the poor laborer has felled it. Terrible and swift is the destructive power of man, but poor and weak is his power to rebuild, May an ancient tree be to you, kind reader, who love Nature, a holy thing. And yet, here also, the individual tree must be sacrificed, if need be, to the general group. It may happen that a tree which, taken alone, TREES AND SHRUBS 59 is most beautiful, does really disturb the effect- iveness and harmony of the whole, and then it must be sacrificed. Such occasions, however, are very rare, and I, unfortunately, know from my own experience that a slight alteration of plans would often be sufficient to spare a precious vet- eran whose execution at first seemed unavoidable. At all events, before applying the executioner’s axe, be sure to deliberate not once but many times. It may be that the importance which I give to this matter may appear exaggerated, yet a true lover of Nature will understand me, and appreciate the qualms of conscience that half a dozen trees murdered without reason continue to cause me. On the other hand, my only conso- lation is that by boldly cutting down other trees. I have made such great improvements that the gain outbalances the loss. Besides, there is no denying that by the removal of a few big trees more can be accomplished in one day than in a hundred years by planting thousands of speci- mens, and that the loss of a few of these is not to be regretted if their number is increased a hundredfold to the eye by making so many others visible which had previously been quite obscured. This is so certain, that, although I have not been blessed with a surplus of ancient trees in my park, et I have succeeded in apparently multiplying tenfold the number of them left standing. These, by the removal of some eighty others, are visi- ble now from all points. One is often struck by the fact in such cases that ““One cannot see the 60 Hints on LANpDscaPpE GARDENING woods for the trees.” The great art in laying out a park consists in making use of comparatively few objects in such a way that a great variety of different pictures result, in which the recurrent elements are not recognized or at least produce novel and surprising effects. The double illustra- tion on’ Plate II shows the result which was brought about by the removal of about twenty old limes which stood in front of the castle. It is far more important to select, for trees to be transplanted, the kind of soil which suits them, or to procure it artificially if it is not natur- ally available, and above all, never to transplant them to worse ground than they previously occu- pied. It is really amusing how ignorant most planters are in this matter, and how they place various species of trees quite haphazard, without suspecting, much less taking any trouble to dis- cover, how various are the mixtures of soil which ‘each plant particularly requires. The most ordi- nary agriculturist is quite aware of this with re- gard to his fruit trees, and observes it daily; the ornamental tree planter, at the most, knows so- called “good soil,” that is, heavy loam and sand. On this matter I must be content to draw the attention of the reader to its importance, as a ne- cessarily long disquisition would take me too far beyond my prescribed limits. Sterile soils can be made to produce, without great expense, luxuriant growth of all kinds of trees which can bear the climate provided one has a proper compost of mixed peat, sand, loam, and in addition manure 60 Hints on LANDSCAPE GARDENING woods for the trees.”” The great art in laying out a park consists in making use of comparatively few objects in such a way that a great variety of different pictures result, in which the recurrent elements are not recognized or at least produce novel and surprising effects. The double illustra- tion on’ Plate II shows the result which was brought about by the removal of about twenty old limes which stood in front of the castle. It is far more important to select, for trees to be transplanted, the kind of soil which suits them, or to procure it artificially if it is not natur- ally available, and above all, never to transplant them to worse ground than they previously occu- pied. It is really amusing how ignorant most planters are in this matter, and how they place various species of trees quite haphazard, without suspecting, much less taking any trouble to dis- cover, how various are the mixtures of soil which ‘each plant particularly requires. The most ordi- nary agriculturist is quite aware of this with re- gard to his fruit trees, and observes it daily; the ornamental tree planter, at the most, knows so- called “good soil,” that is, heavy loam and sand. On this matter I must be content to draw the attention of the reader to its importance, as a ne- cessarily long disquisition would take me too far beyond my prescribed limits. Sterile soils can be made to produce, without great expense, luxuriant growth of all kinds of trees which can bear the climate provided one has a proper compost of mixed peat, sand, loam, and in addition manure saary, a81eq AJUIMT, Moge jo [eAoWay sy] jo Way Sutmoys ‘neysnjAy yw oseD oy) Jo JoIy oy) Woy MIA “[] ILVIG TREES AND SHRUBS 61 and straw and lime, if it can be obtained at a moderate price. In case there is underlying the whole region a coarse gravel or impenetrable clay, all attempts are hopeless. Any « one who plants lindens in heavy loam, chestnuts in marl, beeches in peat, planes in quicksand, as I have ohh seen done, has him- self to blame when he raises cripples instead of trees. So much for transplanting single trees. With regard to the art of their grouping I will add the following: Frequently several trees may be planted close together in one and the same hole, some fork-like; sometimes five to six should be placed in almost straight lines, etc.; for groups symmet- rically rounded off become as monotonous in the end as do regular alleys. The accompanying illus- tration (Plate III, 2 and 4) shows two ground- plans with the same number of trees, one badly and one well grouped: ¢ shows artificially, and d naturally, planted groups. On slopes, because of the long shadows they throw, single trees show better than groups. On flat ground trees should less often stand out singly, but should be so dis- posed as to give the eye a certain continuity of view, not too much broken up, here by sweep- ing, there by nearer, sometimes round, sometimes extended, groups. A pleasing effect is frequently obtained by planting two entirely different species of trees in the same hole, such as birch and alder, willow and oak, of which I possess a very picturesque specimen in my “ pleasure-ground,” or by allow- 62 HinTs on LANpDscaPE GARDENING ing one tree to grow askew leaning almost hori- zontally over the water. To bring about such little artifices one must observe Nature herself and await a convenient opportunity for the undertaking. Thus, I recom- mend the planting of all trees intended to stand alone on a somewhat rounded spot of ground, as the heaped-up earth gives them a more graceful outline, and old trees which have grown up from seed nearly always stand naturally on just such a swelling point forced up by the growing roots. In order to judge of their effect beforehand, it is a good idea, before planting groups, to stick in the ground felled trees and branches. I should advise this course until riper experience gives the proper instinct and until the trained powers of the imagination become able to paint the picture accurately in the mind. But one cannot expect that every arrangement will look equally well from all sides; that is impossible; so one should take only the chief points of view, test the whole from these points only, and by the disposition of the paths prevent the visitor from being led to the less favorable spots. With solid young plantations I generally take the following course: First of all, I have the entire plot of ground trenched to a depth of at least two feet, even if the soil consists only of the lightest drift sand. The chemical effect of trench- ing and the receptivity for moisture thus imparted to the earth often passes all expectations. By trenching four feet in bare granular sand on a TREES AND SHRUBS 63 sterile hill, where one would expect only birches and pines to prosper, I have grown good oaks, maples, limes, and firs, and, as they have flour- ished for a period of twelve years, their future growth is reasonably safe.’ Only on steep declivities, where trenching is impracticable, would I permit, even in the case of solid plantations, the forester’s method of planting trees in small single trenches, a style only to be used in ornamental work were abso- lutely necessary. Wherever it is possible without excessive cost, I try to improve the original soil in some degree, but if this is not feasible, I select for planting thereon only such kinds of trees as may be expected to thrive. If time, however, allows, I manure the trenched territory first and plant it with potatoes for one year. I makea point of planting everywhere as closely as possible: first, because the trees thrive better thus; secondly, because I can utilize such a plantation as a nur- sery later on by the removal every year of a part of the young plants which have been too closely set. The quick-growing trees that have grown higher, such as poplars, alders, acacias, etc., should be distributed here and there, always with due regard to the soil, thereby giving from the be- ginning a more finished appearance to the whole mass, but these should be cut down for under- brush later on, the nobler species, the oaks, lin- « If there is a foot of earth on top and only sand below, the trench- ing should not be so deep, as it isa good idea to keep the roots as much as possible in the rich earth. 64 Hints on LanpscaPE GARDENING dens, beeches, chestnuts, etc., being given the preference. I consider it inadvisable to plant too small and too young specimens, partly for their own welfare and partly to avoid waste of time. Therefore, I seldom take for the purpose trees less than five or six feet high, and I also use only shrubs that have acquired some bushiness. It is hardly necessary to remark that, in general, ex- tended nurseries are most important in all grounds, or at least should be found in the neighborhood." It is to this simple method that I attribute the fact that my plantations, according to many visi- tors, as a rule have, after two or three years, the appearance of ten or fifteen years’ growth, and at the same time have served for a considerable period. For two or three years only I have the new plantations in the park weeded and raked, and after that no more. This is to keep the surface roots undamaged and also to save expense. The plantations are then left alone, except that they are gradually thinned out, either by taking away trees entirely, or by cutting down others so that the fresh growth will form underwood. In course of time one can, with the greatest ease, give plantations so arranged every variety required, making them a thicket impenetrable to the eye, or a forest of a slender growth which will unfold itself in spreading foliage, allowing peeps into * I cannot refrain from mentioning here the magnificent nursery in Potsdam and congratulating its founder, Head Gardener Lenné, for all that he has accomplished in this branch of gardening with such tireless energy. Photograph by Thomas Sears A Vista in the Park of Muskau TREES AND SHRUBS 65 the depths, or break into dappled light and shade over a small, open plot of meadow in beautiful, wavy lines, or out of all these combine a mingled effect of many kinds of scenery. In the park I avail myself, as a rule, of native or thoroughly acclimated trees and shrubs, and avoid all foreign ornamental plants, for idealized Nature must still be true to the character of the country and climate to which it belongs so as to appear of spontaneous growth and not betray the artifice which may have been used. We have many beautiful flowering shrubs growing wild in Germany which should be freely used, while a centifolia rose, a Chinese lilac, or a clump of such shrubs in a spot in the middle of a wild wood strike us unpleasantly as an affectation un- less they are found by themselves in an enclosed space, as, for instance, in a little garden near a cottage which sufficiently indicates the neighbor- hood and hand of man. Some foreign trees, such as white pines, acacias, larches, planes, locusts, purple beeches, may be regarded as native, though I prefer for our country lindens, oaks, maples, beeches, alders, elms, chestnuts, ash, birch, etc. Varieties of poplar which are very useful in the beginning on account of their rapid growth, I remove in the course of time, as their branches are too straggly and their grayish green too som- ber; yet modifications occur easily; silver poplars, for example, relieved against any dark wood, making a pleasant variation, and old Canadian 66 Hints on LANpscAPE GARDENING poplars often overhang lower shrubs very prettily and also add to the height of different parts of the group. The Lombardy poplars had better be entirely removed from the park, but in the “ pleasure- ground”’ they produce a not unpleasing effect when grouped in large masses. Singly their shape is too stiff and unpicturesque, and used in alleys ~~they are a real horror. On the whole, I try to arrange the larger plantations so that in each section one kind of tree dominates, and, of course, that one of the kind for which the soil is most suitable, but I try to avoid having a whole division with only one kind of tree. This mode of planting is very popular in our German gardens, where the vari- ous kinds of trees, especially evergreens and de- ciduous trees, are as anxiously separated in groups in connected plantations as if contagion were to be feared from one species of tree to another. All this, perhaps, may be said to produce a gran- diose, though hardly a gay, effect, but in my opinion, on the contrary, it gives just the appear- ance of a harlequin’s jacket. Nor is such a pro- ceeding in any way founded on Nature. Where Nature, left to herself on an area, relatively as a park, has sown a thousand kinds of trees and shrubs in one climatic temperature, it stands to reason that they must have been much mingled together. Here and there a group may be found making a little wood, as it were, of the same tree, quite naturally, but the systematic separa- TREES AND SHRUBS 67 tion of the different kinds of trees is the most unnatural arrangement imaginable. There is nothing more beautiful and more in accordance with untrammeled Nature than a luxurious mixed forest where the sun dances among the many hues of green, and nothing more monotonous and dismal than a district where one passes now a clump of firs, then a long stretch of larches, here a patch of birches, and in another place a collection of poplars or oaks, and a thousand paces on the same tedious rows beginning again. It is entirely different in the case of large forests of aged trees, where, in the end, as in the world of men, the dominating species oppress the weaker, and yet one may see in a fruitful soil, even in a wild state, the fir pairing with the oak, the birch with the alder, the beech with the lime, and the thornbushes with all kinds of deciduous trees. As regards the latter, I have always kept in mind the advice of Mr. Repton, the eminent garden expert, seldom to plant a tree without giving it a brier as a protector. Although this rule must not be taken literally, yet it is a most useful one both for protecting and for giving variety to the plantation. I need hardly recommend that all blossoming and berry-bearing plants, such as wild fruit trees, thorns, hips, peonies, mountain ash, barberries, alders, etc., must be brought forward to the bor- ders and made conspicuous, but one must be careful not to make the intention too obvious 68 Hints on Lanpscarpe GARDENING by overdoing this work. Nor should the highest trees be always placed in the center and rows of shrubs always along the edges, as most of our gardeners do. The outline of the plantation should, on the contrary, be interrupted by trees trimmed high, especially where the road leads close by them, and trees with low-hanging _ branches should be set farther back. Often, too, where there is room, one should strive after that graceful negligence, so difficult to emulate, in which Nature remains ever the mistress, by the plantation of single shrubs and trees scattered freely over the grass. So also the clumps in the “ pleasure-ground,” as I shall presently attempt to describe, should show the greatest variety, not only in the species, but also with regard to their form and situation. Here also it is, as I have said, not always necessary to place the largest trees in the middle and the lower-growing ones graded down to the border. The contrary has a far more natural appearance, and a tall tree ris- ing high out of the bushes along the edge and a broken line of greenery is more picturesque, even in small groups, than masses always rounded and sloping gradually on each side and which would be improved by being broken up. The drawing in Plate IV shows an inferior, and what I have indicated as the better, way, @ and 6 for wood plantations near the paths, and ¢ and d for shrub- beries in the grass plots. How far one may plant with the deliberate intention of attaining artistic light and shade and TREES AND SHRUBS 69 color contrast, I will not venture to state. The matter presents great difficulties, and in my ex- perience these attempts, if I went too far into detail, have seldom succeeded very well, and, on the other hand, plantations mixed quite recklessly often unfolded the most unexpected charms; nay, they earned me many compliments for my art wherein I was as innocent as many a physician who has effected a great cure without knowing how he did it. I do not lay much stress on any instructions in this matter, as I have always taken an easy middle course. It must also be remem- bered that the foliage of trees will often assume an entirely and unexpected shade when trans- planted to a different soil, and this cannot always be regulated in a large plot. It may happen that a dark-colored maple intended for shading grows avery light foliage. It is quite obvious, however, that one should avoid too variegated a mixture of leaves, too frequent alternations of dark and light green foliage, but here also, where it would be hard to lay down good, sharp rules in detail, the taste of the owner must be the best guide. One of the greatest difficulties in all plantations is to give to the edges a natural and graceful outline.’ Many excellent examples of forest plantations are found in England, and I may be excused for referring to the park of Lord Darnley, in Cob- * The outlines are generally indicated by sticks set in the ground at short intervals. The effect may be still better judged by outlining the shape on the grass with cords and running a furrow along this outline. This furnishes an easy means of judging, and, if necessary, altering, the shape. 70 Hunts on LANDscAPE GARDENING ham, which really leaves nothing to be desired in this respect and may be recommended to all strangers for study. But as far as pleasure-ground plantations go, the well-known architect, Mr. Nash, has only recently, in my estimation, pre- sented the right way, and in the Gardens of Buckingham Palace, the new palace of the King, and also in Virginia Water, has established one of the most magnificent examples. In passing, I may say that I consider Windsor Park, with the new grounds of Virginia Water, one of the most perfect examples in England. In its extension and variety it forms a complete and splendid landscape. Castle and park have become, by the munificence and splendor of the late King, the worthiest seat for the most powerful monarch on earth. It is a pity that, at the time of my visit, ac- cess to the finest part where George IV resided was so difficult to obtain ; however, the liberality of the present King will have surely changed all this. His late Majesty so shunned the eyes of strangers that in many places, where an indis- creet glance might possibly penetrate, a second and even a third story of boards was erected and nailed to the wooden fence which surrounds the park. Whoever did not have the personal ac- quaintance of His Majesty, or had not special connections, or who did not care to spin out a kind of intrigue, could not approach Virginia Water. For the garden-lover this was doubly to be deplored, because the King was not only, as Windsor Castle TREES AND SHRUBS 71 his worshipers declared, the first “‘ gentleman ”’ in the land, but deserves to be called one of the most tasteful landscape artists in England. The English are greatly favored by their cli- mate, which permits all kinds of evergreens to live safely through the winter, such as rhododen- dron, cherry laurel, Portuguese laurel, all vari- eties of holly, arbutus, viburnum, buxus, and Daphne laureola, etc., which at all times furnish ready material for thick flowering and beauti- fully shaded shrubberies. The usual way for planting has hitherto been, and still is, even now, in famous places like Chis- wick and others, to arrange either oval or round clumps on the lawn and draw long, wavy lines (or have strips of grass of an even width) along the paths, which are always marked off by a clean-cut border, and back of this appears the black soil of quite elevated beds which are care- fully raked clean. The shrubs are also severely pruned so that they hardly touch one another. Flowers are set here and there in order to give more color to the plantation, but the result of it largely is that one sees so much black earth in- stead of green color that a disagreeable vacilla- tion between formality and natural irregularity is apparent. Mr. Nash has entirely abandoned this kind of arrangement. He masses the shrubs more closely together, allows the grass to disap- pear in wide sweeps under the plants, or lets it run along the edges of the shrubs without trim- ming them. At the same time he sets a number 72 Hunts on LanpscapE GARDENING of isolated trees and shrubs on the lawn beside the plantation in order to interrupt the lines nat- urally from all sides. These shrubberies are then neither raked nor trimmed except where neces- sary for their growth ; hence, they soon develop into a thicket that gracefully bends over the lawn without showing anywhere a sharply defined out- line, just as bushes in the wild state grow and shape themselves on the edge of a meadow. No tender bedding flowers can be employed in this way, since they demand continuous attention, nor are they necessary, since the English climate produces, besides the beautiful rhododendrons and the many species of roses, a sufficient num- ber of hardy perennial plants to give variety to the plantation; and the flowers are massed in the flower gardens where regularity is entirely in order. For further explanation see Plate IV, where the sketch e shows the border plantations in the old style, and f, Mr. Nash’s method. In our climate and less productive soil, where even the commonest varieties of roses suffer from cold or are quite destroyed by the frost, a middle course must be found, since we can hardly pro- duce ornamental shrubberies without resorting to herbaceous plants and annuals. For a long time, therefore, I have managed in general my planta- tions in the same way that Mr. Nash has done, while leaving, here and there in the shrubberies, places prepared for hardy herbaceous plants, which, though ugly in the early spring, are bright with color in summer and autumn, our pouley] S.Usen Joye suoneuelg Japiog -f 314g P[O ay UI suONeIUe[g Jopiog *9 ‘AT ILVIg Z TREES AND SHRUBS rae season for the country, whereas in England this season is more often in the winter. On the other _ hand, in the flower garden, where the health of herbaceous plants demands it and formality is quite out of place, I maintain the old style which I have described in the shrubberies, though within bounds, and with this difference, that I conceal the black earth as much as possible by flowering perennial plants. To the flower beds themselves I give a distinct, defined shape and surround them preferably by basket-work ; sometimes I make use of ironwork, or sometimes of wooden borders bound with cord, earthenware, tiles, leaf-shaped or other- wise ; also borders of merely plaited osiers with an overhanging arch on which I train flowering vines, etc. Flower beds, star- and rosette-shaped, surrounded by box borders, big vases, French parterres with gravel walks and elegant flower stands, — all these are here in place with appro- priate surroundings. From what I have said one sees that Mr. Nash is at bottom an innovator only in this, that he has applied to the ‘ pleasure-ground ” (that is, the larger garden which represents something midway between park and garden) the same principles that hold good in all wild wood and shrub plantations; namely, that the true line of beauty of the exterior of a plantation must lie in imperceptible transitions, sharp angles, and deep recesses, here and there in almost straight lines, broken, however, by single projecting trees and 74 Hunts on LanpscapE GARDENING shrubs which bind them loosely together. This does not mean to employ that ideal wavy line called more accurately, “corkscrew” form, which is the most unnatural of all and which impedes any effect of light and shade, the greatest secret of landscape painting. Besides, in spite of its twists, when seen in front it presents only a meaningless zigzag without any character. Sharp corners, on the other hand, seldom do harm, as they always become rounded in time by vegeta- tion. Finally, after the first two years, when the needful cultivation, weeding, etc., have been done, I sow grass on the borders of the planta- tions and wherever a bare place shows itself be- tween the shrubs, until every trace of abruptness in the dividing line disappears, and the most nat- ural and spontaneous connection between meadow and wood is created. Wherever the path leads through the planta- tion, either the plantation is brought quite close to the edge or a border of grass is made to lose itself naturally in the shrubbery. It is only in the flower garden that I permit a continuous border cut regularly to one width; this even is broken here and there by a border of box or violets, etc. Evergreens should not, as a rule, be placed close to the roads, since they may have to be trimmed high for the benefit of the passer-by, thereby losing their beauty, and, moreover, no grass will grow underneath Hear. But they are often very ornamental if set far enough back from the border of the walk or TREES AND SHRUBS 75 drive to permit them to spread out their branches. These rules also admit of exceptions, and I take occasion here once for all to warn against pe- dantry. Nulla regula sine exceptione. But to allow one’s self exceptions, one must all the more be familiar with the rule. Thus, it is not advisable in the long run to increase by the addition of young trees plantations which have grown old. They are apt neither to look well nor do well; yet at times it is necessary. In that case a por- tion of the older trees should be removed and some rather large specimens of the younger trees planted in wedge form in gradation, whereby the transition from the old to the new soon disap- pears. For the same reason some of the older and inferior trees on the border should often be cleared away and replaced by a younger growth until the disagreeable sharpness of the division is quite lost. I will add a few words here on the shrubberies made up of flowering shrubs and perennial plants and annuals : — (1) It is better in general, but not always, to group one kind in connected masses instead of © - planting too many single and isolated specimens. (2) With such masses it is especially advisable to cover over conspicuous points of shrubbery with a lower growth, connecting it with higher . shrubs in such a manner that these shrubs shall not stand detached and appear intentionally placed there. (3) Only those plants should be grouped to- 76 Hints on LanpscAPE GARDENING gether which have in the beginning the same relative height that they attain in proportion to one another when full grown; for instance, do not set a young white lilac one foot high with a grown Persian lilac four feet high, because the relative proportions of the two would before long be reversed. If all plants are mixed as they happen to grow, young and old together, they will, of course, finally come to their full stature, but for a con- siderable time they will make a confused, and therefore undesirable, effect. In explanation see the accompanying vignette, which shows a mix- ture of shrubs blooming in the spring and sum- mer. This model can, of course, be varied indefi- nitely, though a dozen different patterns might be sufficient, which, as a matter of convenience and approved effectiveness, might be repeated in part or entire throughout the “ pleasure-ground.”’ I wager that no one will notice that there are only twelve different patterns, but a garden de- signed in accordance with this principle will pro- duce a much greater variety of effects than one where the patterns are indiscriminately mixed, although the latter should contain a much greater variety of plants. Besides, one may, if one will, take twenty-four instead of twelve such patterns, but should always proceed methodically, for with- out this precaution, nothing succeeds in art. The pattern I have given is a very simple one with only the most ordinary kinds of plants that Lychnis Vesiaria fl. pleno Per nat S¥ringa p fi nafaets Wa, Sri Campannla medium cricmen mercer cress. dunkdlan, spit C¥tifas eh oe - gt, fra sreenecanvisen Aellblant, frihe ‘-) Stringa vulgaris fl coeruleo ... Lith } ornunyt, rik Shiu «a nh, spat Spi a hip se ye Sate sie woifi — Srttk Lonicera tartarica fl. rubro, 7-2-cc..007 Ries smreum oii cs ceemminecinmnaree yell jie _Lumaria vederiva .... 00.0. pat Rosa ifolia, nee voemmme TOS, Sat fe toneeveree: Slafireth, Jrih Syringa vulgaris fi. aibo HAE |