CONGREss S 3 r — Hl) ti il TAN a U0001e5 a4 5, ‘ y * y Mant ipl 4 1 ey h Luh’ mat © OlPw ey y : SN ma spa ag? AMR ST, to ail , Miah ) oy fos CAA \ A 2 Ae Meal USA LAR Nee RUC Ly ay ‘ Se ie ies hs ie a wy 4 ~ im 8 a Mae sik ta, ee h Ss “8 - : % ee Hill -_ 4 eo ¥ 4 ae A TREATISE ON THE THEORY AND PRACTICE LANDSCAPE GARDENING. ADAPTED TO NORTH AMERICA; WITH A VIEW TO THE IMPROVEMENT OF COUNTRY RESIDENCES. COMPRISING HISTORICAL NOTICES AND GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF THE ART, DIRECTIONS FUR LAYING OUT GROUNDS AND ARRANGING PLANTATIONS, THE DESCRIPTION AND CULTIVATION OF HARDY TREES, DECORATIVE ACCOMPANIMENTS TO THE HOUSE AND GROUNDS, THE FORMATION OF PIECES OF ARTIFICIAL WATER, FLOWER GARDENS, ETC. WITH REMARKS ON RURAL ARCHITECTURE. Fourth Edition, ENLARGED, REVISED, AND NEWLY ILLUSTRATED. enn ees y x: . BY At 3 DOWNING, AUTHOR OF DESIGNS FOR COTTAGE RESIDENCES, ETC. new “Tnsult not Nature with absurd expense, Nor spoil her simple charms by vain pretence ; Weigh well the subject, be with caution bold, Profuse of genius, not profuse of gold.”’ NEW YORK: GEORGE P. PUTNAM, 155 BROADWAY. LONDON: ‘ LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN & LONGMANS. SUP'G. ARCH'T: | TREASURY / DEPT, / Ci ; ee Entered according to the: pet of cece in ie gee 1849, ri ere ten GEORGE P. PUTNAM, alent Se ana Gs é ‘ In the Clerk’s Bes of the District Court for ee Souhern District of New York, MAR 41 1944 ae Serial Record Livision + na The Libiary of Cangrags | Ceny aM es: f ate ve ° oy re, Pes bli) . pes nal £ ' he. nee , ‘ = R, CRAIGHEAD, PRINTER, . 112 FULTON STREET, NEW-YORK. } ihe e . >a , » q . EX-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 5 ae ee THE LOVER OF RURAL PURSUITS, . a. 4 ¢ % 4 r 4 & ; AS WELL as » ws at ; ; THR DISTINGUISHED PATRIOT, STATESMAN, a Liat y - ; t ; AND SAGE; ‘ ‘ ; ’ ‘THIS VOLUME, me i : _ «BY _ PERMISSION, : : rh al ug “I3 RESPECTFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED, | ‘en BY HIS FRIEND, a : 3 THE AUTHOR, + { . PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION. Ir is even more gratifying to the author of this work to know, from actual observation, that the public taste in Rural Embellishment has, within a few years past, made the most rapid progress in this country, than to feel assured by the call for a fourth edition, that his own imperfect labors for the accomplishment of that end have been most kindly appreciated. In the present edition considerable alterations and amendments have been made in some portions—especially in that section relating to the nature of the Beautiful and the Picturesque. The difference among critics regarding natural expression and its reproduction in Landscape Gardening, has led him more carefully to examine this part of the subject, in order, if possible, to present it in the clearest and most definite manner. The whole work has also been revised, and more copiously illustrated, and is now offered in a more com- plete form than in any previous edition. As Newburgh, New York, Jan. 1849. PREFACE. A vaste for rural improvements of every description is advancing silently, but with great rapidity in this country. While yet in the far west the pioneer constructs his rude hut of logs for a dwelling, and sweeps away with his axe the lofty forest trees that encumber the ground, in the older portions of the Union, bordering the Atlantic, we are surrounded by all the luxuries and refinements that belong to an old and long cultivated country. Within the last ten years, especially, the evidences of the growing wealth and prosperity of our citizens have become apparent in the great increase of elegant cottage and villa residences on the banks of our noble rivers, along our rich valleys, and wherever nature seems to invite us by her rich and varied charms. In all the expenditure of means in these improvements, amounting in the aggregate to an immense sum, pro- fessional talent is seldom employed in Architecture or Landscape Gardening, but almost every man fancies himself an amateur, and endeavors to plan and arrange his own residence. With but little practical knowledge, and few correct principles for his guidance, it is not surprising that we witness much incongruity and great waste of time and money. Even those who are familiar with foreign works on the subject in question labor under many obstacles in practice, which grow out of the difference in our soil and climate, or our social and political position. These views have so often presented themselves to me of late, and have been so frequently urged by persons desiring advice, that I have ventured to prepare the present volume, in the hope of supplying, in some degree, the Vill PREFACE. desideratum so much felt at present. While we have treatises, in abundance, on the various departments of the arts and sciences, there has not appeared even a single essay on the elegant art of Landscape Gardening. Hun- dreds of individuals who wish to ornament their grounds and embellish their places, are at a loss how to proceed, from the want of some leading principles, with the knowledge of which they would find it comparatively easy to produce delightful and satisfactory results. In the following pages I have attempted to trace out such principles, and to suggest practicable methods of embellishing our Rural Residences, on a scale com- mensurate to the views and means of our proprietors. While I have availed myself of the works of European authors, and especially those of Britain, where Landscape Gardening was first raised to the rank of a fine art, I have also endeavored to adapt my suggestions especially to this country and to the peculiar wants of its inhabitants. As a people descended from the English stock, we inherit much of the ardent love of rural life and its pursuits which belongs to that nation ; but our peculiar position, in a new world that required a population full of enterprise and energy to subdue and improve its vast territory, has, until lately, left but little time to cultivate a taste for Rural Embellishment. But in the older states, as wealth has accumulated, the country become populous, and society more fixed in its character, a return to those simple and fascinating enjoyments to be found in country life and rural pursuits, is witnessed on every side. And to this innate feeling, out of which grows a strong attachment to natal soil, we must look for a counterpoise to the great tendency towards constant change, and the restless spirit of emigration, which form part of our national character ; and which, though to a certain extent highly necessary to our national prosperity, are, on the other hand, opposed to social and domestic happiness. “In the midst of the continual movement which agitates a democratic com- munity,’ says the most philosophical writer who has yet discussed our institutions, “the tie which unites one generation to another is relaxed or broken ; every man . PREFACE. — ix readily loses the trace of the ideas of his forefathers, or takes no care about them.” The love of country is inseparably connected with the love of home. Whatever, therefore, leads man to assemble the comforts and elegancies of life around his habitation, tends to increase local attachments, and render domestic life more delightful; thus not only augmenting his own enjoyment, but strengthening his patriotism, and making him a better citizen. And there is no employment or recreation which affords the mind greater or more permanent satisfaction, than that of cultivating the earth and adorning our own property. “God Almighty first planted a garden; and, indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures,” says Lord Bacon. And as the first man was shut out from the garden, in the cultivation of which no alloy was mixed with his happiness, the desire to return to it seems to be implanted by nature, more or less strongly, in every heart. In Landscape Gardening the country gentleman of leisure finds a resource of the most agreeable nature. While there is no more rational pleasure than that derived from its practice by him, who « Plucks life’s roses in his quiet fields,” the enjoyment drawn from it (unlike many other amuse- ments) is unembittered by the after recollection of pain or injury inflicted on others, or the loss of moral rectitude. In rendering his home more beautiful, he not only con- tributes to the happiness of his own family, but improves the taste, and adds loveliness to the country at large. There is, perhaps, something exclusive in the taste for some of the fine arts. ~A> = ‘ URSA KS Ima —lQS—_ {Fig.5. The Lake at Montgomery Place.) Ellerslie is the seat of William Kelly, Esq. It is three miles below Rhinebeck. It comprises over six hundred acres, and is one of our finest examples of high keeping and good management, both in an ornamental and an agricultural point of view. The house is conspicuously placed on a commanding natural terrace, with a fair fore- ground of park surface below it, studded with beautiful groups of elms and oaks, and a very fine reach of river and 4 50 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. distant hills. This is one of the most celebrated places on the Hudson, and there are few that so well pay the lover of improved landscape for a visit. Just below Ellerslie are the fine mansion and pleasing grounds of Wm. Emmet, Esq.,—the former a stone edifice, in the castellated style, and the latter forming a most agreeable point on the margin of the river. The seat of Gardiner Howland, Esq., near New Ham- burgh, is not only beautiful'in situation, but is laid out with great care, and is especially remarkable for the many rare trees and shrubs collected in its grounds. Wodenethe, near Fishkill landing, is the seat of H. W. Sargent, Esq., and is a bijou full of interest for the lover of rural beauty ; abounding in rare trees, shrubs, and plants, as well as vases, and objects of rural embellishment of all kinds. . ; Kenwood (Fig. 6), the residence of J. Rathbone, Esq., is one mile south of Albany. Ten years ago this spot was a wild and densely wooded hill, almost inaccessible. With great taste and industry Mr. Rathbone has converted it into a country residence of much picturesque beauty, erected in the Tudor style, one of the best villas in the country, with a gate-lodge in the same mode, and laid out the grounds with remarkable skill and good taste. There are about 1200 acres in this estate, and pleasure grounds, forcing houses, and gardens, are now flourishing where all was so lately in the rudest state of nature; while, by the judicious preservation of natural wood, the effect of a long cultivated demesne has been given to the whole. The Manor House of the “ Patroon” (as the eldest son of the Van Rensselaer family is called) is in the northern suburbs of the city of Albany. The mansion, greatly Hy) a\cunnnson $© Kenwood, Residence of J Rathbone, Esq near Albany. N, Y. Fig. 9. Po hee here | ch ary * " : j wn a ae ; y ’ f ' » Ps) wae! a? file \ © » >e r * uy my ne fr : < 5 plied: ; J 4 ; oe F ‘3. \ af } Ye a ‘A ; 4 - . va m \ ram J ay . d a 0 iy + ft Mb M a a Sc mt i, Fig 8. Cottage Residence ot Wm. H. Aspinwall, Esq HISTORICAL NOTICES. 51 enlarged and improved a few years since, from the designs of Upjohn, is one of the largest and most admirable in all respects, to be found in the country, and the pleasure- grounds in the rear of the house are tasteful and beau- tiful. ; Beaverwyck, a little north of Albany, on the opposite bank of the river, is the seat of Wm. P. Van Rensselaer, Esq. (Fig. 7.) The whole estate is ten or twelve miles square, including the village of Bath on the river shore, and a large farming district. The home residence em- braces several hundred acres, with a large level lawn, bordered by highly varied surface of hill and dale. The mansion, one of the first class, is newly erected from the plans of Mr. Diaper, and in its interior—its hall with mosaic floor of polished woods, its marble staircase, frescoed apartments, and spacious adjoining conservatory —is perhaps the most splendid in the Union. The grounds are yet newly laid out, but with much judgment; and siz or seven miles of winding gravelled roads and walks have been formed—their boundaries now leading over level meadows, and now winding through woody dells. The drives thus afforded, are almost unrivalled in extent and variety, and give the stranger or guest, an opportunity of seeing the near and distant views to the best advantage. At Tarrytown, is the cottage residence of Washington Irving, which is, in location and accessories, almost the beau ideal of a cottage ornée. The charming manner in which the wild foot-paths, in the neighborhood of this cottage, are conducted among the picturesque dells and banks, is precisely what one would look for here. A little below, Mr. Sheldon’s cottage, with its pretty lawn and its charming brook, is one of the best specimens of this kind 52 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. of residence on the river. At Hastings, four or five miles south, is the agreeable seat of Judge Constant. About twelve miles from New York, on the Sound, is Hunter’s Island, the seat of John Hunter, Esq., a place of much simplicity and dignity of character. The whole island may be considered an extensive park carpeted with soft lawn, and studded with noble trees. ‘The mansion is simple in its exterior, but internally, is filled with rich treasures of art. The seat of James Munroe, Esq., on the East river in this neighborhood, abounds with beautiful trees, and many other features of interest. The Cottage residence of William H. Aspinwall, Esq., on Staten Island, is a highly picturesque specimen of Land- scape Gardening. The house is in the English cottage style, and from its open lawn in front, the eye takes in a wide view of the ocean, the Narrows, and the blue hills of Neversink. In the rear of the cottage, the surface is much broken and varied, and finely wooded and planted. In improving this picturesque site, a nice sense of the charm of natural expression has been evinced; and the sudden variations from smooth open surface, to wild wooded banks, with rocky, moss-covered flights of steps, strike the stranger equally with surprise: and delight. A charming greenhouse, a knotted flower-garden, and a pretty, rustic moss-house, are among the interesting points of this spirited place. (See Fig. 8.) The seat of the Wadsworth family, at Geneseo, is the finest in the interior of the state of New York. Nothing, indeed, can well be more magnificent than the meadow park at Geneseo. It is more than a thousand acres in extent, lying on each side of the Genesee river, and is filled with thousands of the noblest oaks and elms, many of which, but Seat of Wadsworth Family at Genese Fig. 9 i HISTORICAL NOTICES. 53 more especially the oaks, are such trees as we see in the pictures of Claude, or our own Durand ; richly developed, their trunks and branches grand and majestic, their heads full of breadth and grandeur of outline. (See Fig. 9.) These oaks, distributed over a nearly level surface, with the trees disposed either singly or in the finest groups, as if most tastefully planted centuries ago, are solely the work of nature; and yet so entirely is the whole like the grandest planted park, that it is difficult to believe that all is not the work of some master of art, and intended for the accompaniment of a magnificent residence. Some of the trees are five or six hundred years old. In Connecticut, Monte Video, the seat of Daniel Wads- worth, Esq., near Hartford, is worthy of commendation, as it evinces a good deal of beauty in its grounds, and is one of the most tasteful in the state. The residence of James Hillhouse, Esq., near New-Haven, is a pleasing specimen of the simplest kind of Landscape Gardening, where grace- ful forms of trees, and a gently sloping surface of grass, are the principal features. The villa of Mr. Whitney, near New-Haven, is one of the most tastefully managed in the state. In Maine, the most remarkable seat, as respects landscape gardening and architecture, is that of Mr. Gav- diner, of Gardiner. The environs of Boston are more highly cultivated than those of any other city in North America. There are here whole rural neighborhoods of pretty cottages and villas, ad- mirably cultivated, and, in many cases, tastefully laid out and planted. The character of even the finest of these places is, perhaps, somewhat suburban, as compared with those of the Hudson river, but we regard them as furnish- 54 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. ing admirable hints for a class of residence likely to become more numerous than any other in this country—the taste- ful suburban cottage. The owner of a small cottage resi- dence may have almost every kind of beauty and enjoy- ment in his grounds that the largest estate will afford, so far as regards the interest of trees and plants, tasteful ar- rangement, recreation, and occupation. Indeed, we have little doubt that he, who directs personally the curve of every walk, selects and plants every shrub and tree, and watches with solicitude every evidence of beauty and pro- gress, succeeds in extracting from his tasteful grounds of half a dozen acres, a more intense degree of pleasure, than one who is only able to direct and enjoy, in a general sense, the arrangement of a vast estate. Belmont, the seat of J. P. Cushing, Esq., is a residence of more note than any other near Boston; but this is, chiefly,.on account of the extensive ranges of glass, the forced fruits, and the high culture of the gardens. A new and spacious mansion has recently been erected here, and the pleasure-grounds are agreeably varied with fine groups and masses of trees and shrubs on a pleasing lawn. (Fig. 10.) The seat of Col. Perkins, at Brookline; is one of the most interesting in this neighborhood. The very beautiful lawn here, abounds with exquisite trees, finely disposed ; among them, some larches and Norway firs, with many other rare trees of uncommon beauty of form. At a short distance is the villa residence of Theodore Lyman, Esq., remarkable for the unusually fine avenue of Elms leading to the house, and for the beautiful architectural taste dis- played in the dwelling itself. The seat of the Hon. John Fig. 10. Belmont Place, near Boston, the Seat of J P. Cushing, Esq. SA RAAT AAI ay Rig. 1] Mr. Dunz Cottage, Mount He lly, N J HISTORICAL NOTICES. 55 Lowell, at Roxbury, possesses also many interesting gar- dening features.* Pine Bank, the Perkins estate, on the border of Jamaica lake, is one of the most beautiful residences near Boston. The natural surface of the ground is ex- ceedingly flowing and graceful, and it is varied by two or three singular little dimples, or hollows, which add to its effect. The perfect order of the grounds; the beauty of the walks, sometimes skirting the smooth open lawn, en- riched with rare plants and shrubs, and then winding by the shadowy banks of the water; the soft and quiet cha- racter of the lake itself—its margin richly fringed with trees, which conceal here and there a pretty cottage, its firm clean beach of gravel, and its water of crystal purity ; all these features make this place a little gem of natural * We Americans are proyerbially impatient of delay, and a few years in prospect appear an endless futurity. So much is this the feeling with many, that we verily believe there are hundreds of our country places, which owe their bareness and destitution of foliage to the idea, so common, that it requires “an age” for forest trees to “ grow up.” The middle-aged man hesitates about the good of planting what he imagines he shall never see arriving at maturity, and even many who are younger, con- ceive that it requires more than an ordinary lifetime to rear a fine wood of planted trees. About two years since, we had the pleasure of visiting the seat of the late Mr. Lowell, whom we found in a green old age, still enjoying, with the enthusiasm of youth, the pleasures of Horticulture and a country life. For the encouragement of those who are ever complaining of the tardy pace with which the growth of trees advances, we will here record that we accompanied Mr. L. through a belt of fine woods (skirting part of his residence), nearly half a mile in length, consisting of almost all our finer hardy trees, many of them apparently full grown, the whole of which had been planted by him when he was thirty-two years old. At that time, a solitary elm or two were almost the only trees upon his estate. We can hardly conceive a more rational source of pride or enjoyment, than to be able thus to walk, in the decline of years, beneath the shadow of umbrageous woods and groves, planted by our own hands, and whose growth has become almost identified with our own pro- gress and existence. 56 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. and artistical harmony, and beauty. Mr. Perkins has just rebuilt the house, in the style of a French maison de cam- pagne; and Pine Bank is now adorned with a most complete residence in the latest continental taste, from the designs of M. Lémoulnier. On the other side of the lake is the cottage of Thomas Lee, Esq. Enthusiastically fond of botany, and gardening in all its departments, Mr. Lee has here formed a residence of as much variety and interest as we ever saw in so moderate a compass—about 20 acres. It is, indeed, not only a most instructive place to the amateur of landscape gardening, but to the naturalist and lover of plants. Every shrub seems placed precisely in the soil and aspect it likes best, and native and foreign Rhododendrons, Kalmias, and other rare shrubs, are seen here in the finest condition. There is a great deal of variety in the surface here, and while the lawn-front of the house has a polished and graceful air, one or two other portions are quite picturesque. Near the entrance gate is an English oak, only fourteen years planted, now forty feet high. The whole of this neighborhood of Brookline is a kind of landscape garden, and there is nothing in America, of the sort, so inexpressibly charming as the lanes which lead from one cottage, or villa, to another. No animals are allowed to run at large, and the open gates, with tempting vistas and glimpses under the pendent boughs, give it quite an Arcadian air of rural freedom and enjoyment. These lanes are clothed with a profusion of trees and wild shrub- bery, often almost to the carriage tracks, and curve and wind about, in a manner quite bewildering to the stranger who attempts to thread them alone; and there are more hints here for the lover of the picturesque in lanes, than Mind 7 ne 7 Ra ae a tacitly ts) ‘ rae ae ; oa a a MT — HISTORICAL NOTICES. 57 we ever saw assembled together in so small a com- pass. In the environs of New Bedford are many beautiful resi- dences. Among these, we desire particularly to notice the residence of James Arnold, Esq. There is scarcely a small place in New England, where the pleasure-grounds are so full of variety, and in such perfect order and keeping, as at this charming spot; and its winding walks, open bits of lawn, shrubs and plants grouped on turf, shady bowers, and rustic seats, all most agreeably combined, render this a very interesting and instructive suburban seat. In New Jersey, the grounds of the Count de Survilliers, at Bordentown, are very extensive ; and although the sur- face is mostly flat, it has been well varied by extensive plantations. At Mount Holly, about twenty miles from Camden, is Mr. Dunn’s unique, semi-oriental cottage, with a considerable extent of pleasure ground, newly planted, after the designs of Mr. Notman. (Fig. 11.) About Philadelphia there are several very interesting seats on the banks of the Delaware and Schuylkill, and the district between these two rivers. The country seat of George Sheaff, Esq., one of the most remarkable in Pennsylvania, in many respects, is twelve miles north of Philadelphia. The house is a large and re- spectable mansion of stone, surrounded by pleasure-grounds and plantations of fine evergreen and deciduous trees. The conspicuous ornament of the grounds, however, is a mag- nificent white oak, of enormous size, whose wide stretching branches, and grand head, gave an air of dignity to the whole place. (Fig. 12.) Among the sylvan features here, most interesting, are also the handsome evergreens, chiefly Balsam or Balm of Gilead firs, some of which are now 58 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. much higher than the mansion. These trees were planted by Mr. Sheaff twenty-two years ago, and were then so small, that they were brought by him from Philadelphia, at various times, in his carriage—a circumstance highly encouraging to despairing planters, when we reflect how comparatively slow growing is this tree. This whole es- tate is a striking example of science, skill, and taste, applied to a country seat, and there are few in the Union, taken as a whole, superior to it.* Cottage residence of Mrs. Camac. This is one of the most agreeable places within a few miles of Philadelphia. The house is a picturesque cottage, in the rural gothic style, with very charming and appropriate pleasure grounds, comprising many groups and masses of large and finely grown trees, interspersed with a handsome collection of shrubs and plants; the whole very tastefully arranged. (Fig. 13.) The lawn is prettily varied in surface, and there is a conservatory attached to the house, in which the plants in pots are hidden in beds of soft green moss, and which, in its whole effect and management, is more tasteful and elegant than any plant house, connected with a dwell- ing, that we remember to have seen. * The farm is 300 acres in extent, and, in the time of De Witt Clinton, was pronounced by him the model farm of the United States. At the present time we know nc‘hing superior to it; and Capt. Barelay, in his agricultural tour, says it was the only instance of regular, scientific system of husbandry in the Eng- lish manner, he saw in America. Indeed, the large and regular fields, filled with luxuriant crops, everywhere of an exact evenness of growth, and every- where free from weeds of any sort ; the perfect system of manuring and cul- ture ; the simple and complete fences; the fine stock ; the very spacious barns, every season newly whitewashed internally and externally, paved with wood, and as clean as a gentleman’s stable (with stalls to fatten 90 head of cattle) ; these, and the masterly way in which the whole is managed, both as regards culture and profit, render this estate one of no common interest in an agricul- tural, as well as ornamental point of view. Ci = imac’s Re 1] s; Residenc HISTORICAL NOTICES. 59 Stanton, near Germantown, four miles from Philadelphia, is a fine old place, with many picturesque features. The farm consists of 700 acres, almost without division fences— admirably managed—and remarkable for its grand old avenue of the hemlock spruce, 110 years old, leading to a family cemetery of much sylvan beauty. There is a large and excellent old mansion, with paved halls, built in 1781, which is preserved in its original condition. This place was the seat of the celebrated Logan, the friend of William Penn, and is now owned by his descendant, Albanus Logan. The villa residence of Alexander Brown, Esq., is situated on the Delaware, a few miles from Philadelphia. There is here a good deal of beauty, in the natural style, made up chiefly by lawn and forest trees. A pleasing drive through plantations of 25 years’ growth, is one of the most interest- ing features—and there is much elegance and high keeping in the grounds. Below Philadelphia, the lover of beautiful places will find a good deal to admire in the country seat of John R. Latimer, Esq., near Wilmington, which enjoys the reputa- tion of being the finest in Delaware. The place has all the advantages of high keeping, richly stocked gardens and conservatories, and much natural beauty, heightened by judicious planting, arrangement, and culture. At the south are many extensive country residences re- markable for trees of unusual grandeur and beauty, among which the live oak is very conspicuous ; but they are, in general, wanting in that high keeping and care, which is so essential to the charm of a landscape garden. Of smaller villa residences, suburban chiefly, there are great numbers, springing up almost by magic, in the bor- ders of our towns and cities. Though the possessors of 60 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. these can scarcely hope to introduce anything approaching to a landscape garden style, in laying out their limited grounds, still they may be greatly benefited by an ac- quaintance with the beauties and the pleasures of this species of rural embellishment. When we are once master of the principles, and aware of the capabilities of an art, we are able to infuse an expression of tasteful design, or an air of more correct elegance, even into the most humble works, and with very limited means. While we shall endeavor, in the following pages, to give such a view of modern Landscape Gardening, as will enable the improver to proceed with his fascinating operations, in embellishing the country residence, in a practical mode, based upon what are now generally received as the correct principles of the art, we would desire the novice, after making himself acquainted with all that can be acquired from written works within his reach, to strengthen his taste and add to his knowledge, by a practical inspection of the best country seats among us. In an infant state of society, in regard to the fine arts, much will be done in violation of good taste; but here, where nature has done so much for us, there is scarcely a large country residence in the Union, from which useful hints in Landscape Gardening may not be taken. And in nature, a group of trees, an accidental pond of water, or some equally simple object, may form a study more convincing to the mind of a true admirer of natural beauty, than the most carefully drawn plan, or the most elaborately written description. BEAUTIES AND PRINCIPLES OF THE ART. 61 SECTION IL. BEAUTIES AND PRINCIPLES OF THE ART. Capacities of the art, The beauties of the ancient style. The modernstyle. The Beauti- ful and the Picturesque: their distinctive characteristics. Illustrations drawn from Nature and Painting. Nature and principles of Landscape Gardening as an Initative art. Distinction between the Beautiful and Picturesque. The principles of Unity, Harmony, and Variety. «Here Nature in her unaffected dresse, Plaited with vallies and imbost with hills, Enchast with silver streams, and fringed with woods, Sits lovely. ””— CHAMBERLAYNE, «Tl est des soins plus doux, un art plus enchanteur. C’est peu de charmer Pil, il faut parler au cceur. Avez-vous done connu ces rapports invisibles, Des corps inanimés et des étres sensibles ? Avez-vous entendu des eaux, des prés, des bois, La muette éloquence et la secréte voix ? Rendez-nous ces effets.” Les Jardins, Book I. EFORE we proceed to a detailed and more practical consideration of the subject, let us occupy ourselves for a moment with the consideration of the different results which are to be sought after, or, in other words, what kinds of beauty we may hope to produce by Landscape Gardening. To attempt the smallest work in any art, without knowing either the capacities of 62 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. that art, or the schools, or modes, by which it has previous- ly been characterized, is but to be groping about in a dim twilight, without the power of knowing, even should we be successful in our efforts, the real excellence of our produc- tion ; or of judging its merit, comparatively, as a work of taste and imagination. {Fig. 14. The Geometric style, from an old print.] The beauties elicited by the ancient style of gardening were those of regularity, symmetry, and the display of labored art. These were attained in a merely mechanical manner, and usually involved little or no theory. The geometrical form and lines of the buildings were only ex- tended and carried out in the garden. In the best classical models, the art of the sculptor conferred dignity and ele- gance on the garden, by the fine forms of marble vases and statues ; in the more intricate and labored specimens of the BEAUTIES AND PRINCIPLES OF THE ART. 63 Dutch school, prevalent in England in the time of William IV. (Fig. 14), the results evince a fertility of odd conceits, rather than the exercise of taste or imagination. Indeed, as, to level ground naturally uneven, or to make an avenue, by planting rows of trees on each side of a broad walk, requires only the simplest perception of the beauty of ma- thematical forms, so, to lay out a garden in the geometric style, became little more than a formal routine, and it was only after the superior interest of a more natural manner was enforced by men of genius, that natural beauty of expression was recognised, and Landscape Gardening was raised to the rank of a fine art. The ancient style of gardening may, however, be intro- duced with good effect in certain cases. In public squares and gardens, where display, grandeur of effect, and a highly artificial character are desirable, it appears to us the most suitable; and no less so in very small gardens, in which variety and irregularity are out of the question. Where a taste for imitating an old and quaint style of residence exists, the symmetrical and knotted garden would be a proper accompaniment ; and pleached alleys, and sheared trees, would be admired, like old armor or furniture, as curious specimens of antique taste and custom. The earliest professors of modern Landscape Gardening have generally agreed upon two variations, of which the art is capable—variations no less certainly distinct, on the one hand, than they are capable of intermingling and com- bining, on the other. These are the beautiful and the pic- turesque: or, to speak more definitely, the beauty charac- terized by simple and flowing forms, and that expressed by striking, irregular, spirited forms. The admirer of nature, as well as the lover of pictures 64 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. and engravings, will at once call to mind examples of scenery distinctly expressive of each of these kinds of beauty. In nature, perhaps some gently undulating plain, covered with emerald turf, partially or entirely encompassed by rich, rolling outlines of forest canopy,—its wildest ex- panse here broken occasionally, by noble groups of round- headed trees, or there interspersed with single specimens whose trunks support heads of foliage flowing in outline, or drooping in masses to the very turf beneath them. In such a scene we often behold the azure of heaven, and its silvery clouds, as well as the deep verdure of the luxuriant and shadowy branches, reflected in the placid bosom of a silvan lake ; the shores of the latter swelling out, and reced- ing, in gentle curved lines ; the banks, sometimes covered with soft turf sprinkled with flowers, and in other portions clothed with luxuriant masses of verdant shrubs. Here are all the elements of what is termed natural beauty,—or a landscape characterized by simple, easy, and flowing lines. For an example of the opposite character, let us take a stroll to the nearest woody glen in your neighborhood— perhaps a romantic valley, half shut in on two or more sides by steep rocky banks, partially concealed and over- hung by clustering vines, and tangled thickets of deep foliage. Against the sky outline breaks the wild and irre- gular form of some old, half decayed tree near by, or the horizontal and unique branches of the larch or the pine, with their strongly marked forms. Rough and irregular stems and trunks, rocks half covered with mosses and flowering plants, open glades of bright verdure opposed to dark masses of bold shadowy foliage, form prominent ob- jects in the foreground. If water enlivens the scene, we shall hear the murmur of the noisy brook, or the cool dash- BEAUTIES AND PRINCIPLES OF THE ART. 65 ing of the cascade, as it leaps over the rocky barrier. . Let the stream turn the ancient and well-worn wheel of the old mill in the middle ground, and we shall have an illustration of the picturesque, not the less striking from its familiarity to every one. To the lover of the fine arts, the name of Claude Lor- raine cannot fail to suggest examples of beauty in some of its purest and most simple forms. In the best pictures of this master, we see portrayed those graceful and flowing forms in trees, foreground, and buildings, which delight so much the lover of noble and chaste beauty,—compositions emanating from a harmonious soul, and inspired by a cli- mate and a richness of nature and art seldom surpassed. On the other hand, where shall we find all the elements of the picturesque more graphically combined than in the vigorous landscapes of Salvator Rosa! In those rugged scenes, even the lawless aspects of his favorite robbers and banditti are not more spirited, than the bold rocks and wild passes by which they are surrounded. And in the produc- tions of his pencil we see the influence of a romantic and vigorous imagination, nursed amid scenes teeming with the grand as well as the picturesque—both of which he embodied in the most striking manner. In giving these illustrations of beautiful and of pictu- resque scenes, we have not intended them to be understood in the light of exact models for imitation in Landscape Gardening—only as striking examples of expression in natural scenery. Although in nature many landscapes partake in a certain degree of both these kinds of expression, yet it is no doubt true that the effect is more satisfactory, where either the one or the other character predominates. The accomplished amateur should be able to seize at once 5) 66 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. upon the characteristics of these two species of beauty in all scenery. To assist the reader in this kind of discrimi- nation, we shall keep these expressions constantly in view, and we hope we shall be able fully to illustrate the differ- ence in the expression of even single trees, in this respect. A few strongly marked objects, either picturesque or simply beautiful, will often confer their character upon a whole landscape ; as the destruction of a single group of bold rocks, covered with wood, may render a scene, once pictu- ~ resque, completely insipid. The early writers on the modern style were content with trees allowed to grow in their natural forms, and with an easy assemblage of sylvan scenery in the pleasure-grounds, which resembled the usual woodland features of nature. The effect of this method will always be interesting, and an agreeable effect will always be the result of following the simplest hints derived from the free and luxuriant forms of nature. No residence in the country can fail to be pleasing, whose features are natural groups of forest trees, smooth lawn, and hard gravel walks. But this is scarcely Landscape Gardening in the true sense of the word, although apparently so understood by many writers. By Landscape Gardening, we understand not only an imitation, in the grounds of a country residence, of the agreeable forms of nature, but an expressive, harmo- nious, and refined imitation.* In Landscape Gardening, * «Thus, there is a beauty of nature and a beauty of art. To copy the beauty of nature cannot be called being an artist in the highest sense of the word, as a mechanical talent only is requisite for this. The beautiful in art depends on ideas ; and the true artist, therefore, must possess, together with the talent for technical execution, that genial power which revels freely in rich forms, and is capable of producing and animating them. It is by this, that the merit of the artist and his production is to be judged ; and these cannot be BEAUTIES AND PRINCIPLES OF THE ART. 67 we should aim to separate the accidental and extraneous in nature, and to preserve only the spirit, er essence. This subtle essence lies, we believe, in the expression more or Jess pervading every attractive portion of nature. And it is by eliciting, preserving, or heightening this expression, that we may give our landscape gardens a higher charm, than even the polish of art can bestow. Now, the two most forcible and complete expressions to be found in that kind of natural scenery which may be reproduced in Landscape Gardening, are the Beauriru. and the Picruresave. As we look upon these as quite distinct, and as success in practical embellishment must depend on our feeling and understanding these expressions beforehand, it is necessary that we should attach some definite meaning to terms which we shall be continually obliged toemploy. This is, indeed, the more requisite, from the vague and conflicting opinions of most preceding writers on this branch of the subject ; some, like Repton, insisting that they are identical; and others, like Price, that they are widely different. Gilpin defines Picturesque objects to be “those which please from some quality capable of being illustrated in painting.” Nothing can well be more vague than such a definition. We have already described the difference between the beautiful landscapes of Claude and the picturesque scenes painted by Salvator. No one can deny their being essen- properly estimated among those barren copyists which we find so many of our flower, landscape, and portrait painters to be. But the artist stands much higher in the scale, who, though a copyist of visible nature, is capable of seiz- ing it with poetic feeling, and representing it in its more dignified sense ; such, for example, as Raphael, Poussin, Claude, &c.”—WEINBREUNER. 68 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. > tially distinct in character; and no one, we imagine, will deny that they both please from “some quality capable of being illustrated in painting.” The beautiful female heads of Carlo Dolce are widely different from those of the pictu- resque peasant girls of Gerard Douw, yet both are favorite subjects with artists. A symmetrical American elm, with its wide head drooping with garlands of graceful foliage, is very different in expression from the wild and twisted larch or pine tree, which we find on the steep sides of a moun- tain; yet both are favorite subjects with the painter. It is clear, indeed, that there is a widely different idea hidden under these two distinct types, in material forms. Beauty, in all natural objects, as we conceive, arises from their expression of those attributes of the Creator— infinity, unity, symmetry, proportion, ete——which he has stamped more or less visibly on all his works; and a beau- tiful living form is one in which the individual is a harmo- nious and well balanced development ofa fine type. Thus, taking the most perfect specimens of beauty in the human figure, we see in them symmetry, proportion, unity, and grace—the presence of everything that could add to the idea of perfected existence. In a beautiful tree, such as a fine American elm, we see also the most complete and perfect balance of all its parts, resulting from its growth under the most favorable influences. It realizes, then, perfectly, the finest form of a fine type or species of tree. But all nature is not equally Beautiful. Both in living things and in inorganized matter, we see on all sides evi- dences of nature struggling with opposing forces. Moun- tains are upheaved by convulsions, valleys are broken into fearful chasms. Certain forms of animal and vegetable life, BEAUTIES AND PRINCIPLES OF THE ART. 69 instead of manifesting themselves in those more complete and perfect forms of existence where the matter and spirit are almost in perfect harmony, appear to struggle for the full expression of their character with the material form, and to express it only with difficulty at last. What is achieved with harmony, grace, dignity, almost with appa- rent repose, by existences whose type is the Beautiful, is done only with violence and disturbed action by the former. This kind of manifestation in nature we call the Pictures- que. More concisely, the Beautiful is nature or art obeying the universal laws of perfect existence (i. e. Beauty), easily, freely. harmoniously,-and without the display of power. The Picturesque is nature or art obeying the same laws rudely, violently, irregularly, and often displaying power only. Hence we find all Beautiful forms characterized by curved and flowing lines—lines expressive of infinity,* of grace, and willing obedience: and all Picturesque forms character- ized by irregular and broken lines—lines expressive of vio- lence, abrupt action, and partial disobedience, a strug- gling of the idea with the substance or the condition of its being. The Beautiful is an idea of beauty calmly and har- moniously expressed ; the Picturesque an idea of beauty or power strongly and irregularly expressed. As an example of the Beautifulin other arts we refer to the Apollo of the Vatican ; as an example of the Picturesque, to the Laocoon or the Dying Gladiator. In nature we would place before * Hogarth called the curve the line of beauty, and all artists have felt instinct- ively its power, but Mr. Ruskin (in Modern Painters) was, we believe, the first to suggest the cause of that power—that i expresses in its varying ten- dencies, the infinite. 70 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. the reader a finely formed elm or chestnut, whose well balanced head is supported on a trunk full of symmetry and dignity, and whose branches almost sweep the turf in their rich luxuriance ; as a picturesque contrast, some pine or larch, whose gnarled roots grasp the rocky crag on which it grows, and whose wild and irregular branches tell of the storm and tempest that it has so often struggled against.* In pictures, too, one often hears the Beautiful confounded with the Picturesque. Yet they are quite distinct; though in many subjects they may be found harmoniously com- bined. Some of Raphael’s angels may be taken as perfect illustrations of the Beautiful. In their serene and heavenly countenances we see only that calm and pure existence of which perfect beauty is the outward type ; on the other hand, Murillo’s beggar boys are only picturesque. What we ad- mire in them (beyond admirable execution) is not their rags or their mean apparel, but a certain irregular struggling of a better feeling within, against this outward poverty of nature and condition. Architecture borrows, partly perhaps by association, the same expression. We find the Beautiful in the most sym- metrical edifices, built in the finest proportions, and of the purest materials. It is, on the other hand, in some irregu- lar castle formed for defence, some rude mill nearly as wild as the glen where it is placed, some thatched cottage, weather stained and moss covered, that we find the Picturesque. The Temple of Jupiter Olympus in all its perfect proportions * This also explains why trees, though they retain for the most part their characteristic forms, vary somewhat in expression according to their situation. Thus the larch, though always picturesque, is far more so in mountain ridges where it is exposed to every blast, than in sheltered lawns where it only finds soft airs and sunshine. BEAUTIES AND PRINCIPLES OF THE ART. 71 was prized by the Greeks as a model of beauty ; we, who see only a few columns and broken architraves standing, with all their exquisite mouldings obliterated by the vio- lence of time and the elements, find them Picturesque. To return to a more practical view of the subject, we may remark, that though we consider the Beautiful and the Picturesque quite distinct, yet it by no means follows that they may not be combined in the same landscape. This is often seen in nature ; and indeed there are few landscapes of large extent where they are not thus harmo- niously combined. But it must be remembered, that while Landscape Gar- dening is an imitation of nature, yet it is rarely attempted on so large a scale as to be capable of the same extended harmony and variety of expression ; and also, that in Land- scape Gardening as in the other fine arts, we shall be more successful by directing our efforts towards the production of a leading character or expression, than by endeavor- ing to join and harmonize several. Our own views on this subject are simply these. When a place is small, and only permits a single phase of natural expression, always endeavor to heighten or to make that single expression predominate ; it should clearly either aim only at the Beautiful or the Picturesque. When, on the contrary, an estate of large size comes within the scope of the Landscape Gardener, he is at liberty to give to each separate scene its most fitting character ; he will thus, if he is a skilful artist, be able to create great variety both of beautiful and picturesque expression, and he will also be able to give a higher proof of his power, viz. by uniting all those scenes into one whole, by bringing them all into harmony. An artist who can do this has reached the ultimatum of his art. 72 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. Again and again has it been said, that Landscape Gar- dening and Painting are allied. In no one point does it ap- pear to us that they are so, more than in this—that in pro- portion to the limited nature of the subject should simpli- city and unity of expression be remembered. In some of the finest smaller compositions of Raphael, or some of the Landscapes of Claude, so fully is this borne in mind, that every object, however small, seems to be instinct with the same expression ; while in many of the great historical pictures, unity and harmony are wrought out of the most complex variety of expression. We must not be supposed to find in nature only the Beautiful and the Picturesque. Grandeur and Sublimity are also expressions strongly marked in many of the noblest portions of natural landscape. But, except in very rare instances, they are wholly beyond the powers of the land- scape gardener, at least in the comparatively limited scale of his operations in this country. All that he has to do, is to respect them where they exist in natural landscape which forms part of his work of art, and so treat the latter, as to make it accord with, or at least not violate, the higher and predominant expression of the whole. There are, however, certain subordinate expressions which may be considered as qualities of the Beautiful, and which may originally so prevail in natural landscape, or be so elicited or created by art, as to give a distinct character to a small country residence, or portions of a large one. These are simplicity, dignity, grace, elegance, gaiety, chasteness, &c. It is not necessary that we should go into a labored explanation of these expressions. They are more or less familiar to all. A few fine trees, scattered and grouped over any surface of smooth lawn, will give a Picturesque in Landscape Gardening. 273 BEAUTIES AND PRINCIPLES OF THE ART. 73 character of simple beauty; lofty trees of great age, hills covered with rich wood, an elevation commanding a wide country, stamp a site with dignity ; trees of full and graceful habit or gently curving forms in the lawn, walks, and all other objects, will convey the idea of grace ; as finely formed and somewhat tall trees of rare species, or a great abundance of bright climbers and gay flowering shrubs and plants, will confer characters of elegance and gaiety. He who would create in his pleasure grounds these more delicate shades of expression, must become a profound stu- dent both of nature and art; he must be able, by his own original powers, to seize the subtle essence, the half disclosed idea involved in the finest parts of nature, and to reproduce and develope it in his Landscape Garden. Leaving such, however, to a broader range of study than a volume like this would afford, we may offer what, per- haps, will not be unacceptable to the novice—a more de- tailed sketch of the distinctive features of the Beautiful and the Picturesque, as these expressions should be embodied in Landscape Gardening. Tue Beautirut in Landscape Gardening (Fig. 15) is produced by outlines whose curves are flowing and gradual, surfaces of softness, and growth of richness and luxuriance. In the shape of the ground, it is evinced by easy undulations melting gradually into each other. In the form of trees, by smooth stems, full, round, or symmetrical heads of foliage, and luxuriant branches often drooping to the ground,—which is chiefly attained by planting and grouping, to allow free development of form ; and by selecting trees of suitable cha- racter, as the elm, the ash, and the like. In walks and - roads, by easy flowing curves, following natural shapes of the surface, with no sharp angies or abrupt turns. In water, 74 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. by the smooth lake with curved margin, embellished with flowing outlines of trees, and full masses of flowering shrubs—or in the easy winding curves of a brook. The keeping of such a scene should be of the most polished kind,—grass mown into a softness like velvet, gravel walks scrupulously firm, dry, and clean; and the most perfect order and neatness should reign throughout. Among the trees and shrubs should be conspicuous the finest foreign sorts, distinguished by beauty of form, foliage, and blossom ; and rich groups of shrubs and flowering plants shouid be arranged in the more dressed portions near the house. And finally, considering the house itself as a feature in the scene, it should properly belong to one of the classical modes; and the Italian, Tuscan, or Venetian forms are preferable, because these have both a polished and a domestic air, and readily admit of the graceful accom- paniments of vases, urns, and other harmonious accessories. Or, if we are to have a plainer dwelling, it should be simple and symmetrical in its character, and its veranda festooned with masses of the finest climbers. Tue Picruresave in Landscape Gardening (Fig. 16) aims at the production of outlines of a certain spirited irregularity, surfaces comparatively abrupt and broken, and growth of a somewhat wild and bold character. The shape .of the ground sought after, has its occasional smoothness varied by sudden variations, and in parts runs into dingles, rocky groups, and broken banks. The trees should in many places be old and irregular, with rough stems and bark; and pines, larches, and other trees of striking, irregular growth, must appear in numbers sufficient to give character to the woody outlines. As, to produce the Beautiful, the trees are planted singly in open groups BEAUTIES AND PRINCIPLES OF THE ART. 75 to allow full expansion, so for the Picturesque, the grouping takes every variety of form; almost every object should group with another; trees and shrubs are often planted closely together; and intricacy and variety—thickets— glades—and underwood—as in wild nature, are indispensa- ble. Walks and roads are more abrupt in their windings, turning off frequently at sudden angles where the form of the ground or some inviting object directs. In water, all the wildness of romantic spots in nature is to be imitated or preserved ; and the lake or stream with bold shore and rocky, wood-fringed margin, or the cascade in the secluded dell, are the characteristic forms. The keeping of such a landscape will of course be less careful than in the graceful school. Firm gravel walks near the house, and a general air of neatness in that quarter, are indispensable to the fitness of the scene in all modes, and indeed properly evince the recognition of art in all Landscape Gardening. But the lawn may be less frequently mown, the edges of the walks less carefully trimmed, where the Picturesque prevails; while in portions more removed from the house, the walks may sometimes sink into a mere footpath without gravel, and the lawn change into the forest glade or meadow. The architecture which belongs to the picturesque landscape, is the Gothic mansion, the old English or the Swiss cottage, or some other striking forms, with bold projections, deep shadows, and irregular outlines. Rustic baskets, and similar ornaments, may abound near the house, and in the more frequented parts of the place. The recognition of art, as Loudon justly observes, is a first principle in Landscape Gardening, as in all other arts ; and those of its professors have erred, who supposed that 76 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. ca the object of this art is merely to produce a fac-simile of nature, that could not be distinguished from a wild scene. But we contend that this principle may be fully attained with either expression—the picturesque cottage being as well a work of art as the classic villa; its baskets, and seats of rustic work, indicating the hand of man as well as the marble vase and balustrade ; and a walk, sometimes narrow and crooked, is as certainly recognised as man’s work, as one always regular and flowing. Foreign trees of picturesque growth are as readily obtained as those of beautiful forms. The recognition of art is, therefore, always apparent in both modes. The evidences are indeed stronger and more multiplied in the careful polish of the Beautiful landscape,* and hence many prefer this species of landscape, not, as it deserves to be preferred, ° because it displays the most beautiful and perfect ideas in its outlines, the forms of its trees, and all that enters into its composition, but chiefly because it also is marked by that careful polish, and that completeness, which imply the expenditure of money, which they so well know how to value. If we declare that the Beautiful is the more perfect expression in landscape, we shall be called upon to explain why the Picturesque is so much more attractive to many minds. This, we conceive, is owing partly to the imper- * The beau ideal in Landscape Gardening, as a fine art, appears to us to be embraced in the creation of scenery full of expression, as the beautiful or pic- turesque, the materials of which are, to a certain extent, different from those in wild nature, being composed of the floral and arboricultural riches of all climates, as far as possible ; uniting in the same scene, a richness and a variety never to be found in any one portion of nature ;—a scene characterized as a work of art, by the variety of the materials, as foreign trees, plants, &c., and by the polish and keeping of the grounds in the natural style, as distinctly as by the uniform and symmetrical arrangement in the ancient style. BEAUTIES AND PRINCIPLES OF THE ART. 71% fection of our natures by which most of us sympathize more with that in which the struggle between spirit and matter is most apparent, than with that in which the union is harmonious and complete; and partly because from the comparative rarity of highly picturesque land- scape, it affects us more forcibly when brought into contrast with our daily life. Artists, we imagine, find somewhat of the same pleasure in studying wild land- scape, where the very rocks and trees seem to struggle with the elements for foothold, that they do in contem- plating the phases of the passions and instincts of human and animal life. The manifestation of power is to many minds far more captivating than that of beauty. All who enjoy the charms of Landscape Gardening, may perhaps be divided into three classes : those who have arrived only at certain primitive ideas of beauty which are found in regular forms and straight lines; those who in the Beautiful seek for the highest and most perfect development of the idea in the material form ; and those who in the Picturesque enjoy most a certain wild and incomplete harmony between the idea and the forms in which it is expressed. As the two latter classes embrace the whole range of modern Landscape Gardening, we shall keep distinctly in view their two governing principles—the Beautiful and the Picturesque, in treating of the practice of the art. There are always circumstances which must exert a controlling influence over amateurs, in this country, in choosing between the two. These are, fixed locality, ex- pense, individual preference in the style of building, and many others which readily occur to all. The great variety of attractive sites in the older parts of the country, afford an 78 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. abundance of opportunity for either taste. Within the last five years, we think the Picturesque is beginning to be pre- ferred. It has, when a suitable locality offers, great advan- tages for us. The raw materials of wood, water, and sur- face, by the margin of many of our rivers and brooks, are at once appropriated with so much effect, and so little art, in the picturesque mode; the annual tax on the purse too is so comparatively little, and the charm so great! While, on one hand, the residences of a country of level plains usually allow only the beauty of simple and grace- ful forms; the larger demesne, with its swelling hills and noble masses of wood (may we not, prospectively, say the rolling prairie too?), should always, in the hands of the man of wealth, be made to display all the breadth, va- riety, and harmony of both the Beautiful and the Pictu- resque. There is no surface of ground, however bare, which has not, naturally, more or less tendency to one or the other of these expressions. And the improver who detects the true character, and plants, builds, and embellishes, as he should, constantly aiming to elicit and strengthen it—will soon arrive at a far higher and more satisfactory result, than one who, in the common manner, works atrandom. The latter may succeed in producing pleasing grounds—he will un- doubtedly add to the general beauty and tasteful appearance of the country, and we gladly accord him our thanks. But the improver who unites with pleasing forms an expres- sion of sentiment, will affect not only the common eye, but much more powerfully, the imagination, and the refined and delicate taste. But there are many persons with small cottage places, of little decided character, who have neither room, time, BEAUTIES AND PRINCIPLES OF THE ART. 79 nor income, to attempt the improvement of their grounds fully, after either of those two schools. How shall they render their places tasteful and agreeable, in the easiest manner? We answer, by attempting only the simple and the natural; and the unfailing way to secure this, is by employing as leading features only trees and grass. A soft verdant lawn, a few forest or ornamental trees well grouped, walks, and a few flowers, give universal pleasure ; they contain in themselves, in fact, the basis of all our agreeable sensations in a landscape garden (na- tural beauty, and the recognition of art); and they are the most enduring sources of enjoyment in any place. There are no country seats in the United States so unsa- tisfactory and tasteless, as those in which, without any definite aim, everything is attempted; and a mixed jumble of discordant forms, materials, ornaments, and decorations, is assembled—a part in one style and a bit in another, without the least feeling of unity or congruity. These rural bedlams, full of all kinds of absurdities, without a leading character or expression of any sort, cost their owners a vast deal of trouble and money, without giving a tasteful mind a shadow of the beauty which it feels at the first glimpse of a neat cottage residence, with its simple, sylvan character of well kept lawn and trees. If the latter does not rank high in the scale of Landscape Gardening as an art, it embodies much of its essence as a source of enjoyment—the production of the Beautiful in country residences. Besides the beauties of form and expression in the differ- ent modes of laying out grounds, there are certain univer- sal and inherent beauties common to all styles, and, indeed, to every composition in the fine arts. Of these, we shall 80 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. especially point out those growing out of the principles of UNITY, HARMONY, and VARIETY. Uniry, or the production of a whole, is a leading principle of the highest importance, in every art of taste or design, without which no satisfactory result can be realized. This arises from the fact, that the mind can only attend, with pleasure and satisfaction, to one object, or one composite sensation, at the same time. If two distinct objects, or classes of objects, present themselves at once to us, we can only attend satisfactorily to one, by withdraw- ing our attention for the time from the other. Hence the necessity of a reference to this leading principle of unity. To illustrate the subject, let us suppose a building, partially built of wood, with square windows, and the remainder of brick or stone, with long and narrow windows. However well such a building may be con- structed, or however nicely the different proportions of the edifice may be adjusted, it is evident it can never forma satisfactory whole. The mind can only account for such an absurdity, by supposing it to have been built by two individuals, or at two different times, as there is nothing indicating unity of mind in its composition. In Landscape Gardening, violations of the principle of unity are often to be met with, and they are always indi- cative of the absence of correct taste in art. Looking upon a landscape from the windows of a villa residence, we sometimes see a considerable portion of the view embraced by the eye, laid out in natural groups of trees and shrubs, and upon one side, or perhaps in the middle of the same scene, a formal avenue leading directly up to the house. Such a view can never appear a satisfactory whole, because we experience a confusion of sensations in con- BEAUTIES AND PRINCIPLES OF THE ART. 81 templating it. There is an evident incongruity in bringing two modes of arranging plantations, so totally different, under the eye at one moment, which distracts, rather than pleases the mind. In this example, the avenue, taken by itself, may be a beautiful object, and the groups and con- nected masses may, in themselves, be elegant; yet if the two portions are seen together, they will not form a whole, because they cannot make a composite idea. For the same reason, there 1s something unpleasing in the introduc- tion of fruit trees among elegant ornamental trees on a lawn, or even in assembling together, in the same beds, flowering plants and culinary vegetables—one class of vegetation suggesting the useful and homely alone to the mind, and the other, avowedly, only the ornamental. In the arrangement of a large extent of surface, where a great many objects are necessarily presented to the eye at once, the principle of unity will suggest that there should be some grand or leading features to which the others should be merely subordinate. Thus, in grouping trees, there should be some large and striking masses to which the others appear to belong, however distant, instead of scattered groups, all of the same size. Even in arranging walks, a whole will more readily be recognised, if there are one or two of large size, with which the others appear connected as branches, than if all are equal in breadth, and present the same appearance to the eye in passing. In all works of art which command universal admiration we discover an unity of conception and composition, an unity of taste and execution. To assemble in a single composition forms which are discordant, and portions dissimilar in plan, can only afford pleasure for a short time to tasteless minds, or those fond of trifling and puerile 6 82 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. conceits. The production of an accordant whole is, on the contrary, capable of affording the most permanent enjoyment to educated minds, everywhere, and at all periods of time. After unity, the principle of Varrery is worthy of con- sideration, as a fertile source of beauty in Landscape Gar- dening. Variety must be considered as belonging more to the details than to the production of a whole, and it may be attained by disposing trees and shrubs in numerous dif- ferent ways; and by the introduction of a great number of different species of vegetation, or kinds of walks, ornamental objects, buildings, and seats. By producing intricacy, it creates in scenery a thousand points of interest, and elicits new beauties, through different arrangements and combi- nations of forms and colors, light and shades. In pleasure- grounds, while the whole should exhibit a general plan, the different scenes presented to the eye, one after the other, should possess sufficient variety in the detail to keep alive the interest of the spectator, and awaken further curiosity. Harmony may be considered the principle presiding over variety, and preventing it from becoming discordant. It, indeed, always supposes contrasts, but neither so strong nor so frequent as to produce discord; and variety, but not so great as to destroy a leading expression: In plantations, we seek it in a combination of qualities, opposite in some respects, as in the color of the foliage, and similar in others more important, as the form. In embellishments, by a great variety of objects of interest, as sculptured vases, sun dials, or rustic seats, baskets, and arbors, of different forms, but all in accordance, or keeping with the spirit of the scene. To illustrate the three principles, with reference to Land- scape Gardening, we may remark, that, if unity only were BEAUTIES AND PRINCIPLES OF THE ART. 83 consulted, a scene might be planted with but one kind of tree, the effect of which would be sameness; on the other hand, variety might be carried so far as to have every tree of a different kind, which would produce a confused effect. Harmony, however, introduces contrast and variety, but keeps them subordinate to unity, and to the leading expres- sion ; and is, thus, the highest principle of the three. In this brief abstract of the nature of imitation in Land- scape Gardening and the kinds of beauty which it is possible to produce by means of the art, we have endeavored to elucidate its leading principles, clearly, to the reader. These grand principles we shall here succinctly recapitu- late, premising that a familiarity with them is of the very first importance in the successful practice of this elegant art, Viz. : « Tue Imrration or tHe Beauty or Expression, derived from a refined perception of the sentiment of nature: Tus Recognition or Art, founded on the immutability of the true, as well as the beautiful: Anp tue Propucrion or Unity, Harmony, anp Variety, in order to render com- plete and continuous, our enjoyment of any artistical work. Neither the professional Landscape Gardener, nor the amateur, can hope for much success in realizing the nobler effects of the art, unless he first make himself master of the natural character or prevailing expression of the place to be improved. In this nice perception, at a glance, of the natural expression, as well as the capabilities of a residence, lies the secret of the superior results produced even by the improver, who, to use the words of Horace Walpole, “ is proud of no other art than that of softening nature’s harsh- ness, and copying her graceful touch.” When we discover 84 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. the picturesque indicated in the grounds of the residence to be treated, let us take advantage of it ; and while all harsh- ness incompatible with scenery near the house is removed, the original expression may in most cases be heightened, in all rendered more elegant and appropriate, without lower- ing it in force or spirit. In like manner good taste will direct us to embellish scenery expressive of the Beautiful, by the addition of forms, whether in trees, buildings, or other objects, harmonious in character, as well as in color and outline. ON WOOD AND PLANTATIONS. 85 SECTION II. ON WOOD. The beauty of Trees in Rural Embellishments. Pleasure resulting from their cultivation. Plantations in the Ancient Style ; their formality. In the Modern Style ; grouping trees. Arrangement and grouping in the Graceful school; in the Picturesque school. Illustra- tions in planting villa, ferme ornée, and cottage grounds. General classification of trees as to forms, with leading characteristics of each class. “ He gains all points, who pleasingly confounds, Surprises, varies, and conceals the bounds. Calls in the country, catches opening glades, Joins willing woods, and varies shades from shades ; Now breaks, or now directs the intending lines ; Paints as you plant, and, as you work, designs.” Pore. ai M O N G all the materials at our disposal 8 for the embellishment of country resi- Se ce e dences, none are at once so highly orna- mental, so indispensable, and so easily managed, as trees, or wood. We introduce them in every part of the landscape, —in the foreground as well as in the distance, on the tops of the hills and in the depths of the valleys. They are, in- deed, like the drapery which covers a somewhat ungainly figure, and while it conceals its defects, communicates to it new interest and expression. A tree, undoubtedly, is one of the most beautiful objects in nature. Airy and delicate in its youth, luxuriant and majestic in its prime, venerable and picturesque in its old 86 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. age, it constitutes in its various forms, sizes, and develop- ments, the greatest charm and beauty of the earth in all countries. The most varied outline of surface, the finest combination of picturesque materials, the stateliest country house would be comparatively tame and spiritless, without the inimitable accompaniment of foliage. Let those who have passed their whole lives in a richly wooded country, —whose daily visions are deep leafy glens, forest clad hills, and plains luxuriantly shaded,—transport themselves for a moment to the desert, where but a few stunted bushes raise their heads above the earth, or those wild steppes where the eye wanders in vain for some “leafy garniture,’’—where the sun strikes down with parching heat, or the wind sweeps over with unbroken fury, and they may, perhaps, estimate, by contrast, their beauty and value. We are not now to enumerate the great usefulness of trees,—their value in the construction of our habitations, our navies, the various implements of labor,—in short, the thousand associations which they suggest as ministering to our daily wants; but let us imagine the loveliest scene, the wildest landscape, or the most enchanting valley, despoiled of trees, and we shall find nature shorn of her fair propor- tions, and the character and expression of these favorite spots almost entirely destroyed. Wood, in its many shapes, is then one of the greatest sources of interest and character in Landscapes. Variety, which we need scarcely allude to as a fertile source of beauty, is created in a wonderful degree by a natural arrangement of trees. To a pile of buildings, or even of ruins, to a group of rocks or animals, they communicate new life and spirit by their irregular outlines, which, by partially concealing some portions, and throwing others ON WOOD AND PLANTATIONS. 87 into stronger light, contribute greatly to produce intricacy and variety, and confer an expression, which, without these latter qualities, might in a great measure be wanting. By shutting out some parts, and inclosing others, they divide the extent embraced by the eye into a hundred different landscapes, instead of one tame scene bounded by the horizon. The different seasons of the year, too, are inseparably connected in our minds with the effects produced by them on woodland scenery. Spring is joyous and enlivening to us, as nature then puts on her fresh livery of green, and the trees bud and blossom with a renewed beauty, that speaks with a mute and gentle eloquence to the heart. In sum- mer they offer us a grateful shelter under their umbrageous arms and leafy branches, and whisper unwritten music to the passing breeze. In autumn we feel a melancholy thoughtfulness as «We stand among the fallen leaves,” and gaze upon their dying glories. And in winter we see in them the silent rest of nature, and behold in their leaf- less spray, and seemingly dead limbs, an annual type of that deeper mystery—the deathless sleep of all being. By the judicious employment of trees in the embellishment of a country residence, we may effect the greatest alterations and improvements within the scope of Landscape Garden- ing. Buildings which are tame, insipid, or even mean in appearance, may be made interesting, and often picturesque, by a proper disposition of trees. Eddifices, or parts of them that are unsightly, or which it is desirable partly or wholly to conceal, can readily be hidden or improved by wood ; and walks and roads, which otherwise would be but simple 88 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. ways of approach from one point to another, are, by an elegant arrangement of trees on their margins, or adjacent to them, made the most interesting and pleasing portions of the residence. In Geometric gardening, trees disposed in formal lines, exhibit as strongly art or design in the contriver, as regu- lar architectural edifices; while, in a more elevated and enlightened taste, we are able to dispose them in our plea- sure-grounds and parks, around our houses, in all the vari- ety of groups, masses, thicket, and single trees, in such a manner as to rival the most beautiful scenery of general nature ; producing a portion of landscape which unites with all the comforts and conveniences of rural habitation, the superior charm of refined arrangement, and natural beauty of expression. If it were necessary to present any other inducement to the country gentleman to form plantations of trees, than the great beauty and value which they add to his estate, we might find it in the pleasure which all derive from their cultivation. Unlike the pleasure arising from the gratification of our taste in architecture, or any other of the arts whose productions are offered to us perfect and complete, the satisfaction arising from planting and rearing trees is never weakened. “We look,” says a writer, “upon our trees as our offspring; and nothing of inanimate nature can be more gratifying than to see them grow and prosper under our care and attention,— nothing more interesting than to examine their progress, and mark their several peculiarities. In their progress from plants to trees, they every year unfold new and characteristic marks of their ultimate beauty, which not only compensate for past cares and troubles, but like the ON WOOD AND PLANTATIONS. 89 returns of gratitude, raise a most delightful train of sensations in the mind; so innocent and rational, that they may justly rank with the most exquisite of human enjoyments.” “ Happy is he, who in a country life Shuns more perplexing toil and jarring strife; Who lives upon the natal soil he loves, And sits beneath his old ancestral groves.” To this, let us add the complacent feelings with which a man in old age may look around him and behold these leafy monarchs, planted by his boyish hands and nurtured by him in his youthful years, which have grown aged and venerable along with him ; «A wood coeyal with himself he sees, And loves his own contemporary trees.” PLanrations In THE Ancient Sryue. In the arrange- ment and culture of trees and plants in the ancient style of Landscape Gardening, we discover the evidences of the formal taste,—abounding with every possible variety of quaint conceits, and rife with whimsical expedients, so much in fashion during the days of Henry and Eliza- beth, and until the eighteenth century in England, and which is still the reigning mode in Holland, and parts of France. In these gardens, nature was tamed and subdued, or as some critics will have it, tortured into every shape which the ingenuity of the gardener could suggest ; and such kinds of vegetation as bore the shears most patiently, and when carefully trimmed, assumed gradually the appearance of verdant statues, pyramids, crowing cocks, and rampant lions, were the especial favorites of the 90 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. gardeners of the old school.* The stately etiquette and courtly precision of the manners of our English ancestors, extended into their gardens, and were reflected back by the very trees which lined their avenues, and the shrubs which surrounded their houses. ‘“ Nonsuch, Theobalds, Green- wich, Hampton Court, Hatfield, Moor-Park, Chatsworth, Beaconfield, Cashiobury, Ham, and many another,” says William Howitt, “stood in all that stately formality which Henry and Elizabeth admired; and in which our Surreys, Leicesters, Essexes, the splendid nobles of the Tudor dynasty, the gay ladies and gallants of Charles I.’s court, had walked and talked,—fluttering in glittering processions, or flirting in green alleys and bowers of topiary work, and amid figures, in lead or stone, fountains, cascades,— copper-trees dropping sudden showers on the astonished passers under, stately terraces with gilded balustrades, and curious quincunxes, obelisks, and pyramids ;—fitting objects of admiration of those who walked in high heeled shoes, ruffs, and fardingales, with fan in hand, or in trunk hose and laced doublet.” Symmetrical uniformity governed with despotic power even the trees and foliage, in the ancient style. In the more simple country residences, the plantations were always arranged in some regular lines or geometrical figures. Long parallel rows of trees were planted for groves and avenues along the principal roads and walks. The greatest care was taken to avoid any appearance of irregularity. A tree upon one side of the house was opposed by another vis @ vis, and a row of trees at the * The unique ideal of the “Garden of Eden,” by one of the old Dutch painters, with sheared hedges, formal alleys, and geometric plots of flowers, for the entertainment of our first parents, is doubtless familiar to our readers. ON WOOD AND PLANTATIONS, 91 right of the mansion had its always accompanying row on the left: or, as Pope in his Satire has more rhythmically expressed it— “ Grove nods at grove, each alley has its brother, And half the platform just reflects the other.” In the interior of the park, the plantations were generally disposed either in straight avenues crossing each other, or clumped in the form of circles, stars, squares, etc. ; and long vistas were obtained through the avenues divaricating from the house in various directions, over level surfaces. One of the favorite fancies of the geometric gardener was the Labyrinth (fig. 17), of which a few celebrated examples are still in existence in England, and which consisted of a multitude of trees thickly planted in impervious hedges, covering sometimes several acres of ground. These labyrinths were the source of much amusement to the family and guests, the trial of skill being to find the centre, and from that point to return again without assistance ; and we are told by a historian of the garden of that period, that “the stranger having once entered, was sorely puzzled to get out.” [Fig. 17. A Labyrinth.] 92 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. Since the days when these gardens were in their glory the taste in Landscape Gardening has undergone a great change. The beautiful and the picturesque are the new elements of interest, which, entering into the composition of our gardens and home landscapes, have to refined minds increased a hundred fold the enjoyment derived from this species of rural scenery. Still, there is much to admire in the ancient style. Its long and majestic avenues, the wide-spreading branches interlacing over our heads, and forming long, shadowy aisles, are, themselves alone, among the noblest and most imposing sylvan objects. Even the formal and curiously knotted gardens are interesting, from the pleasing associations which they suggest to the mind, as having been the favorite haunts of Shakspeare, Bacon, Spenser, and Milton. They are so inseparably connected, too, in our imaginations, with the quaint architecture of that era, that wherever that style of building is adopted (and we observe several examples already among us) this style of gardening may be considered as highly appropriate, and in excellent keeping with such a country house. It has been remarked, that the geometric style would always be preferred in a new country, or in any country where the amount of land under cultivation is much less than that covered with natural woods and forests; as the inhabitants being surrounded by scenery abounding with natural beauty, would always incline to lay out their gar- dens and pleasure-grounds in regular forms, because the distinct exhibition of art would give more pleasure by con- trast, than the elegant imitation of beautiful nature. That this is true as regards the mass of uncultivated minds, we do not deny. But at the same time we affirm that it evinces a meagre taste, and a lower state of the art, or a ON WOOD AND PLANTATIONS. 93 lower perception of beauty in the individual who employs the geometrical style in such cases. A person, whose place is surrounded by inimitably grand or sublime scenery, would undoubtedly fail to excite our admiration, by at- tempting a fac-simile imitation of such scenery on the small scale of a park or garden; but he is not, therefore, obliged to resort to right-lined plantations and regular grass plots, to produce something which shall be at once sufficiently different to attract notice, and so beautiful as to command admiration. All that it would be requisite for him to do in such a case, would be to employ rare and foreign orna- mental trees; as for example, the horse-chestnut and the linden, in situations where the maple and the sycamore are the principal trees,—elegant flowering shrubs and beautiful creepers, instead of sumacs and hazels,—and to have his place kept in high and polished order, instead of the tan- gled wildness of general nature. On the contrary, were a person to desire a residence newly laid out and planted, in a district where all around is in a high state of polished cultivation, as in the suburbs of a city, a species of pleasure would result from the imita- tion of scenery of a more spirited, natural character, as the picturesque, in his grounds. His plantations are made in irregular groups, composed chiefly of picturesque trees, as the larch, &c.—his walks would lead through varied scenes, sometimes bordered with groups of rocks overrun with flowering creepers and vines ; sometimes with thickets or little copses of shrubs and flowering plants; sometimes through wild and comparatively ne- glected portions ; the whole interspersed with open glades of turf. In the majority of instances in the United States, the 94 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. modern style of Landscape Gardening, wherever it is ap- preciated, will, in practice, consist in arranging a demesne of from five to some hundred acres,—or rather that portion of it, say one half, one third, etc., devoted to lawn and pleasure-ground, pasture, etc.—so as to exhibit groups of forest and ornamental trees and shrubs, surrounding the dwelling of the proprietor, and extending for a greater or less distance, especially towards the place of entrance from the public highway. Near the house, good taste will dic- tate the assemblage of groups and masses of the rarer or more beautiful trees and shrubs; commoner native forest trees occupying the more distant portions of the grounds.* Piantrations in THE Mopern Sryzze. In the Modern Style of Landscape Gardening, it is our aim, in plantations, to produce not only what is called natural beauty, but even higher and more striking beauty of expression, and of individual forms, than we see in nature; to create variety * Although we love planting, and avow that there are few greater pleasures than to see a darling tree, of one’s own placing, every year stretching wider its feathery head of foliage, and covering with a darker shadow the soft turf beneath it, still, we will not let the ardent and inexperienced hunter after a location for a country residence, pass without a word of advice. This is, always to make considerable sacrifice to get a place with some existing wood,or a few ready grown trees upon it; especially near the site for the house. It is better to yield a little in the extent of prospect, or in the direct proximity to a certain locality; than to pitch your tent in a plain,—desert-like in its bareness—on which your leafy sensibilities must suffer for half a dozen years at least, before you can hope for any solace. It is doubtful whether there is not almost as much interest in studying from one’s window the curious ramifications, the variety of form, and the entire harmony, to be found in a fine old tree, as in gazing from a site where we have no interruption to a panorama of the whole horizon ; and we have generally found that no planters have so little courage and faith, as those who haye commenced without the smallest group of large trees, as a nucleus for their plantations. ON WOOD AND PLANTATIONS. 95 and intricacy in the grounds of a residence by various modes of arrangement ; to give a highly elegant or polished air to places by introducing rare and foreign species ; and to conceal all defects of surface, disagreeable views, un- sightly buildings, or other offensive objects. As uniformity, and grandeur of single effects, were the aim of the old style of arrangement, so variety and har- mony of the whole are the results for which we labor in the modern landscape. And as the Avenue, or the straight line, is the leading form in the geometric arrangement of plantations, so let us enforce it upon our readers, the Group is equally the key-note of the Modern style. The smallest place, having only three trees, may have these pleasingly connected in a group; and the largest and finest park—the Blenheim or Chatsworth, of seven miles square, is only composed of a succession of groups, becoming masses, thickets, woods. If a demesne with the most beautiful surface and views has been for some time stiffly and awkwardly planted, it is exceedingly difficult to give it a natural and agreeable air ; while many a tame level, with scarcely a glimpse of distance, has been rendered lovely by its charming groups of trees. How necessary, therefore, is it, in the very outset, that the novice, before he begins to plant, should know how to arrange a tasteful group! Nothing, at first thought, would appear easier than to arrange a few trees in the form of a natural and beautiful group,—and nothing really is easier to the practised hand. Yet experience has taught us that the generality of persons, in commencing their first essays in ornamental planting, almost invariably crowd their trees into a close, regular clump, which has a most formal and unsightly appearance, 96 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. as different as possible from the easy, flowing outline of the group.* “Were it made the object of study,” said Price, “how to invent something, which, under the name of ornament, should disfigure a whole park, nothing could * ede, be contrived to answer that purpose like a clump. Natural groups, being formed by trees of different ages and sizes, and at different distances from each other, often too by a mixture of those of the largest size with others of inferior growth, are full of variety in their outlines ; and from the same causes, no two groups are exactly alike. But clumps, from the trees being gene- rally of the same age and growth, from their being planted nearly at the same distance, in a circular form, and from each tree being equally pressed by his neighbor, are as like each other as so many puddings turned out of one com- mon mould. Natural groups are full of openings and hollows, of trees advancing before, or retiring behind each other; all productive of intricacy, of variety, of deep shadows and brilliant lights: in walking about them the form changes at every step; new combinations, new lights and shades, new inlets present themselves in succession. * A friend of ours, at Northampton, who is a most zealous planter, related to us a diverting expedient to which he was obliged to resort, in order to ensure irregular groups. Busily engaged in arranging plantations of young trees on his lawn, he was hastily obliged to leave home, and intrust the planting of the groups to some common garden laborers, whose ideas he could not raise to a point sufficiently high to appreciate any beauty in plantations, unless made in regular forms and straight lines. ‘ Being well aware,” says our friend, “ that if left to themselves I should find all my trees, on my return, in hollow squares or circular clumps, I hastily threw up a peck of potatoes into the air, one by one, and directed my workmen to plant a tree where every potatoe fell! Thus, if I did not attain the maximum of beauty in grouping, I at least had something not so offensive as geometrical figures.” ON WOOD AND PLANTATIONS. 97 But clumps, like compact bodies of soldiers, resist attacks from all quarters; examine them in every point of view; walk round and round them; nv opening, no vacancy, no stragglers ; but in the true military character, ils sont fuce partout !* The chief care, then, which is necessary in the forma- tion of groups, is, not to place them in any regular or artificial manner,—as one at each corner of a triangle, square, octagon, or other many-sided figure; but so to dispose them, as that the whole may exhibit the variety, connexion, and intricacy seen in nature. “The greatest beauty of a group of trees,” says Loudon, “as far as respects their stems, is in the varied direction these take as they grow into trees; but as that is, for all practical purposes, beyond the influence of art, all we can do, is to vary as much as possible the ground plan of groups, or the relative positions which the stems have to each other where they spring from the earth. This is considerable, even where a very few trees are used, of which any person may convince himself by placing a few dots on paper. Thus two trees (fig. 18), or a tree and shrub, which is the smallest group (a), may be placed in three different positions with reference to a spectator in a fixed point ; if he moves round them, they will first vary in form separately, and next unite in one or two groups, according to the position of the spectator. In like manner, three * Those who peruse Price’s “ Essay on the Picturesque,’ cannot fail to be entertained with the vigor with which he advocates the picturesque, and attacks the clumping method of laying out grounds, so much practised in Eng- land on the first introduction of the modern style. Brown was the great practitioner at that time, and his favorite mode seems to have been to cover the whole surface of the grounds with an unmeaning assemblage of round bunchy clumps. 7 98 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. trees may be placed in four different positions ; four trees may be placed in eight different positions (b); five trees may be grouped in ten different ways, as to ground plan; six may be placed in twelve different ways (c), and so on.” (Encyclopedia of Gard.) [Fig. 18. Grouping of Trees.) In the composition of larger masses, similar rules must be observed as in the smaller groups, in order to prevent them from growing up in heavy, clumpish forms. The outline must be flowing, here projecting out into the grass, there receding back into the plantation, in order to take off all appearance of stiffness and regularity. Trees of medium and smaller size should be so interspersed with those of larger growth, as to break up all formal sweeps in the line produced by the tops of their summits, and oc- ON WOOD AND PLANTATIONS. 99 casionally, low trees should be planted on the outer edge of the mass, to connect it with the humble verdure of the surrounding sward. * In many parts of the union, where new residences are being formed, or where old ones are to be improved, the grounds will often be found, partially, or to a considerable extent, clothed with belts or masses of wood, either pre- viously planted, or preserved from the woodman’s axe. How easily we may turn these to advantage in the natural style of Landscape Gardening ; and by judicious trimming when too thick, or additions when too much scattered, elicit often the happiest effects, in a magical manner! In the accompanying sketch (fig. 19), the reader will re- cognise a portrait of a hundred familiar examples, existing with us, of the places of persons of considerable means and intelligence, where the house is not less meagre than the {Fig. 19. View of a Country Residence, as frequently seen.] stiff approach leading to it, bordered.with a formal belt of trees. The succeeding sketch (fig. 20) exhibits this place as improved agreeably to the principles of modern Land- scape Gardening, not only in the plantations, but in the house,—which appears tastefully altered from a plain un- meaning parallelogram, to a simple, old English cottage,—- and in the more graceful approach. Effects like these 100 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. are within the reach of very moderate means, and are peculiarly worth attention in this country, where so much has already been partially, and often badly executed. ee tn tn (Fig. 20. View of the same Residence, improved.] Where there are large masses of wood to regulate and arrange, much skill, taste, and judgment, are requisite, to enable the proprietors to preserve only what is really beautiful and picturesque, and to remove all that is super- fluous. Most of our native woods, too, have grown so closely, and the trees are consequently so much drawn up, that should the improver thin out any portion, at once, to single trees, he will be greatly disappointed if he expects them to stand long; for the first severe autumnal gale will almost certainly prostrate them. The only method, therefore, is to allow them to remain in groups of con- siderable size at first, and to thin them out as is finally desired, when they have made stronger roots and become more inured to the influence of the sun and air.* But to return to grouping; what we have already en- deavored to render familiar to the reader, may be called * When, in thinning woods in this manner, those left standing have a mea- gre appearance. a luxuriant growth may be promoted by the application of manure plentifully dug in about the roots. This will also, by causing an abun- dant growth of new roots, strengthen the trees in their position. ON WOOD AND PLANTATIONS. 101 grouping in its simple meaning—for general effect, and with an eye only to the natural beauty of pleasing forms. Let us now explain, as concisely as we may, the mode of grouping in the two schools of Landscape Gardening here- tofore defined, that is to say, grouping and planting for Beautiful effect, and for Picturesque effect ; as we wish it understood that these two different expressions, in artificial landscape, are always to a certain extent under our control. PLantinc AND Grouprine TO pRopUcE THE Beautirut. The elementary features of this expression our readers will remember to be fulness and softness of outline, and perfectly luxuriant development. To insure these in plan- tations, we must commence by choosing mainly trees of graceful habit and flowing outlines; and of this class of trees, hereafter more fully illustrated, the American elm and the maple may be taken as the type. Next, in dis- posing them, they must usually be planted rather distant in the groups, and often singly. We do not mean by this, that close groups may not occasionally be formed, but there should be a predominance of trees grouped at such a dis- tance from each other, as to allow a full development of the branches on every side. Or, when a close group is planted, the trees composing it should be usually of the same or a similar kind, in order that they may grow up together and form one finely rounded head. Rich creepers and blossoming vines, that grow in fine luxuriant wreaths “and masses, are fit accompaniments to occasional groups in this manner. Fig. 21 represents a plan of trees grouped along a road or walk, so as to develope the Beautiful. It is proper that we should here remark, that a distinet species of after treatment is required for the two modes. Trees, or groups, where the Beautiful is aimed at, should be 102 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. [Fig. 21. Grouping to produce the Beautiful. | pruned with great care, and indeed scarcely at all, except to remedy disease, or to correct a bad form. Above all, the full luxuriance and development of the tree should be encouraged by good soil, and repeated manurings when necessary ; and that most expressively elegant fall and droop of the branches, which so completely denotes the Beautiful in trees, should never be warred against by any trimming of the lower branches, which must also be care- fully preserved against cattle, whose browsing line would soon efface this most beautiful disposition in some of our fine lawn trees. Clean, smooth stems, fresh and tender bark, ‘and a softly rounded pyramidal or drooping head, are the characteristics of a Beautiful tree. We need not add that gently sloping ground, or surfaces rolling in easy undulations, should accompany such plantations. Puantine anp Grovupine To PropuUcE THE PicTuRESQUE. All trees are admissible in a picturesque place, but a pre- dominance must be used by the planter of what are truly called picturesque trees, of which the larch and fir tribe, ON WOOD AND PLANTATIONS. 103 and some species of oak, may be taken as examples. In Picturesque plantations everything depends on intricacy {Fig. 22. Grouping to produce the Picturesque. } and irregularity, and grouping, therefore, must often be done in the most irregular manner—rarely, if ever, with single specimens, as every object should seem to connect itself with something else ; but most frequently there should be irregular groups, occasionally running into thickets, and always more or less touching each other ; trusting to after time for any thinning, should it be necessary. Fig. 22 may, as compared with Fig. 21, give an idea of picturesque grouping. There should be more of the wildness of the finest and most forcible portions of natural woods or forests, in the disposition of the trees; sometimes planting them closely, even two or three in the same hole, at others more loose and scattered. These will grow up into wilder and more striking forms, the barks will be deeply furrowed and rough, the limbs twisted and irregular, and the forms and outlines distinctly varied. They should often be intermixed with smaller undergrowth of a similar character, as the hazel, hawthorn, etc., and formed into such picturesque and strik- 104 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. ing groups, as painters love to study and introduce into their pictures. Sturdy and bright vines, or such as are themselves picturesque in their festoons and hangings, should be allowed to clamber over occasional trees in a negligent manner; and the surface and grass, in parts of the scene not immediately in the neighborhood of the mansion, may be kept short by the cropping of animals, or alowed to grow in a more careless and loose state, like that of tangled dells and natural woods. There will be the same open glades in picturesque as in beautiful plantations; but these openings, in the former, will be bounded by groups and thickets of every form, and of different degrees of intricacy, while in the latter the eye will repose on softly rounded masses of foliage, or sin- gle open groups of trees, with finely balanced and graceful heads and branches. In order to know how a plantation in the Picturesque mode should be treated, after it is established, we should reflect a moment on what constitutes picturesqueness in any tree. This will be found to consist either in a certain natural roughness of bark, or wildness of form and outline, or in some accidental curve of a branch of striking manner of growth, or perhaps of both these conjoined. A broken or crooked limb, a leaning trunk, or several stems springing from the same base, are frequently peculiarities that at once stamp a tree as picturesque. Hence, it is easy to see that the excessive care of the cultivator of trees in the graceful school to obtain the smoothest trunks, and the most sweep- ing, perfect, and luxuriant heads of foliage, is quite the opposite of what is the picturesque arboriculturist’s ambi- tion. He desires to encourage a certain wildness of growth, and allows his trees to spring up occasionally in thickets ON WOOD AND PLANTATIONS. 105 to assist this effect; he delights in occasional irregularity of stem and outline, and he therefore suffers his trees here and there to crowd each other; he admires a twisted limb or a moss covered branch, and in pruning he therefore is careful to leave precisely what it would be the aim of the other to remove ; and his pruning, where it is at all neces- sary, is directed rather towards increasing the naturally striking and peculiar habit of the picturesque tree, than assisting it in developing a form of unusual refinement and symmetry. From these remarks we think the amateur will easily divine, that planting, grouping, and culture to produce the Beautiful, require a much less artistic eye (though much more care and attention) than performing the same operations to elicit the Picturesque. The charm of a refined and polished landscape garden, as we usually see it in the Beautiful grounds with all the richness and beauty developed by high culture, arises from our admira- tion of the highest perfection, the greatest beauty of form, to which every object can be brought ; and, in trees, a judicious selection, with high cultivation, will always pro- duce this effect. But in the Picturesque landscape garden there is visible a piquancy of effect, certain bold and striking growths and combinations, which we feel at once, if we know them to be the result of art, to be the production of a peculiar species of attention—not merely good, or even refined ornamental gardening. In short, no one can be a pictu- resque improver (if he has to begin with young plantations) who is not himself something of an artist—who has not studied nature with an artistical eye—and who is not capable of imitating, eliciting, or heightening, in his plan- tations or other portions of his residence, the picturesque 106 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. in its many variations. And we may add here, that effi- cient and charming as is the assistance which all orna- mental planters will derive from the study of the best landscape engravings and pictures of distinguished artists, they are indispensably necessary to the picturesque im- prover. In these he will often find embodied the choicest and most captivating studies from picturesque nature ; and will see at a glance the effect of certain combinations of trees, which he might otherwise puzzle himself a dozen years to know how to produce. After all, as the picturesque improver here will most generally be found to be one who chooses a comparatively wild and wooded place, we may safely say that, if he has the true feeling for his work, he will always find it vastly easier than those who strive after the Beautiful; as the majority of the latter may be said to begin nearly anew— choosing places not for wildness and intricacy of wood, but for openness and the smiling, sunny, undulating plain, where they must of course to a good extent plant anew. After becoming well acquainted with grouping, we should bring ourselves to regard those principles which govern our improvements asa whole. We therefore must call the attention of the improver to the two following principles, which are to be constantly in view: the pro- duction of a whole, and the proper connexion of the parts. Any person who will take the trouble to reflect for a mo- ment on the great diversity of surface, change of position, aspects, views, etc., in different country residences, will at once perceive how difficult, or, indeed, how impossible it is, to lay down any fixed or exact rules for arranging plan- tations in the modern style. What would be precisely adapted to a hilly rolling park, would often be found entire- ON WOOD AND PLANTATIONS. 107 ly unfit for adoption in a smooth, level surface, and the contrary. Indeed, the chief beauty of the modern style is the variety produced by following a few leading principles, and applying them to different and varied localities ; un- like the geometric style, which proceeded to level, and arrange, and erect its avenues and squares, alike in every situation, with all the precision and certainty of mathe- matical demonstration. In all grounds to be laid out, however, which are of a lawn or park-like extent, and call for the exercise of judg- ment and taste, the mansion or dwelling-house, being itself the chief or leading object in the scene, should form, as it were, the central point, to which it should be the object of the planter to give importance. In order to do this effec- tually, the large masses or groups of wood should cluster round, or form the back-ground to the main edifice ; and where the offices or out-buildings approach the same neighborhood, they also should be embraced. We do not mean by this to convey the idea, that a thick wood should be planted around and in the close neighborhood of the mansion or villa, so as to impede the free circulation of air; but its appearance and advantages may be easily produced by a comparatively loose plantation of groups well connected by intermediate trees, so as to give all the effect of a large mass. The front, and at least that side nearest the approach road, will be left open, or nearly so ; while the plantations on the back-ground will give dignity and importance to the house, and at the same time effectu- aily screen the approach to the farm buildings, and other »bjects which require to be kept out of view; and here, »voth for the purposes of shelter and richness of effect, a zood proportion of evergreens should be introduced. 108 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. From this principal mass, the plantations must break off in groups of greater or less size, corresponding to the extent covered by it; if large, they will diverge into masses of considerable magnitude, if of moderate size, in groups made up of a number of trees. In the lawn front of the house, appropriate places will be found for a number of the most elegant single trees, or small groups of trees, remarkable for the beauty of their forms, foliage, or blos- soms. Care must be taken, however, in disposing these, as well as many of the groups, that they are not placed so as, at some future time, to interrupt or disturb the finest points of prospect. In more distant parts of the plantations will also appear masses of considerable extent, perhaps upon the boundary line, perhaps in particular situations on the sides, or in the interior of the whole; and the various groups which are distributed between should be so managed as, though in most cases distinct, yet to appear to be the connecting links which unite these distant shadows in the composition, with the larger masses near the house. Sometimes seve- ral small groups will be almost joined together ; at others the effect may be kept up by a small group, aided by a few neighboring single trees. This, for a park-like place. Where the place is small, a pleasure-ground character is all that can be obtained. But by employing chiefly shrubs, and only a few trees, very similar and highly beautiful effects may be attained. The grand object in all this should be to open to the eye, from the windows or front of the house, a wide surface, partially broken up and divided by groups and masses of trees into a number of pleasing lawns or openings, differing in size and appearance, and producing ON WOOD AND PLANTATIONS. 109 a charming variety in the scene, either when seen from a given point or when examined in detail. It must not be forgotten that, as a general rule, the grass or surface of the lawn answers as the principal light, and the woods or plantations as the shadows, in the same manner in nature as in painting; and that these should be so managed as to lead the eye to the mansion as the most important object when seen from without, or correspond to it in grandeur and magnitude, when looked upon from within the house. If the surface is too much crowded with groups of foliage, breadth of light will be found wanting; if left too bare, there will be felt, on the other hand, an absence of the noble effect of deep and broad shadows. One of the loveliest charms of a fine park is, undoubted- ly, variation or undulation of surface. Everything, accordingly, which tends to preserve and strengthen this pleasing character, should be kept constantly in view. Where, therefore, there are no obvious objections to such a course, the eminences, gentle swells, or hills, should be planted, in preference to the hollows or depressions. By planting the elevated portions of the grounds, their apparent height is increased ; but by planting the hollows, all distinction is lessened and broken up. Indeed, where there is but a trifling and scarcely perceptible undulation, the importance of the swells of surface already existing is surprisingly increased, when this course of planting is adopted ; and the whole, to the eye, appears finely varied. Where the grounds of the residence to be planted are level, or nearly so, and it is desirable to confine the view, on any or all sides, to the lawn or park itself, the boundary groups and masses must be so connected together as, from 110 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. the most striking part or parts of the prospect (near the house for example) to answer this end. This should be done, not by planting a continuous, uniformly thick belt of trees round the outside of the whole ; but by so arranging the various outer groups and thickets, that when seen from the given points they shall appear connected in one whole. In this way, there will be an agreeable variation in the margin, made by the various bays, recesses, and detached projections, which could not be so well effected if the whole were one uniformly unbroken strip of wood. But where the house is so elevated as to command a more extensive view than is comprised in the demesne itself, another course should be adopted. The grounds planted must be made to connect themselves with the surrounding scenery, so as not to produce any violent contrast to the eye, when compared with the adjoining country. If then, as is most frequently the case, the lawn or pleasure-ground join, on either side or sides, cultivated farm lands, the proper connexion may be kept up by advancing a few groups or even scattered trees into the neighboring fields. In the middle states there are but few cultivated fields, even in ordinary farms, where there is not to be seen, here and there, a handsome cluster of saplings or a few full grown trees; or if not these, at least some tall growing bushes along the fences, all of which, by a little exercise of this leading principle of connexion, can, by the planter of taste, be made to appear with few or trifling additions, to divaricate from, and ramble out of the park itself. Where the park joins natural woods, connexion is still easier, and where it bounds upon one of our noble rivers, lakes, or other large sheets of water, of course connexion is not expected ; for ON WOOD AND PLANTATIONS. 111 sudden contrast and transition is there both natural and beautiful. | In all cases good taste will suggest that the more polished parts of the lawns and grounds should, whatever character is attempted, be those nearest the house. There the most rare and beautiful sorts of trees are displayed, and the entire plantations agree in elegance with the style of art evinced in the mansion itself. When there is much extent, however, as the eye wanders from the neighborhood of the residence, the whole evinces less polish; and gradually, towards the furthest extremities, grows ruder, until it assi- milates itself to the wildness of general nature around. This, of course, applies to grounds of large extent, and must not be so much enforced where the lawn embraced is but moderate, and therefore comes more directly under the eye. It will be remembered that, in the foregoing section, we stated it as one of the leading principles of the art of Land- scape Gardening, that in every instance where the grounds of a country residence have a marked natural character, whether of beautiful or picturesque expression, the efforts of the improver will be most successful if he contributes by his art to aid and strengthen that expression. This should ever be borne in mind when we are commencing any improvements in planting that will affect the general expression of the scene, as there are but few country resi- dences in the United States of any importance which have not naturally some distinct landscape character; and the labors of the improver will be productive of much greater satisfaction and more lasting pleasure, when they aim at effects in keeping with the whole scene, than if no regard be paid to this important point. This will be felt almost 112 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. intuitively by persons who, perhaps, would themselves be incapable of describing the cause of their gratification, but would perceive the contrary at once; as many are unable to analyse the pleasure derived from harmony in music, while they at once perceive the introduction of discordant notes. We do not intend that this principle should apply so closely, that extensive grounds naturally picturesque shall have nothing of the softening touches of more perfect beauty; or that a demesne characterized by the latter ex- pression should not be occasionally enlivened with a few “ smart touches” of the former. This is often necessary, indeed, to prevent tame scenery from degenerating into insipidity, or picturesque into wildness, too great to be appropriate in a country residence. Picturesque trees give new spirit to groups of highly beautiful ones, and the latter sometimes heighten by contrast the value of the former. All of which, however, does not prevent the predominance of the leading features of either style, suffi- ciently strong to mark it as such; while, occasionally, something of zest or elegance may be borrowed from the opposite character, to suit the wishes or gratify the taste of the proprietor. GROUND PLANS OF ORNAMENTAL PLANTATIONS. To illustrate partially our ideas on the arrangement of plan- tations we place before the reader two or three examples, premising, that the small scale to which they are reduced prevents our giving to them any character beyond that of the general one of the design. The first (Fig. 28) repre- sents a portion, say one third or one half of a piece of property selected for a country seat, and which has hitherto been kept in tillage as ordinary farm land. The public ON WOOD AND PLANTATIONS. 118 D le. ele (Fig. 23. Plan of 2 common Farm, before any improvements. | road, a, is the boundary on one side: dd are prettily wooded dells or hollows, which, together with a few groups near the proposed site of the house, c, and a few scattered single trees, make up the aggregate of the original woody embel- lishments of the locality. In the next figure (Fig. 24) a ground plan of the place is given, as it would appear after having been judiciously laid out and planted, with several years’ growth. Ata, the approach road leaves the public highway and leads to the house at c: from whence paths of smaller size, b, make the circuit of the ornamental portion of the residence, taking advantage of the wooded dells, d, originally existing, which offer some scope for varied walks concealed from each other by the intervening masses of thicket. It will 8 114 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. Wh via 2 OE: (Fig. 24. Plan of the foregoing grounds as a Country Seat, after ten years’ improvement] be seen here, that one of the largest masses of wood forms « background to the house, concealing also the out-build- ings ; while, from the windows of the mansion itself, the trees are so arranged as to group in the most pleasing and effective manner; at the same time broad masses of turf meet the eye. and fine distant views are had through the vistas in the lines, ee. In this manner the lawn appears divided into four distinct lawns or areas bounded by groups of trees. instead of being dotted over with an unmeaning contusion of irregular masses of foliage. The form of these areas varies also with every change of position in the spec- tator, as seen from different portions of the grounds, or difler- ent points in the walks ; and they can be still further varied at pleasure by adding more single trees or small groups, whieh should always, to produce variety of outline, be ON ‘WOOD AND PLANTATIONS. 115 placed opposite the salient parts of the wood, and not in the recesses, which latter they would appear to diminish or clog up. The stables are shown at f; the barn at g, and the kitchen garden adjacent at h; the orchard at i; and a small portion of the farm lands at 4; a back entrance to the out-buildings is shown in the rear of the orchard. The plan has been given for a place of seventy acres, thirty of which include the pleasure grounds, and forty the adjoin- ing farm lands. Figure 25 is the plan of an American mansion (Fig. 25. Plan of a Mansion Revidence, laid out in the natural style.) 116 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. * residence of considerable extent, only part of the farm lands, 7, being here delineated. In this residence, as there is no extensive view worth preserving beyond the bounds of the estate, the pleasure grounds are surrounded by an irregular and picturesque belt of wood. A fine natural stream or rivulet, which ran through the estate, has been formed into a handsome pond, or small lake, f, which adds much to the interest of the grounds. The approach road breaks off from the highway at the entrance lodge, a, and proceeds in easy curves to the mansion, b; and the groups of trees on the side of this approach nearest the house, are so arranged that the visitor scarcely obtains more than a glimpse of the latter, until he arrives at the most favorable position for a first impression. From the windows of the mansion,’at either end, the eye ranges over groups of flowers and shrubs ; while, on the entrance front, the trees are arranged so as to heighten the natural expression originally existing there. On the other front, the broad mass of light reflected from the green turf at h, is balanced by the dark shadows of the picturesque plantations which surround the lake, and skirt the whole boundary. At 7, a light, inconspicuous wire fence separates that portion of the ground, g, ornamented with flowering shrubs and kept mown by the scythe, from the remainder, of a park-like character, which is kept short by the cropping of animals. At c, are shown the stables, carriage house, etc., which, though near the approach road, are concealed by foliage, though easily accessible by a short curved road, returning from the house, so as not to present any road leading in the same direction, to detract from the dignity of the approach in going to it. A prospect tower, or rustic pavilion, on a little eminence ON WOOD AND PLANTATIONS. 117 overlooking the whole estate, is shown at j. The small arabesque beds near the house are filled with masses of choice flowering shrubs and plants; the kitchen garden is shown at d, and the orchard at e. Suburban villa residences are, every day, becoming more numerous ; and in laying out the grounds around them, and disposing the sylvan features, there is often more ingenuity, and as much taste required, as in treating a country residence of several hundred acres. In the small area of from one half an acre to ten or twelve acres, surrounding often a villa of the first class, it is desirable to assemble many of the same features, and as much as possible of the enjoyment, which are to be found in a large and elegant estate. To do this, the space allotted to various purposes, as the kitchen garden, lawn, ete., must be judiciously portioned out, and so characterized and divided by plantations, that the whole shall appear to be much larger than it really is, from the fact that the spectator is never allowed to see the whole at a single glance ; but while each portion is complete in itself, the plan shall present nothing incongruous or ill assorted. An excellent illustration of this species of residence, is afforded the reader in the accompanying plan (Fig. 26) of the grounds of Riverside Villa. This pretty villa at Burlington, New Jersey (to which we shall again refer), was lately built, and the grounds, about six or eight acres in extent, laid out, from the designs of John Notman, Esq., architect, of Philadelphia ; and while the latter promise a large amount of beauty and enjoyment, scarcely anything which can be supposed necessary for the convenience or wants of the family, is lost sight of. The house, a, stands quite near the bank of the river, 118 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. Ne @ Ss peeve ee rerniy HUVPUTEETE Ty LVCUTLUE bart ePQs e® a while one front commands fine water views, and the other looks into the lawn or pleasure grounds, b. On one side of the area is the kitchen garden, c¢, separated and concealed from the lawn by thick groups of evergreen and deciduous trees. At e, is a picturesque orchard, in which the fruit trees are planted in groups instead of straight lines, for the sake of effect. Directly under the windows of the drawing-room is the flower garden, f; and ON WOOD AND PLANTATIONS. 119 at g, is a seat. The walk around the lawn is also a carriage road, affording entrance and egress from the rear of the grounds, for garden purposes, as well as from the front of the house. At A, is situated the ice-house; d, hot-beds ; 7, bleaching green ; 7, gardener’s house, etc. In the rear of the latter are the stables, which are not shown on the plan. The embellished farm (ferme ornée) is a pretty mode of combining something of the beauty of the landscape garden with the utility of the farm, and we hope to see small country seats of this kind become more general. As regards profit in farming, of course, all modes of arranging or distributing land are inferior to simple square fields ; on account of the greater facility of working the land in rectangular plots. But we suppose the owner of the small ornamental farm to be one with whom profit is not the first and only consideration, but who desires to unite with it something to gratify his taste, and to give a higher charm to his rural occupations. In Fig. 27, is shown part of an embellished farm, treated in the picturesque style throughout. The various trees, under grass or tillage, are divided and bounded by winding roads, a, bordered by hedges of buckthorn, cedar, and hawthorn, instead of wooden fences; the roads being wide enough to afford a pleasant drive or walk, so as to allow the owner or visitor to enjoy at the same time an agreeable circuit, and a glance at all the various crops and modes of culture. In the plan before us, the approach from the public road is at b; the dwelling at c; the barns and farm-buildings at d; the kitchen garden at e; and the orchard at f. About the house are distributed some groups of trees, and here the fields, g, are kept in grass, and are either mown 120 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. . in ns SRR ars a Os ol EESE IN Bh Ct oa EN yo LS aed es [Fig. 27. View ofa Picturesque farm ( ferme ornée).} or pastured. The fields in crops are designated h, on the plan ; and a few picturesque groups of trees are planted, or allowed to remain, in these, to keep up the general character of the place. A low dell, or rocky thicket, is situated at 7. Exceedingly interesting and agreeable effects may be produced, at little cost, in a picturesque farm of this kind. The hedges may be of a great variety of suitable shrubs, and, in addition to those that we have named, we would introduce others of the sweet brier, the Michigan or prairie rose (admirably adapted for the purpose), the flowering crab, and the like—beautiful and fragrant in their growth and blossoms. These hedges we would cause to grow thick, rather by interlacing the branches, than by constant shearing or trimming, which would give them a less formal, and a more free and natural air. The winding lanes traversing the farm need ON WOOD AND PLANTATIONS. ‘ ey only be gravelled near the house, in other portions being left in grass, which will need little care, as it will generally be kept short enough by the passing of men and vehicles over it. A picturesque or ornamental farm like this would be an agreeable residence for a gentleman retiring into the coun- try on a small farm, desirous of experimenting for himself with all the new modes of culture. The small and irregu- lar fields would, to him, be rather an advantage, and there would be an air of novelty and interest about the whole residence. Such an arrangement as this would also be suitable for a fruit farm near one of our large towns, the fields being occupied by orchards, vines, grass, and grain. The house and all the buildings should be of a simple, though picturesque and accordant character. The cottage ornée may have more or less ground attached to it. It is the ambition of some to have a great house and little land, and of others (among whom we remember the poet Cowley) to have a little house and a large garden. The latter would seem to be the more natural taste. When the grounds of a cottage are large, they will be treated by the landscape gardener nearly like those of a villa residence ; when they are smaller a more quiet and simple character must be aimed at. But even where they consist of only a rood or two, something tasteful and pretty may be ar- ranged.* In Fig. 28, is shown a small piece of ground on one side of a cottage, in which a picturesque character is attempted to be maintained. The plantations here are made mostly with shrubs instead of trees, the latter being * For a variety of modes of treating the grounds of small places, see our Designs for Cottage Residences. 122 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. only sparingly introduced for the want of room. In the disposition of these shrubs, however, the same attention to picturesque effect is paid as we have already pointed out in our remarks on grouping ; and by connecting the thickets and groups here and there, so as to conceal one walk from the other, a surprising variety and effect will frequently be produced in an exceedingly limited spot. Lea Ge E ‘ ie SAN, \ might be planted so as to produce ‘The same limited grounds the Beautiful ; choosing, in this case, shrubs of symmetrical growth and fine forms, planting and grouping them somewhat singly, and allowing every speci- men to attain its fullest luxuri- ance of development. “EEN : In making these arrangements, (Pig. 28. Grounils of a Cottage omvée]_ even in the small area of a fourth of an acre, we should study the same principles and en- deavor to produce the same harmony of effects, as if we were improving a mansion residence o° the first class. The extent of the operations, and the sums lavished, are not by any means necessarily connected with successful and pleasing results. The man of correct taste will, by the aid of vezy limited means and upon a small surface, be able to afford the mind more true pleasure, than the improver who lavishes thousands without it, creating no other emo- tion than surprise or pity at the useless expenditure in- curred ; and the Abbé Delille says nothing more true than that, « Ce noble emploi demand un artiste qui pense, Prodigue de génie, et non pas de dépense.” ON WOOD AND PLANTATIONS. 123 From the inspection of plans like these, the tyro may learn something of the manner of arranging plantations, and of the general effect of the natural style in particular cases and situations. But the knowledge they afford is so far below that obtained by an inspection of the effects in reality, that the latter should in all cases be preferred where it is practicable. In this style, unlike the ancient, it is almost impossible that the same plan should exactly suit any other situation than that for which it was intended, for its great excellence lies in the endless variety produced by its application to different sites, situations, and surfaces ; developing the latent capacities of one place and heighten- ing the charms of another. But the leading principles as regards the formation of plantations, which we have here endeavored briefly to elucidate, are the same in all cases. After becoming familiar with these, should the amateur landscape gardener be at a loss how to proceed, he can hardly do better, as we have before suggested, than to study and recur often to the beautiful compositions and combinations of nature, dis- played in her majestic groups, masses, and single trees, as well as open glades and deep thickets; of which, fortu- nately, in most parts of our country, checkered here and there as it is with beautiful and picturesque scenery, there is no dearth or scarcity. Keeping these few principles in his mind, he will be able to detect new beauties and trans- fer them to his own estate ; for nature is truly inexhaustible in her resources of the Beautiful. CLASSIFICATION OF TREES AS TO EXPRESSION. The amateur who wishes to dispose his plantations in the natu- ral style of Landscape Gardening so as to produce graceful sr picturesque landscape, will be greatly aided by a study 124 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. of the peculiar expression of trees individually and in com- position. The effect of a certain tree singly is often ex- ceedingly different from that of a group of the same trees. To be fully aware of the effect of groups and masses requires considerable study, and the progress in this study may be greatly facilitated by a recurrence from groups in nature to groups in pictures. As a further aid to this most desirable species of infor- mation we shall offer a few remarks on the principal vari- eties of character afforded by trees in composition. Almost all trees, with relation to forms, may be divided into three kinds, viz. round-headed trees, oblong or pyra- midal trees, and spiry-topped trees; and so far as the expressions of the different species comprised in these dis- tinct classes are concerned, they are, especially when viewed at a distance (as' much of the wood seen in a prospect of any extent necessarily must be), productive of nearly the same general effects. Round-headed trees compose by far the largest of these divisions. ‘The term includes all those trees which have an irregular surface in their boughs, more or a less varied in outline, but exhibiting in the (Hig.29. Round- whole a top or head comparatively round ; as the oak, ash, beech, and walnut. They are generally beautiful when young, from their smoothness, and the ele- gance of their forms; but often grow picturesque when age and time have had an opportunity to produce their wonted effects upon them. In general, however, the dif- ferent round-headed trees may be considered as the most appropriate for introduction in highly-cultivated scenery, or landscapes where the character is that of graceful or polished beauty ; as they harmonize with almost all scenes, ON WOOD AND PLANTATIONS. 125 buildings, and natural or artificial objects, uniting well with other forms and doing violence to no expression of scenery. From the numerous breaks in the surface of their foliage, which reflect differently the lights and produce deep shadows, there is great intricacy and variety in the heads of many round-topped trees; and therefore, as an outer surface to meet the eye in a plantation, they are much softer and more pleasing than the unbroken line exhibited by the sides of oblong or spiry-topped trees. The sky outline also, or the upper part of the head, varies greatly in round-topped trees from the irregularity in the dispo- sition of the upper branches in different species, as the oak and ash, or even between individual specimens of the same kind of tree, as the oak, of which we rarely see two trees alike in form and outline, although they have the same characteristic expression; while on the other hand no two verdant objects can bear a greater general resemblance to each other and show more sameness ot figure than two Lombardy poplars. “Tn a tree,” says Uvedale Price, “of which the foliage is everywhere full and unbroken, there can be but little variety of form; then, as the sun strikes only on the surface, neither can there be much variety of light and shade; and as the apparent color of objects changes according to the different degrees of light or shade in which they are placed, there can be as little variety of tint ; and lastly, as there are none of these openings that excite and nourish curiosity, but the eye is everywhere opposed by one uniform leafy screen, there can be as little intricacy as variety.” From these remarks, it will be perceived that even among round-headed trees there may be great difference in the comparative beauty of 126 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. different sorts; and judging from the excellent standard here laid down, it will also be seen how much in the eye of a painter a tree with a beautifully diversified surface, as the oak, surpasses in the composition of a scene one with a very regular and compact surface and outline, as the horse-chestnut. In planting large masses of wood, therefore, or even in forming large groups in park scenery, round-headed trees of the ordinary loose and varied manner of growth common in the majority of forest trees, are greatly to be preferred to all others. When they cover large tracts, as several acres, they convey an emotion of grandeur to the mind; when they form vast forests of thousands of acres, they produce a feeling of sublimity ; in the landscape garden when they stand alone, or in fine groups, they are graceful or beautiful. While young they have an elegant appearance; when old they generally become majestic or picturesque. Other trees may suit scenery or scenes of particular and decided characters, but round-headed trees are decidedly the chief adornment of general landscape. Spiry-topped trees (Fig. 30) are distinguished by straight leading stems and horizontal branches, which are comparatively small, and taper gradually to a point. The foliage is generally ever- green, and in most trees of. this class (Big. 40. Spiry-pere’ hangs in parallel or drooping tufts from the branches. The various evergreen trees, composing the spruce and fir families, most of the pines, the cedar, and among deciduous trees, the larch, belong to this division. Their hue is generally much darker than that of deciduous trees, and there is a strong similarity, or ON WOOD AND PLANTATIONS. 127 almost sameness, in the different kinds of trees which may properly be called spiry-topped. From their sameness of form and surface this class of trees, when planted in large tracts or masses, gives much less pleasure than round-headed trees ; and the eye is soon wearied with the monotony of appearance presented by long rows, groups, or masses, of the same form, outline, and appearance ; to say nothing of the effect of the uniform dark color, unrelieved by the warmer tints of deciduous trees. Any one can bear testimony to this, who has travelled through a pine, hemlock, or fir forest, where he could not fail to be struck with its gloom, tediousness, and monotony, especially when contrasted with the variety and beauty in a natural wood of deciduous, round-headeu trees. Although spiry-topped trees in large masses cannot be generally admired for ornamental plantations, yet they have a character of their own, which is very striking and peculiar, and we may add, in a high degree valuable to the Landscape Gardener. Their general expression when single or scattered is extremely spirited, wild, and picturesque; and when judiciously introduced into artificial scenery, they produce the most charming and unique effects. “The situations where they have most effect is among rocks and in very irregular surfaces,.and especially on the steep sides of high mountains, where their forms and the direction of their growth seem to harmonize with the pointed rocky summits.” Fir and pine forests are extremely dull- and monotonous in. sandy plains and smooth surfaces (as in the pine barrens of the southern states); but among the broken rocks, craggy precipices, 128 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. and otherwise endlessly varied surfaces (as in the Alps, abroad, and the various rocky heights in the Highlands of the Hudson and the Alleghanies, at home) they are full of variety. It will readily be seen, therefore, that spiry-topped trees should always be planted in considerable quantities in wild, broken, and picturesque scenes, where they will appear perfectly in keeping, and add wonderfully to the peculiar beauty of the situation. In all grounds where there are abruptly varied surfaces, steep banks, or rocky precipices, this class of trees lends its efficient aid to strengthen the prevailing beauty, and to complete the finish of the picture. In smooth, level surfaces, though spiry-topped trees cannot be thus extensively employed, they are by no means to be neglected or thought valueless, but may be so combined and mingled with other round- headed and oblong-headed trees, as to produce very rich and pleasing effects. A tall larch or two, or a few spruces rising out of the centre of a group, give it life and spirit, and add greatly, both by contrast of form and color, to the force of round-headed trees.