Morning journal and courier., 1890-04-30
Planting New Places.

This is the season when novices in plant ing, especially those who have recently ac- auired possession of suburban or country homes, are preparing to stock their grounds with ornamental es4and shrubs. The thought that thousands of new gardens are to be made would be pleasant one, indeed, if there were any assurance that they would be well planned and planted; but the proba- bilities are that ninety-five out of every hun. dred of them will have no plan whatever, while the great majority of the trees and shrubs used in them will be selected without any adequate reason, and then badly planted in improper positions. This is perfectly true statement and on it's face 1t is discoursg ing enough. But the fact Is that failure is the foundation of nearly all practical knowl- edge of gardening among amateurs, and the mistakes of this year will be an education for the next. When once a man or 8 woman either sets out in serious earnest to beautify the home acre by planting trees and shrubs and Towering herbs, we may cherish @ we'll. grounded hope that this is the beginning of an interest in gardening which will deepen with ensuing years and come to be at last an unfailing source of recreation and re- freshment.
 And yet if novices in the art of gardening would seek little counsel at the outsVe and act upon it, their education would be much more rapid and much less expensive. They almost invariably begin at the wrong end, and gather their materials together first and then wander around their grounds in search of places to pat them. The catalogues of the nurserymen offer to such person fas- cinating field of study. Naturally enough in these trade-lists plants of established merit are passed over with slight mention, for it is justly assumed that most buyers are informed as to their value. It is not sur prising, therefore, that the novice, misled by the more circumstantial and perhaps a trife over-colored description of the novel; ties and rarities and oddities among trees and shrubs, makes his selection largely from this class. The probabilities are that he will after he has crowded them all into his place, he will begin to realize that it has no consistent purpose, no unity of expression, no meaning.
 It is not probable that any marked success l would have been achieved, but, certainly 1 the outcome would not have been so utterly uusatisfying If @ careful plan of the grounds had first been made. Let the amateur plan 1 ter at the very outset make an accurate dia- gram of his grounds, drawn to 6 certain scale, so that he can note the space covered | by any given tree or shrub. Next let him l attempt to form in his mind clear and | definite picture of his future home-scene- such picture as he win be able to construct l with the verdurols material at his command grass, shrubs, trees, flowers, and festoon- l ing vines. No tree or shrub will be selected merely because it is pretty, but because Il fits in with the rest to give outward and visible expression to his thought. To &C.,
 complish this the mental picture will need 1 to be distinct and vivid. It must embrace | the relation of the house to the grounds. It
 should preserve and frame in any attractive prospects beyond the boundaries of the place, 1 and shut out of view what is unsightly or l incongruous. It must provide for walks and out buildings and hundred conveniences for the household in such way that they will not disturb the harmony and fair pro. l portions of his picture. When such de- | sign is perfected it will not be difficult to
 make an order for the nursery for it will be known exactly how many trees and shrubs
 are needed, and an intelligent reason can be given why each particular one was selected I for it's chosen position.
 But it is probable that the beginner will
 be able to make design which shall be so
 reasonable, consistent, and completei Per
 haps not. But an honest attempt to make l one for which he can give an intelligent ex-
 planation will be pretty good way to oon-
 vince him of the genuine difficulties of the
 situation. One part of an education con- l sists in finding out how much there is to l learn; and the novice may discover, before his design Is finished, that it requires real
 artistic feeling and training to make per feet cabinet-picture on a half acre of ground
 as truly as 1t does to plan park. He will
 realize that there are adaptations and ad- justments to be settled in the very frame
 work of his design and all through it's essen-
 tial elements which demand experience and I thought. He will more than suspect that he
 has made a mistake in attempting to solve, off hand and while the buds bursting,
 problems of such puzzling complexity that
 an artist with years of practice behind him ! would hesitate to undertake them without
 ample time for study. He may devine at
 last that even work of this magnitude may
 present an opportunity for displaying
 comprehensiveness of treatment, refine-
 ment and felicity of touch which will
 worthily exemplify the supremacy of the
 hand of genius.
 One who has been educated up to this
 point will begin to look about him for 8
 landscape gardener of recognized attainment,
 and, more than that, he will be pre-.
 pared to appreciate his counsel and to fol- low his instructions with confidence.