New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-10-23
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
ARCHITECTURAL GARDENING

AECHl1ECIi Kali GAit)ENlND
ART oUToFDooRs: Hints on v Good Tase IN
octave. pI. " 800. Charles Soribners sons
Environment, OF which We hear so much In the
discussions of students of heredity, is after all.
far more plastic than is the human being 1t is be-
lieved 10 mould with much potency. In America
the development of taste in what might be called
the formation of environment has been sure but
very slow. The history Of the graphic arts in this
country offers illustration in point. Our expert
ence in the field of landscape gardening offers an
other OF any general impulse toward what Is I'M
piled in the title of Mrs. Van Rensselaers book,
"Art Out-of-Doors," the scanty American itera-
ture on the subject to which she hfers in her
bibiograp hical appendix contains no sign The scar
city OF aesthetic culture has been partly respoh-
sble for this. The transitional state of the Ma
tons material condition has still further cramped
the gardening artist in his mission. Men have built
and they have built lavishly. but rule with
an unitarian purpose With the increase OF pros
perity and accompanying increase of leisure ana
culture men have approached house building on lis
artistic side. Their environment nowadays must
be more than healthy and comfortable 1t must ne
beautiful: and the efforts of landowners. which
have for some time been directed toward the deco
ration of their rooms. is extending more and more
in tentative sporadic way to the Improvement
OF their grounds. OF course grounds nave oeeh
"improved' since they began 10 nave an
existence here, but seldom in the sense which
Mrs Van Rensselaer, would apply to the word
In her conception of what art out of doors should
amount to is given the measure of her trustworthi-
ness as a mentor for those engaged IN puiidhg
homes.
II strikes us as sound conception. Mrs. Van
Rensselaer, rejects with much good sense the fanat-
teal adherence TO one set of principles which Is
characteristic of the formal and naturastic schools
respectively. and she bases her argument frankly
on the assumption that merit is to be found on
both sides Her chief point however. ana the only
1nll1 In "a
of her essays bears upon all kinds of garden
ing that Is artistic in aim, all kinds of gardening
should be- Formal and naturalistic motives are
both good she says. but neither will prove artistic
unless adapted to the situation provided No gar
den in other words. is artistic garden when all
sense Of relation has been thrown by the board.
and flowers. paths. terraces. driveways ponds,
shrubs and trees have been brought within the
scheme for their sake alone. They must have
been included in a composition. cunnngly made
part of an organic whole. and ii is only when the
effects of garden have been really calculated. as
the effects of painting or of building have been
calculated that the maximum of beauty Is extracted
from the materials at hand. This smacks of art- !
fciality but the truth is that Mrs. Van Rensselaer,
urges no mechanical formulate upon her readers.
She simply points them the futility of expect
ing haphazard treatment of form and color out of
doors TO produce that harmony and grace which we
recognize essential in the graphic and plastic |
arts. and which really belong just much to the |
garden. Ii is necessary be rigid and unnat-
because one lays out ones garden with refer
to the lines and masses of ones house, because
one groups ones flowers with view artistic |
effect of color because is. in short. architectu-
raj and pictorial well a lover of nature
That enviabe rapture of The thrice blessed NOR |
tai VINO has a key 10 the elemental music in the +
wnd-swept leaves, who apprehends clarvoyanty !
the swelling of the sap within the early tendrils
OF the vine, and who knows by kind of instinct |
when the vioets coming-that exaltation Is
more precious than the delight TO be had in
purely artistic feeling for landscape beauties He |
who is fortunate enough to be born into the en-
joyment of it-for it is more TO be acquired than
beauty itself-may well be impatient of the self
conscious element in architectural gardening on
and above all pictorial genius of man. is beyond
all shadow Of a doubt necessary TO the perfect
rangement of the primitive quantities gathered to-
ge;her in a garden. We doubt If the formal gar
den can be successfully revived in America
except with the most radical notifications. In It's
purest estate it is unblushingly artificial, and Is
opposed the deep-rooted. ineradicable sentiment,
Of those Americans for whom gardening has any
serious interest. 1t needs. too. what Mrs. Van
Rensselaer, fails point out-very large scale
The small gardens of England and the old fore |
courts of which she describes one beautiful ex
ample Charlotte Hail. near Stratford -on-Avon
very charming; but these are not the finest
expressions OF formal art out OF doors Where the
convention is applied most logically and most tr-
umphantly is in such a park as that at Versailles
in such villas you may find DIT Tlvoli. Fras-
cati and Capraroa. We emulate such
wells these in America. and even If we could
the climate would be against We and
ought emulate the ideal of method and sym
metry which most concisey stated by lie
Notre. but which is to be discovered in the best
work of the naturalistic school ; we'll