The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-04-25
Today's Haskin Story
Treats of Landscape
Gardening And the
GlrIeners
Hy Ii..DERIC j. HASklN.

il Gne Of the newer calHngS IN Amer
lea. but during the past decade 1t mas
progressed faster than any other In
communities where the appearance OF
the landscape has never before been
cOnsid cred. beautiful, picturesque ef-
fects will be achieved during the COM
ing summer. After an American busi-
ness nan has acquired a comfortable
competence, his mind naturally turns
toward securing beautiful environ
ments for himself. The American
landscape gardener is prepared to meet
these demands, so that all who are
able to employ high skill i'll out-of-
door art can find plenty of their own
cOuntrynen competent to odu the
reuuired effects. America now rivalS
Europe, both in the number and
beauty of its large landed estates.
The competent landscape gardener
must be both a scientist and an artist.
He must have a scientific education,
enabling him quickly to determine the
chemical composition Of soil, the rela-
tive heat ana cold of a locality from
its exposure to the sun, as we'll as the
climatic conditions required for the
growth Of the various trees, plants
and ~shrubbery. Then, in addition to
possessing the eye Of an artist. he
should have the ingenuity of an In
yentor, for he must be ever ready to
suggest original designs in compliance
Wlt~ some idea. perhaps absolutely in
~congruous, OF his employer.
Landscape gardening includes very
thing pertaining to the Improvement
OF h appearance OF the country as a
whole. In the city it is rapidly achiev-
ing Importance. In the older cities the
identifying of sQuares and streets, the
enlargement of public parkings n
the cultivation of trees and shrubs,
wherever possible, will this year give
employment to q much larger Number
Of men than ever before. In the
newer cities, landscape gardeners are
being consulted in the arrangement of
the town. The best utilization Of natu-
raj ~source the consideration of flu
ture growth in the laying-out of the
streets, and h preservation of every
possible piece of natural beauty re-
suits from this p~recaution.
n work Of q skilled landscape
gardener may he felt in its practical
commercial value in a year or two. A
progressive real-estate firm in a New
England village two years ago en-
piOyed a landscape gardener to i'm
prove the appearance Of three blocks
of ground for the site of several apart
ment houses. The situation was care
fully studied, a practical plan laid out.
in which certain hardy trees and
shrubs were suitably placed. Proper
attention was given to the parking,
and some plain, comfortable apart
lnent houses were erected. Although
these were much less expensive and
elaborate in their construction than
other houses in adjoining squares, they
were Immediately taken at much high
ct rent, the; rental value in a single
apartment averaging from fifteen to
thirty dollars q month higher-all be-
cause Of the attractive surroundings.
The value of the landscape garden
er's work is being recognized by the
municipal authorities, and in conse-
quence the present SeaSon is showing
more active results along this line.
Shelton. Iowa. appropriated $1,000 to
be utilized this spring by a newly ap-
pointed landscape gardener to provide
the proper embellishments of three
open squares which have been neg
lected eyeSOres in the town for years.
This is the beginning of a movement
toward securing a larger public park.
The fan6ScaDe gardener in every CITY
should affiliate with the local improve
ment organizations and endeayor to
unity the efforts in town beautifyine
already under way.
The tree-planting activities inaugu-
rated by the public-school arbor-day
movement have been spasmodic liz
many towns and do not always pro-
duce good effects. If the town land
scape gardener co-operates with the
public school, giving advice upon the
selection Of trees for certain localities
and their care after being planted
great eneht will result. When the
school arhor day is under the direction
OF a city landscape gardener who has
delivered a few lectures regarding thu
care OF trees. the civic pride of thu
school is generally aroused. n boy.
earn to watch for each new growth
II a dry season comes and there is M
provision by the town for sprink ling
choei children frequently act as vol
unteer water carriers. ard thus nroyid,
the trees with the required moisture.
In the high schools in many Of tn
cities landscape gardening forms