THE GENERAL PLAN OR THEORY OF THE PLACE - Continued
The lawn provided, the gardener conceives what is the dominant and
central feature in the place, and then throws the entire premises into
subordination to this feature. In home grounds this central feature is
the house. To scatter trees and bushes over the area defeats the
fundamental purpose of the place,--- the purpose to make every part of
the grounds lead up to the home and to accentuate its homelikeness.
[Illustration: Fig. 7 A house]
A house must have a background if it is to become a home. A house that
stands on a bare plain or hill is a part of the universe, not a part of
a home. Recall the cozy little farm-house that is backed by a wood or an
orchard; then compare some pretentious structure that stands apart from
all planting. Yet how many are the farm-houses that stand as stark and
cold against the sky as if they were competing with the moon! We would
not believe it possible for a man to live in a house twenty-five years
and not, by accident, allow some tree to grow, were it not that it
is so!
[Illustration: Fig. 8 A home]
Of course these remarks about the lawn are meant for those countries
where greensward is the natural ground cover. In the South and in arid
countries, greensward is not the prevailing feature of the landscape,
and in these regions the landscape design may take on a wholly different
character, if the work is to be nature-like. We have not yet developed
other conceptions of landscape work to any perfect extent, and we inject
the English greensward treatment even into deserts. We may look for the
time when a brown landscape garden may be made in a brown country, and
it may be good art not to attempt a broad open center in regions in
which undergrowth rather than sod is the natural ground cover. In parts
of the United States we are developing a good Spanish-American
architecture, perhaps we may develop a recognized comparable landscape
treatment as an artistic expression.
Birds, and cats
The picture in the landscape is not complete without birds, and the
birds should comprise more species than English sparrows. If one is to
have birds on his premises, he must (1) attract them and (2)
protect them.
One attracts birds by providing places in which they may nest. The free
border plantings have distinct advantages in attracting chipping
sparrows, catbirds, and other species. The bluebirds, house wrens, and
martins may be attracted by boxes in which they can build.
One may attract birds by feeding them and supplying water. Suet for
woodpeckers and others, grain and crumbs for other kinds, and taking
care not to frighten or molest them, will soon win the confidence of the
birds. A slowly running or dripping fountain, with a good rim on which
they may perch, will also attract them, and it is no mean enjoyment to
watch the birds at bathing. Or, if one does not care to go to the
expense of a bird fountain, he may supply their wants by means of a
shallow dish of water set on the lawn.
The birds will need protection from cats. There is no more reason why
cats should roam at will and uncontrolled than that dogs or horses or
poultry should be allowed unlimited license. A cat away from home is a
trespasser and should be so treated. A person has no more right to
inflict a cat on a neighborhood than to inflict a goat or rabbits or any
other nuisance. All persons who keep cats should feel the same
responsibility for them that they feel for other property; and they
should be willing to forfeit their property right when they forfeit
their control. The cats not only destroy birds, but they break the
peace. The caterwauling at night will not be permitted in well-governed
communities any more than the shooting of fire-arms or vicious talking
will be allowed: all night-roaming cats should be gathered in, just as
stray dogs and tramps are provided for.
I do not dislike cats, but I desire to see them kept at home and within
control. If persons say that they cannot keep them on their own
premises, then these persons should not be allowed to have them. A bell
on the cat will prevent it from capturing old birds, and this may answer
a good purpose late in the season; but it will not stop the robbing of
nests or the taking of young birds, and here is where the greatest havoc
is wrought.
It is often asserted that cats must roam in order that rats and mice may
be reduced; but probably few house mice and few rats are got by
wandering cats; and, again, many cats are not mousers. There are other
ways of controlling rats and mice; or if cats are employed for this
purpose, see that they are restricted to the places where the house rats
and mice are to be found.
Many persons like squirrels about the place, but they cannot expect to
have both birds and squirrels unless very special precautions are taken.
The English or house sparrow drives away the native birds, although he
is himself an attractive inhabitant in winter, particularly where native
birds are not resident. The English sparrow should be kept in reduced
numbers. This can be easily accomplished by poisoning them in winter
(when other birds are not endangered) with wheat soaked in strychnine
water. The contents of one of the eighth-ounce vials of strychnine that
may be secured at a drug store is added to sufficient water to cover a
quart of wheat. Let the wheat stand in the poison water twenty-four to
forty-eight hours (but not long enough for the grains to sprout), then
dry the wheat thoroughly. It cannot be distinguished from ordinary
wheat, and sparrows usually eat it freely, particularly if they are in
the habit of eating scattered grain and crumbs. Of course, the greatest
caution must be exercised that in the use of such highly poisonous
materials, accidents do not occur with other animals or with
human beings.
[Illustration: III Open center treatment in a semi-tropical
country.]
[Illustration: Fig. 9. The nursery or single-specimen type
of planting in a front yard.]
The planting is part of the design or picture.
[Illustration: Fig. 10 A native fence-row]
[Ilustration: Fig. 11 Birds build their nests here]
If the reader catches the full meaning of these pages, he has acquired
some of the primary conceptions in landscape gardening. The suggestion
will grow upon him day by day; and if he is of an observing turn of
mind, he will find that this simple lesson will revolutionize his habit
of thought respecting the planting of grounds and the beauty of
landscapes. He will see that a bush or flower-bed that is no part of any
general purpose or design--that is, which does not contribute to the
making of a picture--might better never have been planted. For myself, I
would rather have a bare and open pasture than such a yard as that shown
in Fig. 9, even though it contained the choicest plants of every land.
The pasture would at least be plain and restful and unpretentious; but
the yard would be full of effort and fidget.
[Illustration: Fig. 12. A free-and-easy planting of things wild and tame.]
Reduced to a single expression, all this means that the greatest
artistic value in planting lies in the effect of the mass, and not in
the individual plant. A mass has the greater value because it presents a
much greater range and variety of forms, colors, shades, and textures,
because it has sufficient extent or dimensions to add structural
character to a place, and because its features are so continuous and so
well blended that the mind is not distracted by incidental and
irrelevant ideas. Two pictures will illustrate all this. Figures 10, 11
are pictures of natural copses. The former stretches along a field and
makes a lawn of a bit of meadow which lies in front of it. The landscape
has become so small and so well defined by this bank of verdure that it
has a familiar and personal feeling. The great, bare, open meadows are
too ill-defined and too extended to give any domestic feeling; but here
is a part of the meadow set off into an area that one can compass with
his affections.