The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California

Art Of Landscape Architecture

"To secure those negative qualities, the course of the road must be simple; abrupt turns must be avoided; steep grades that would task the horses or suggest that idea must not be encountered. The possibilities of the road becoming miry must be securely guarded against; its surface must also be smooth and be composed of compact material. These being the first and essential engineering considerations, it is necessary, secondly, that they should be secured in a manner which shall be compatible with the presentation of that which is agreeable to the eye in the surrounding circumstances; that is to say, the drive must either run through beautiful sceneryalready existing, or to be formed, and for this purpose it may be desirable at any point to deviate from the line which an engineer would be bound to choose as that which would best meet the first class of requirements. It must also be remembered that although the drive can hardly be expected in itself to add to the beauty of the scenery, it must always be more or less in view as part of it, and it should, therefore, be artistically designed so as to interfere as little as possible with the views and to present at all points agreeable and harmonious lines to the eye. Moreover, as it is desirable that at some point in the course of a drive through every park there should be an opportunity for those in carriages to see others and be seen by others, some portion of the ground which by development of natural suggestions cannot be made readily attractive to the eye should be chosen for the purpose. And here it will be proper that the application of art to inanimate nature as in architectural objects and by festive decorations of the outlines of the drive itself should distinctly invite attention and aid to produce a general suggestion of sympathy with human gaiety and playfulness."

The device is a good one of arranging roads and paths so that they may make decided turns when they reach some tree, or group of shrubs and trees, and thus find an excuse for turning and securing that short curve followed by a long curve which Prince Puckler so much prefers to the exactly repeated reverse, "the line of beauty" as it has been termed. This advice is doubtless excellent when the object exists around which to turn, but some go farther and advise the placing of trees and shrubs at points where turns would be desirable; and this again is not bad advice, provided the trees would be well placed if the road did not run there.