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

Landscape Gardening

Walks must be well drained, but should not rise above the adjacent soil surface. Neither should they be depressed much, if any, below it, except for possible gutters at the edges. The practical construction of walks and drives is a matter of great importance, but it belongs rather to engineering than to landscape gardening, and besides, there is not room here for a discussion of it. The principal artistic demands have, however, been pointed out.

The Planting Of Streets

The villages of New England, looking at their sylvan charms, are as beautiful as any in the world. Their architecture is simple and unpretending,—often, indeed, meager and unworthy of notice. The houses are surrounded by in closures full of trees and shrubs, with space enough to afford comfort, and ornament enough to denote taste. But the main street of the village is an avenue of elms. positively delightful to behold. Always wide, the overreaching houghs form an aisle more grand and beautiful than that of any old Gothic cathedral. Andrew Jackson Downing.

We have already alluded to the treatment of streets, saying that streets and avenues, since they manifestly follow geometrical lines, demand a formal treatment. And this formality ought to go further than the mere alignment of the trees. It is still more important that the various trees should be of the same species and of the same age and uniformly developed. Not enough pains is commonly taken to secure these desiderata. One can easily satisfy himself by his own observations anywhere in the United States that, while street trees arc nearly always planted in orderly rows, it is the somewhat rare exception to find a row of really good and uniform specimens. Such uniformity is not easy to secure, especially when its importance is not understood at the outset. The only advice which can be given is to exercise great care in planting and the utmost vigilance during the early years of development.

An explanation of frequent cases of unsatisfactory growth of young street trees is to be sought in the inadequate feeding given them. If they grow close to the street on one side and to a paved walk or row of buildings on the other, their roots must of course spread for many feet underneath these surface obstructions. Aside from this the soil is apt to be of the poorest. It is hardly to be expected, in such circumstances, that a thrifty growth can be secured without something being done to offset these drawbacks. Liberal supplies of fertilizers, especially nitrates, ought to be worked into the soil whenever the surface is accessible.