1875  Landscape Garden  Notes from the Lectures of Pres. A.S. Welch  1st Term of Junior Year  I.A.C. Ames, IA  [?]/75  Lecture 1st  There is a great difference in person in   regard to what is beautiful. Some kind of beau-  ty every person feels and there is hidden beau-  ty which is seen by the few. It is needful   that the eye be cultivated to appreciate   the beauty of art. The human eye is ever   seeking for beauty and when fails to find it the   spirit is depressed. External beauty is uni-  versally sought this can be seen in man hav-  ing a pride for dress. The industrial are for   usefulness and convenience; the fine arts for   beauty.  The painter, sculptor, musician and   poet must have an idea of the beautiful  and grandeur.  Landscape gardening is a fine art and   its purpose is to increase the beautiful.  The emotions of beauty are the.  L. G.   is a combination of what ever a broad piece of  land may present to the eye namely: water,   trees, grass, flowers, rocks, hills, valleys &c.  We   improve a landscape by with drawing from it   what ever is repulsive and heightening the beauty-  ful.  L. G. is divided into two kinds.  1st the old   system or geometrical system is formal and un-  natural.  Did not heighten the natural landscape



but reduced it to a geometrical shape, clipped the   trees into sugar loaf form, irrespective of shape   of land made the roads into straight lines   divided land into squares, rectangles triangles   &c, gave a stiffness which was out of all har-  mony of true shape taste.  Modern or natural style Lines gently   curved. Every thing in nature is curved excess-  sive formality is to be shun in L. G.   The two styles have different effect on the   eye.  One beautiful and the other picturesque.  In the beautiful the characteristics are [?]   All its lines are gentle curves, nothing violent   In its objects, every thing unattractive is   with drawn from it, meekness, simplicity,  uniformity and a moderate degree of variety    Beautiful landscape will present gentle waving   lines therefore for this must use round head-  ed trees arranged in natural groups.  A gen-  tle waving surface composed of moderate hills   valleys cleanly kept lawns, flower, shrubbery.  Picturesque Landscape is one of the fol-  lowing characteristics, out line broken, irregular  composed of angles, unique, striking, elements   startling, whole landscape will lack neatness   and precision.  There should a harmony be-  tween building and ground that is a gothic   house trees pointed and striking.  Grouping - nature sets her trees in ir-  regular groups and this should be followed   out in the landscape garden.  No three   trees should be in a straight line.  A gentle-  man who was laying out a landscape in   order to prevent this had an irish man



to take a basket of potatoes from which he   would take several and throw them over his   head and where ever a potato fell he would   plant a tree. There should be a variety in   number and position of each group and differ-  ent distance apart. Harmony between groups   1st in general out lines of trees. 2nd in foliage in   color and shape of leaves. There are three kinds   in regard to forms of trees  1st Round as the for-  est trees.  2nd Oblong as Lombardy poplar which send   shoots upwards.  3rd Spiral shaped.  What trees will group well together?   Most of the dicideous trees will stand in groups   which will effect the eye pleasantly as hard   maple, soft maple, red and white elm, black   and white walnut, hickory &c. all the oaks, linn,   cottonwood but the Lombardy poplar and wil-  low weeping will not.  Hard maple is the best   and elm next. They are slow, hard, and leaves are   compact and nice. Silver maple less beautiful   but more available because of the rapidity of   growth. To make a quick home make large   use of silver or soft maple. Elm is a pretty   grower. There is not much difference between   red and white elm in beauty. They are sub-  ject to an insect. The limbs of the elm are  spreading and graceful. Black and White wal-  nuts do not transplant easily. Dig a trench  around them one year before transplanting c  ut off side roots from one to one and a half feet   from the trunk then fill trench and leave till   next year. This operation will draw out   a multitude of fine rootlets. Cut the tops back.



Cutting back helps the sap and form of   tree.  Hickory forms an egg shape, thick, dark   green foliage; is a slow grower, and hard to  transplant. The best way is to grow from seed   or transplant when yearlings. The white oak   is the most majestic tree, round spreading   top. Linn round head but oblong and long   fresh leaves.  We must cultivate and follow   our own tastes.  When you want to produce harmony in   trees which forms the same group three   things must be considered.  1st general out   line of the trees.  2nd shape of leaves. 3rd color.   Those of the 1st division may be grouped when   nearly similar.  And groups of too great dif-  ference much be far apart.  In colors there   is quite a difference.  Willows light green, Maples   dark green, sycamore light green.  Grouping   should not have contrast of colors.  The general   rule is, out of line and similarity of color and   shape of leaves.  Far distant grouping requires similar-  ity of out line. Ex. groups made near the   group college requires greater care, that the   groups harmonize in all three principles   but a group standing on the hill on the   back part of the garden would require   trees of similar out line but color and form   of leaf is less important.  Look at the grove   it is the out line which affects us.  Evergreen grow their leaves as they   shed them therefore they are always green.   The white-pine will not group well with oth-  er trees because of its some what striking



appearance.  White pine is a cone shape tree,   very beautiful when young and majestic when   old.  Arbor Vitae irregular when young, very   regular when old.  Growing about twenty-  five feet high in shape of cylinder, does not   group well with other trees is too formal.  The   Norway Spruce is a cone shape, limbs grow-  ing to the ground, tree large when old,  groups well by its self also with very   good effect with balsam fir.  Balsam fir is   a very handsome tree when young cone shape   when old scrawny irregular, groups well with   self and Norway spruce.  The Austrian and Scotch   pines are very similar in out line, form of  leaf, habit of growth, both rapid growers   strong, healthy, endure well our winters,   groups well together, not so handsome as other   evergreens, rough in out line but on the whole   for landscape gardening in Iowa it is the   most available. All the evergreens except the   two last are harmed by our Iowa winters.  Box Elders will not group with Maple   on account of compound leaf.  The highest   trees should be near the center and so on   down the out side being the smallest. It   is not desirous that a group should be regu-  lar in form like the out line of a tree.  It   should give an irregular skyline, generally   descending from the center.  Great pains   should be taken that the groups should   not be monotonous.   White ash will   group well with white and black walnut  Elm   with all birch except white birch. Chesnut and



burr oak will group. White oak goes alone.  Vista is an opening between trees which   are near at hand so as to give a glimpse of the  more beautiful scenes that are at a distance   and the horizon should be seen.  The horizon  may change.  In order to judge the proper   place for a vista a person stand in front   of the house and observe where the most beautif  -ful horizon is to be seen unless there is some  more important feature at hand. The num-  ber of vistas depend upon the landscape and  scenery and the distant horizon which can   not be changed, other things being   equal the vistas should run through de-  pressions.  We group for the earlies[t] possi-  ble effect so we must have quick growing   trees as Silver maple, Green and White ash,   European Larch, Linden, Austrian and Scotch pine.   For immediate beauty group close so that   space will be filled.  When they become too   thick cut out.  Shrubbery is useful in that   it brings the skyline to the ground.  A lawn   should not be a plantation of trees.  The sky-  line should present an irregular droop-  ing from the center of the group.  The rear or back part of grounds has no   comparative importance, but it is important to  have trees back of the house.  Better to have   most of the trees especially if large back of the   building.  Onay have one or two vistas back   of house but they are not important but on   account of wind shelter would decide let   them be few.  What faculty of the mind is most



important in laying out a landscape   In the   order of importance i.e. aesthetically the senses   stands as follows: smell, taste, touch, hearing  and sight. This is the general acceptation   as to dignity.  But the sense of smell should   be placed below taste.  If we notice the process of picture   making in our mind we will notice that   the sense of smell is is unimportant   For there are many many thousands of   tastes but the mind can reproduce but   very few and those are very indistinct, so   that we may disregard the sense of smell   upon the workings as products of the im-  agination and the same is true in regard   to the sense of smell.  Sense of smell and tastes   are not intellectual for they are possessed   by the brutes.  Touch is quite complex and serves va-  rious purposes.  It may be considered as   furnishing no material of importance for   the imagination.  Hearing is an intellectual sense and   we can produce a great variety of sound   with considerable accuracy. But it is sel-  dom used by the imagination for pictures.  So that we must look to the last sense   for material in production of mind pict-  ures.  Sight is the highest sense in the pro-  duction of pictures by the mind  In order to gather material for the com-  plex and complete picture in the eye mind a



good eye is necessary and also a mental habit   which exhausts the object upon which we look  and gives exact impressions of the object upon   which we look. That some see little or com-  parative nothing of the beauties which surround   us is very evident [?] or aleast they do not ap-  reciate them.  Some do not see the beauty   but only the useful or which ministers to   some of the lower faculties.  As an Irish-  man looks at a grove of young trees he ad-  mires the fine shillalahs.  Some sees in   a fine forest nothing but timber and in a water   fall nothing but the greater water power &c.   While we we should see the the useful we should   appreciate the beautiful.  Beauty is inexhaustible and is only   limited by the capacity to observe and ap-  preciate.  It opens out into space and opens   out into the universe. The process of forming   mental pictures is quite complex and the pictures   are not the reproductions of those observed   by the eye but all of the material used are   taken in by the eye i.e. the elements are elab-  orated into an almost endless variety of   forms or pictures.  In landscape gardening   we see and remember the elements and the imag-  inations makes new combinations thus pro-  ducing an entirely new picture.  If we strive   to produce a landscape there is no art but   the production of nature but the art consists   in producing by imagination a true imi-  tation from material collected by the eye   from nature.  Suppose we settled down on   a prairie home which showed a variety and



beauty in surface lines but other wise bare   the first thing is to put the imagination to   work in making a picture how it should ap-  pear in the future and the form of this must   be decided by the grounds.  The next step, which   may, and not doubt will be, a long one is to   proceed to the realization of the picture   of the fancy.  The picture must be completely   in the mind before the realization is   commenced.  There is too much commen-  cing with out any definite end in view.   Some are able to form complete pictures in   the mind while others are not.  There is but   one way which ever particular piece of  ground may be best ornamented viz by a   [?] preconceived plan in the mind.   The reproduction of the object in the eye   is never perfect and in general perception  is more definite and distinct than conception.  May 11 - The idea exists before the real-  ity.  Every human art is first formed in the  mind but the material is taken from nature.   Nature stands related to God as art to man.  Nature had to exist in God's mind before he   could create it.    Every product of the fine arts as music,   paintings, poetry &c. must be of the quality   of beauty.  In this country the house should   face the east and or south.  The face on the east   should project so as to protect the south.  There are two conditions of water viz. still   and running.  Running water is the more beauty   There is beauty in motion. There is a sensation



for the upward, downward, horizontal and curve   motion.  The last is the most beautiful   As in the example of a ball of fire in the   air if it went directly upwards then it   would be sublimity.  Motion of heavy bodies   that is swift is sublime.  Motion in general   has a good effect in beauty.  A smooth, clear   glassy surface of a lakelet, sea or ocean   is a beautiful object because of its extent.   If the same quantity was in motion it   would be more beautiful.  A slow stream is   beautiful, swift one picturesque and a cataract   sublime.  Art is superior to unassisted nature.   The power of every poet, artist and muscian &c.   likes in the power of his imagination.  Turner's painting of "The Burning of the   Parliament House" is truly wonderful.  The  focus of the picture is about six feet in front   of it.  You can in its focus see right in to   the burning building but if you stand in   any other place than the focus it looks   like a botch of mixed paints daubed on a   canvas.  Road making - cinders although not so   beautiful in color are better for roads.  For   the bottom stones about the size of half   bricks are excellent.  In the beautiful   the roads should be of a gentle curve while   in the picturesque they should be more acute.   The approach that is the drive from the pub-  lic highway to the house should strike   the public road at an accute angle, the



obtuse being on the side next to the town.   It must have length and every where depart   from straight lines by gentle curves. There   must be reason by nature of ground or adorn-  ment for every curve which must be uniform   yet have variety.  Should see the public road   by glimpses.  Let roads run in low land.  If   nature of grounds will give cause for the   turns you may depend up on them entirely, then  ornament by planting afterwards. Turf all borders,   turf set out groups of trees along the curves.   If grounds are extensive there should be two   approach roads.  Or if small let the road   approach along front of dwelling; make   an ellipse as in the center of which must   be a flower garden.  Or else drive around the   house in which case there must be a four   foot border all round next to the house.  To keep ground around trees moisten   - 1st diminish evaporation by clipping off long  branches.  2nd Mulching, saw dust is the best   compost from farm yard is good.  3rd If no  rain with warm water, water very heavily the   evergreens once.  Scoop out a sink and after  watering pull back the dry dirt so the sun   will not bake it. Then mulch & leave tree.  There are two kinds of flower gardens.   In one of which the whole ground is worked   and cut up into forms as hearts, circles &c.   Paths numerous and narrow.  As the eye   strikes the black soil there is no pleasant   back ground.  The other method is to   use the borders of roads, walks, terraces &c.   for a flower garden. The borders of being



used to define the direction of roads or   walks.  Strips of prepared grass along side   of roads. The width of which must depend up   on the breadth of road. The advantage of   this kind of a garden is that it has the   ad eye has the contrast of the green grass   and the high colors of the flowers.  Make occa-  sional touch which should be of the   same width. Cut away the turf and leave   the intervals between beds untouched.  All this must not be behind your   taste. Cut line distinctly; do not get dirt   on the turf; Spade deep and well; use com-  post of barn yard; also ashes;   There should be great care in the har-  mony of flowers colors; contrast be a part.   Some colors will harmonize. Red, blue   and yellow are the primitive, primary   or pure colors. By the combination of   these make all other colors.   Formulae of colors. 3 Y + 5R + 8B = White   3 Y + 5R = Orange.  3Y + 8B = Green.  5R + 8B + Purple.   Double the Y = Citron.  Double R = Russet in 1st equation.   Any color will harmonize with another   color when if both were united would be   white or nearly white i.e. any color   will harmonize with its complementary.   Scarlet it red slightly tinged with yellow.   Red lightly tinged with blue is crimson and   if more blue then it is violet. Nature affords   more discords than harmonies.  Cutting approach roads - the ground   size of buildings & extent of road travel  will influence the width of road.



It may vary from ten to fifteen feet.   A broad road makes a good effect, is   [convenient?] but expensive.  Mechanical work of laying out a   road - First survey carefully the ground   with the eye.  Follow the general rules   already given viz. should run in depress-  sions and curve lines.  Provide your self   with a great many stakes about 3 feet long.  Take with you a person of good taste   and a small boy to carry and drive stakes.  All   stakes must be set by the eye; mark out   one side first. Place yourself at the   house and your friend some distance   from the house on the imaginary road   the boy between you, have him move from   side to side, back & forth till he finds the   place where you and your friend agree   that the stake should be set; when this is   set, set others in same manner and   fill in between stakes so that when all are   set that they will be about six feet apart.   Be careful not to have the curves are not   too violent. Lay off other side of road   by means of rope or chain. Then mark out  with spade and remove and fill in about   4 inches of gravel. The best roads are   made by leaving lowest in middle and   laying a tile drain along the center.  The road is filled up so that about every   six rods silt wells are put in. The surplus water   flows into these and the silt settles the water   and flows through a pipe into the main   drain in the center of the road. Silt



wells require cleaning every six months.   This kind of road is excellent but very expen-  sive.   Paint the house white only when it   is in the bed of green foliage. Then it does   show beautiful.  But unless there is plenty   green the white attracts to much of the atten-  tion.  Also with green, light, brown drap slate,   or straw color is good. Brick red looks well   in foliage but it soon becomes dingy. Do   not paint your house too delicate of too   gray. Tint is red and white, Shade is red   and blue, while tinged is any color with a prima-  ry color.  Human habitation is an interesting   study.  The various steps of building shows   the various progresses of humanity. The   different style of architecture among savages   was proportion to the climate. For example the   Grecian architecture which at one time attained   the highest excellency and became the predomi-  nating architecture, derived its features from   the fact, early Grecians built their rude huts   by laying logs horizontally and parallel.   First they hewed out the four corner posts  next placed roughly hewn block of stone   was used for a pedestal, then put a like   block on top for which they afterwards sub-  stituted the capital. There was placed   a log on top of the posts this became   the architrave.  The freeze was just above   this and the cross shafts which holds the   roof is the cornice. The post is divided



into base shaft and capital. That which the   column supports is called the entabular.  Grecian roof is flat and used for temple.   Five orders grew out of it and these were deter-  mined by the capital. Ionic is two scrowled.   Corrinthian is most highly ornamented.   Doric simple circled. Composite is half  way between the Ionic and Corrinthian.   Tuscan differs from the Doric by being   more slender.  The Tuscan style is flat roof- abun-  dant piazzas, windows elabrate with bay windows,  heavy cornice but must be in proportion to the   size of the house - lines horizontal round  headed trees - gentle curves in roads and walks   level  or gentle rolling eminence. The Gothic   which sprung up in the middle ages is com-  posed of straight lines. Characteristics are   sharp roof, arches pointed, narrow high windows,   window caps peaked, windows divided, chimnies   on ridge pole, doors high, massive and in a deep   recess - numerous piazzas and porticos.   Cornice well projecting and highly ornamental.  General remarks.  Let your house either   highly ornamented all over or else plain   through out.  Windows plenty on the south side   of house.  Keep everything in neat order.  Landscape Gardening has been an ex-  ceedingly interesting study not that I have   really learned much but that it will set   me to thinking.  End  June 14  ��75   I.A.C.