restful or peaceful in its influence, any more than the
mere expensiveness of the glaringly ugly new monu-
ment or tombstone, that speaks of living prosperity in
its worst aspects, can give rise to that peaceful melan-
choly so much to be desired for the associations that
should dwell about the burning- ground. It is fortunate,
therefore, that fashionable taste for tombstones and
monuments of the more vulgar kind has seemed for some
time to be waning, and it is a growth of the sentiment
228 HOW TO PLAN THE HOME GROUNDS
that dislikes such things which has induced many persons
to advocate, with success, the park cemetery, where
every effort is made to do away with huge or ornate
tombstones, and particularly the so-called ornamental
fences that are always objectionable, and, if possible, to
induce lot-owners to build their graves level with the
ground, keeping plain tombstones, like those of the colo-
nial period, for record.
There is a gratifying improvement in this respect in
most of the cemeteries of the country, and a particularly
gratifying development of the park idea, whereby large
areas of land are set aside for greensward, trees, and
shrubs, which can be chosen with due respect to the
sober character that should mark all parts of the ceme-
tery. The joyous element of children romping and play-
ing their games should naturally be banished ; but how
pleasant and grateful, in a quiet, comforting way, these
park-like spaces can be made, many can testify after
much walking on sad errands. Indeed, our cemeteries
are becoming, in much the same way as our parks and
home grounds, places of resort where soul and body will
be rested and refreshed.
SEASIDE LA\VNS
THE theory of arrangement of seaside places need
not differ materially from that of other home
grounds, except that, as far as possible, the
sea should be made visible from the ^\indows of every
living-room in the house ; and the roads, if it be practi-
cable, should arrive from the land side. The main thing
to be really studied is the preparation of the soil and the
selection of plants that should be used, for not all trees
and shrubs, by any means, \nll thrive in even secluded
places on the shore.
The chief difficulty one usually encounters at the
seashore is the poor, sandy nature of the soil, and
consequently it is generally necessary to bring strong
loam from a considerable distance ; but whatever the
distance, we should bring the soil without fail, for on it
depends the eventual success of all plantations, and it
will be found that a covering of two feet of mold will
not be unnecessarily deep to secure satisfactory results.
Blue-grass seed should be so^^Tl in liberal quantities on
such soil, and plenty of sprinkling applied at once, if the
rainfall should not be abundant. With plenty of water
and a good top-dressing of mold, excellent lawTis can be
secured on dry, sandy beaches. The same rule naturally
230 HOW TO PLAN THE HOME GROUNDS
extends to the use of strong loam in the holes where the
trees and shrubs are to be planted.
Concerning the choice of trees and shrubs for a seaside
lawn, it will prove better to limit one's self to the few
kinds that are well known as having the vigor to resist
successfully the winds and salt air of the seashore than
to fail altogether in attempting to use too many shrubs
and most evergreens, that generally behave badly in such
regions. A few varieties of pines are exceptions.
Among deciduous trees, there are several that do well
on the seashore, and notable among these we find the
Oriental plane tree, which is vigorous, well furnished
with foliage, and suited to resist the strongest sea-
breezes. In the same class will come the honey locust,
and the picturesque and always valuable wild cherry,
cerasus serotina.
The catalpa has a vigorous habit that suits the sea-
shore, and the gingko, salisburia adiantifolia, is also
hardy and enduring in similar localities, while the
rhus cotinus and R. osbeckii also do well in the salt air,
but two of the most valuable trees of this kind will be
found to be the golden-barked willow and the laurel-
leaved willow. The willows generally are valuable on
the seashore, and the same may be said of the hardy
and picturesque native American thorns, Crataegus crus-
galli, etc.
Some of the best shrubs for the seashore are the pri-
vets, the bush honeysuckles, lonicera fragrantissima,
the different kinds of philadelphus, rhamnus catharticus,
the sea buckthorn, myrica cerifera, the tamarisks, the
elseagnuses, the althaeas, the hydrangeas, and several
viburnums, notably V. prunifolium and V. opulus.
There are many herbaceous plants that will seem
SEASIDE LA WNS 231
almost indispensable when they are seen doing well in the
neighborhood of the sea, and the honeysuckles and Vir-
ginia creepers we would certainly find that we could
not spare. Some of the best herbaceous plants for the
seashore are the coreopsis lanceolata, the eulalia japon-
ica, the different kinds of sun-flowers, the irises, par-
ticularly iris pseudoacoris, garden phloxes, hollyhocks,
hibiscus calif ornicus and H. moscheutus, and the marsh-
mallow, alva alcsea, asclepias or milk-weeds, statice,
pyrethrum, or chrysanthemum uliginosum, double and
single silphiums, and helenium autumnale. These plants
constitute a collection of trees and shrubs and peren-
nials that do well at the seashore, and though there are
others, there are but a few others that "^ill do nearly as
well.
Before leading this subject, the author will risk the
chance of making himself wearisome by reiterating, in
the most emphatic manner, his advice in regard to the
importance of using abundant quantities of strong, rich
loam on the sandy soil of the seashore, and of applying
large amounts of water when the rainfall is insufficient.
In that way only can successful lawns and plantations be
secured under the stress of sea-breezes and the difficult
conditions of beach territory.
On rocky shores the problem remains much the same
as on sandy shores, because disintegrated rock is apt to
constitute a chief part of the meager soil between the
stones, and although such soil, especially if the region
be more or less wooded, is not likely to be so poor and
unfertile as that of pure sand beaches, yet the bleak
winds and sea-air make the gro^^i:h of trees and shrubs
difficult, except by the use of such \igorous species as
are mentioned in this chapter.
232 HOW TO PLAN THE HOME GROUNDS
The value of the abundant use of water and additional
rich soil for rocky seashores cannot be overestimated.
It is really wonderful to see how much can be accom-
plished by diligence and skill in lawn-planting on these
apparently barren beaches by careful culture, use of
water and fresh soil, and by planting skilfully just the
right trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants. Unless the
attempt is made too near the sea, or in a specially bleak
place, there is more hope of success here than on most
pure sand beaches.
CITY AND VILLAGE SQUARES
ALTHOUGH there is a great diversity of size and
appearance between the small city square, or
^ triangle, and the great urban park, the funda-
mental principles governing the designs of each are the
same. The larger and smaller spaces alike demand a
due consideration of the emironment and of the situa-
tion. Failure in either case lies in doing too much, or
too little, and in doing that which is not appropriate and
rational, and thus missing the proper adjustment of the
means to the end.
Yet there are some radical differences between city
squares and large parks. In cities, where the only
places of gathering for the crowds are in open places,
and where the play-ground of children is the street, it
becomes naturally important to reserve abundant open
spaces of gravel or asphalt for seats for grown-up
people, and room for the romping of little ones. If
there should be more than an acre in a city square, there
may be found room for shelter, music and refreshment
stands, and these structures should be designed in the
simplest, most unostentatious manner possible, so that
the square, or small park, may retain its proper andorig-
inal character of a combination of trees, grass, and
234 HOW TO PLAN THE HOME GROUNDS
flowers, to which all architectural devices should be sub-
ordinated and kept entirely tributary.
While convenience and ease should always receive due
consideration, it must be remembered that what, after
all, constitutes the real square is the grass and shrubs
SMALL TRIANGULAR PARK IN CITY OR TOWN, WITH PLAYGROUND AND
WALK, (canal street PARK, N. Y.)
and shade trees, and that without these we cannot imag-
ine reasons for a square being improved as a park. It
may be a promenade, a court-yard, or a number of other
things that are pure architecture, or anything one pleases,
but these are surely not parks. That is why we should
CITY AND VILLAGE SQUARES 235
always bear in mind that every building constructed in a
square destroys tbe park value of the space it occupies,
and detracts in just so much from the true esthetic and
essential value of the park. Therefore, as I have said be-
fore, let there be but a few and necessary constructions,
and those of the simplest and most rustic character.
The presence of surrounding houses is simply the environ-
ment of the park, and that environment is also, and very
properly, a part of the problem to be accepted and ac-
counted for in the design.
It is evident that one would not expect to find a bit of
tangled woodland glade amid the architectural emiron-
ment of a city square. Neither would one expect
nothing but stone-paved footways, and series of balus-
trades, steps, and columns. The way which would com-
mend itself most readily to sensible people would be the
arrangement, first of all, of considerable level stretches
of smooth, green turf, with groups of shrubs and trees,
so arranged as to display their individual charms effect-
ively, and at the same time managing, in an artful com-
bination, to vaguely suggest some such appropriate and
beautiful effect as that of a copse in a meadow and a
lane in a country home.
The design of a city square should also, invariably,
take into consideration the practical features that will be
required to protect the greensward and shrubs, and afford
convenient accommodations for promenades and play-
ing grounds. Boundary fences, if not fences along the
paths, are absolute necessities on squares in crowded
districts, and where only their presence will preserv'e,
for any considerable time, the beauty of the park. This
is averred ^vith full realization of the efficiency of the
police under a good government. When we accept the
236 HOW TO PLAN THE HOME GROUNDS
y- — ^ §f ^= m N
SMALL PARK OF FOUR ACRES FOR CITY OR TOWN. (MULBERRY BENE
PARK, FIVE POINTS, N. Y.)
fence, however, we need not necessarily include its hard
disagreeable lines, because they may often be shroude(
with vines like honeysuckles or Virginia creepers.
So much space is needed in a small city square for th(
CITY AND VILLAGE SQUARES 237
convenience and enjoyment of the public, that we will find
ourselves limited more than we would like to be, when
we are seeking to make the park as beautiful and pict-
uresque as it is in the power of trees, shrubs, and vines
to make it. Hence the reason why the allotment for
amusement should be kept as much as possible together
in one spot with only grass directly around, and the
shrubs and flowers fenced in on the boundaries, or on
one side, so that they may escape the inevitable destruc-
tion that is sure to come when in too close proximity
to large crowds of young and old people. A convenient
outlet for the high spirits of young folks may be secured
in conveniently arranged play-grounds, where there shall
be no attempt to create , a genuine park, but simply a
play-ground with the tree and shrub element almost en-
tirely left out. It is possible, with proper care-takers,
to arrange sand-pits for the amusement of little ones in
ordinary city squares, but for play-grounds for half-
gro^\Tl boys an isolated area devoted entirely to the one
purpose of games is naturally set apart.
To village squares the danger of destruction attend-
ant on the presence of crowds does not apply with the
same force, although it may be doubted whether even
there trees, shrubs, and grass would not be benefited by
the protection of a fence of some kind. However, sim-
plicity and openness are attributes that, in a village
square, or green, cannot be dispensed with. A piece of
greenswani, with a few spreading umbrageous trees, will
make an ideal village green, if the trees are set far
enough apart, fifty feet or more, to give them plenty of
chance to properly develop. When the village green
needs protection of some sort, a very low stone wall, cov-
ered with vines, will make an attractive boundary, or a
238 HOW TO PLAN THE HOME GROUNDS
wire fence may be used, and covered in the same
way.
The ornamentation of village greens with classic foun-
tains, statues, and memorial shafts is, we may be allowed
to say, with all due respect to the benevolent and patriotic
motives that frequently inspire their erection, to be gen-
erally deprecated. While one would not exactly select
a pool or stream for the artificial ornamentation of a
more or less formal village green, yet it may readilj
come to exist naturally in a square, in which case £
fountain basin would be in order, provided no elaborate-
looking designs in marble or bronze are used, but il
fountains must be used, much rather should one emploj
the beautiful single spray of crystalline water, or s
cluster of sprays like those to be seen in the contrivance
known as the geyser fountain.
With the improvement of village greens should go the
proper shade and adornment of the highway bordering it.
It is best, as I have stated, that shade trees should be
set out at intervals of fifty feet, and the dwelling-houses
should be set back as far from the road as circumstances
will permit, so as to further extend the openness of the
territory.
On a village green, paths should be few in number,
open space or spaces should be left for seats and the
gathering of people, and, above all things, plenty of shade
should be fostered. Straight walks are admissible, il
not often advisable, only they should not make acute
angles with each other, to the destruction of beauty and
vegetation, but where a long curve can be given to a
path, without appreciably detracting from its directness,
it is better to employ it, and its effect is sure to be most
attractive.
CITY AND VILLAGE SQUARES 239
On a village green, rock-work seems specially out of
place, although if a great natural boulder is found
within its confines, it would be well to keep it, but a heap
of stones we need view only as rubbish that should be
carted away.
RAILROAD STATION GROUNDS
THERE are, we are forced to remember, many
meeting places in life where the accidents of
travel, or the natural delays of miscalculated
time, oblige people to linger in a frame of mind that is
almost preternaturally disposed to complain of surround-
ings that appear doubly uninteresting, for the reason
that their contemplation is forced and compulsory ; and
it is highly probable that the precision, promptitude, and
rapidity of action generally associated with a railroad
will account somewhat for the special sense of boredom
with which a long wait at a railroad station is generally
contemplated.
In view of this natural condition of the waiting public
at railroad stations, it is no wonder that the minds of
railroad managers have been turned for a long time
toward the development of the convenience and attract-
iveness of all railway stopping-places, for the contem-
plation of a weedy, cinder-strewn yard, and a gullied
bank with a freight-car or two standing on the rails, does
certainly not conduce to cheerfulness of soul or resig-
nation to enforced delay.
Recognizing that money expended in such improve-
ments will be always profitable, many, if not most rail-
RAILROAD STATION GROUNDS 241
roads, have expended increasingly large sums of money,
year after year, in building handsome stations, with con-
venient roads of approach, and more or less satisfactory
plant decoration; but, unfortunately here, as in other
cases of park and garden undertakings, the excellence
and artistic value of the plant-work seems to lag sadly
behind that of the architecture. The best architects in
the country have long been accustomed to put forth,
under the spur of competition, their best efforts to de-
sign the most convenient and beautiful station buildings,
while, on the other hand, \^1th very few exceptions, the
decoration of the grounds around railroad stations, if
attended to at all, has been left to be developed by skill
that cannot be said to be either artistic or comprehen-
sive in its scope.
There have been, without doubt, notable improvements
in this respect accomplished during the last few years,
an excellent illustration of which may be seen on the
Boston and Albany road, but it still remains, unfortu-
nately, the practice on most roads to set out a few
coleuses, geraniums, and cannas, and there feel that the
necessity of the occasion stops ; whereas it must become
evident to those who will give due consideration to the
subject that in the scheme of such improvements the
geranium type of plant should usually take a small, and
never a dominant, part. Indeed, it would seem natural,
when we come to consider it, to arrange station grounds
in the same comprehensive way that we would our small
parks or private grounds, for all would concede that home
comforts and attractions would prove specially agreeable
and solacing, both inside and outside the station.
In following out, therefore, this idea, we would have,
above all, in such grounds, permanent plantations of trees
16
242 HOW TO PLAN THE HOME GROUNDS
and shrubs, properly arranged with regard to a park-like
effect. There might be bits of color introduced by the
use of bedding, but the dominant and permanent idea
would be arboreal, and fitted for enjoyment all the year
round. It is a little strange that a wider view of the
subject has not been more generally entertained, and
designs worked out for stations that will include all the
possible beauties of the park and lawn, whether trees and
shrubs, evergreen and deciduous, or herbaceous, and bed-
ding-plants. Plant for plant, it will be found that the
average cost of these different kinds of material does not
seriously differ; that is, many of the best shrubs and
trees can be bought as cheaply as cannas and geraniums,
and the trees and shrubs need no replacing year after
year, as the cannas and geraniums do. This would evi-
dently reduce the cost of the maintenance of station
grounds greatly, as compared with the expense of an ex-
clusive system, carried out yearly, of decoration with
only bedding-plants.
It seems to the author that an important reason why
we do not find better systems established everywhere in
the improvement of station grounds is because there is
generally a lack of method in formulating the designs
that are to be used. If a station is to be built, an
architect always prepares a plan for it, but in the case
of the grounds, this is usually done by any one, and
consequently a haphazard and more or less inharmonious
result is pretty sure to follow.
It is certain that if a plan of walks, roads, turns for
carriages, and open bits of lawn, with plantations of trees,
shrubs, and flowers, were always prepared beforehand,
greater beauty of park-like effect would result, and dur-
ing a considerable period of years, on account of the
RAILROAD STATION GROUNDS
243
lack of necessity for changes in a well-thought-out de-
sign, there would be much less, instead of greater,
expense.
Let us turn, in further consideration of the subject, to
the acconipan}ing plan of a station on one of the main
railroad lines of the country, and see how some of the
details of the work should be carried out. It \dll be
readily seen that the stopping-place in question is one of
considerable importance, and should, therefore, furnish
abundant open graveled space for the rapid gathering
TRACK
T B ». d K
TREATMENT OF RAILRO\D STA.TIO\ GROUNDS
and leaving of carriages and other vehicles. In the
center, in front of the station door, however, there has
been designed, in order to relieve the general bareness
of the open graveled space, an oval or oblong lawn of
eighty feet in diameter, in which a fountain basin is
located of unassuming character, ha\ing no sculpturesque
accessories, but simply an abundant spray of water. In
this basin a few water-lilies are to be gro^^Ti, and around
•its outer edge a small grouping of brilliant-looking
bedding-plants, acalyphas, geraniums, and alternantheras,
is arranged in varied and well-contrasted masses. This
is intended to be the only bit of brilliant leaf-color made
244 HOW TO PLAN THE HOME GROUNDS
by bedding-plants to be found on the place, and as it
adjoins the formal lines of the fountain basin, it is in
entirely good taste, and, from its limited size, compara-
tively inexpensive. On the other hand, it is, perhaps,
the least important feature of the place, and would be
missed less on account of its ephemeral character than
either the grass, the trees, and shrubs, or the water of
the fountain. On each side of the station, and border-
ing the railroad, considerable areas of green lawn ex-
tend for about one hundred feet either way, giving space
for an abundant display of grass, the most inviting object
the eye can rest on at a railroad stopping-place.
On the borders of the lawn are disposed, in irregular
groups, with a few trees intermingled, various hardy
and vigorous deciduous shrubs, that afford attractive
leaves and beautiful flowers at various seasons of the
year, according to the habits of the different kinds, which
include dogwoods, viburnums, spiraea opulifolia, S. thun-
bergii, philadelphuses, privet ibota,^ forsythias, berber-
ries, bush honeysuckles, and the Japan rose, rosa rugosa.
The deciduous trees consist of such kinds as elms, lin-
dens, maples, tulips, American ashes, and Oriental plane
trees, and are planted fifty feet apart, so as to give them
a park-like effect. In this way a varied effect of bark,
branches, and foliage is obtained throughout nearly the
whole year.
The wTiter desires to point out that one feature which
usually accompanies the railroad station, and that does
not happen to exist in the plan we have been considering,
is the steep slope or bank that is frequently made by a
railroad cut in the front or back of the station. Such
a place affords a most excellent opportunity to plant out
a woody-looking growth, in every way natural, of run-
RAILROAD STATION GROUNDS 245
ning vines like honeysuckles, roses, etc., and low shrubs
with interesting foliage. On some banks larger shrubs
like dogwoods, and small trees like birches, may be used
with excellent effect, and make a most favorable exhibi-
tion of their charms, which could hardly find, in connec-
tion with low shrubs and vines, a more fortunate position.
Another happy accessory of such places would be
found in the many hardy herbaceous flowering plants:
lilies of the valley, violets, phloxes, irises, etc., that
could be planted effectively in the immediate neighbor-
hood of the shrubberies, and in this way colonies of
hardy, permanent flowers could be established, the
bloom of which would afford delight to lingering pas-
sengers during nearly all seasons of the year.
There need be scarcely any limit to the variety of
chances to use trees properly without injuring the shrubs
associated \vith them, and without producing too much
shade to be agreeable for the occupants of the station.
For the purpose of improving the station grounds, a few
specimens of white pines and other evergreens may be
used, but it is not wise to undertake to employ many
evergreens, in view of the fact that they are specially
liable to injury by storms and insects and variation of
temperature, from the effects of which they are slow to
recover. Two or three paths are arranged to wind about
these park-like areas, and at their junctions, or ends, it
is intended that seats shall be placed to permit the pas-
senger to further relieve his hours of enforced leisure.
WHierever fences are necessary for safety, they are to be
made of solid wire, or iron, in some form, and covered