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HINTS ON LANDSCAPE 
 GARDENING 
 
Hints on 
 
 LANDSCAPE 
 GARDENING 
 
 ^ By •_/ 
 
 prince t)on ^uckler^ii:uskau 
 
 Translated by BERNHARD SICKERT 
 and Edited by SAMUEL PARSONS 
 
 PVITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS 
 
 BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
 
 HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 
 
 CI)c EitjerstUe JJreSBi CambriUffe 
 
 1917 
 
SB17( 
 
 COPYRIGHT, I917, BY HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 
 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
 
 Published June iqiy 
 
 J.i-. 
 
 o 
 
 JUL I7I3I7 
 
 ©C!,A-i67869 
 
Note 
 
 THIS volume, which furnishes a natural se- 
 quence to The Art of Landscape Gardenings 
 by Humphrey Repton, is the second of a series of 
 authoritative books to be published by Messrs. 
 Houghton Mifflin Company, The series was un- 
 dertaken at the suggestion and with the coop- 
 eration of the American Society of Landscape 
 Architects, and the writer has been asked to serve 
 as general editor. 
 
 Hermann Ludwig Heinrichvon Piickler-Mus- 
 kau was the son of a Count, a Privy Councillor 
 of the King of Saxony. He married a lady of 
 rank, the daughter of the Prince Hardenburg, 
 State Chancellor, and one of the great statesmen 
 of the age. Born in 1785 in a palace of the old 
 town of Muskau in Silesia, about a hundred 
 miles from Berlin, he died, full of honors, in 
 I 87 1. Pie occupied during his long career many 
 positions of importance in civil and military affairs, 
 and traveled widely over the world everywhere, 
 including a visit to the United States and years 
 of residence in England, a country he loved. 
 
 His contribution to the art of landscape archi- 
 tecture is large and permanent. It expresses itself 
 in his interesting published letters from England, 
 entitled The Letters of a German Prince ^ in his 
 discussion of the underlying principles of land- 
 
Note 
 
 scape gardening, and, finally, in the development 
 of the great estate of Muskau, to which he gave 
 years of personal attention. His letters from Eng- 
 land, which were published at the time not only 
 in German, but also in English and in French, 
 give most valuable and discriminating criticism 
 of landscape art, with descriptions of natural and 
 artificial scenery. He refers in these letters to a 
 great range of places, including Oxford, Kenil- 
 worth Castle, Tintern Abbey, Regent's Park, Lon- 
 don, Eaton Hall, Warwick Castle, Blenheim, 
 and Buckingham Palace. Better than anything 
 else they give evidence of his understanding of 
 the art of landscape architecture during one of its 
 most fruitful periods. Goethe wrote at the time 
 that Prince Piickler's letters were a pattern in all 
 that relates to landscape gardening, and " be- 
 long," he adds, " to the highest class of litera- 
 ture." 
 
 In his writings Prince Piickler not only gives 
 vivid concrete pictures of the great English es- 
 tates, he also points out repeatedly the fundamental 
 principles of the art of landscape gardening which 
 they illustrate, and on which their convenience, 
 beauty, and perfection depend. 
 
 The great w^ork of art, however, to which this 
 talented gentleman and greatest of amateur land- 
 scape gardeners gave the best years of his life 
 was the development of his estate at Muskau. It 
 comprises a beautiful valley, with irregular rising 
 land skirting the river levels, hills supplying the 
 frame for his picture. He treated this private park 
 
Note 
 
 with variety and breadth, and secured a splendid 
 unity of effect. In the words of the late Charles 
 Eliot, who visited the estate in 1886 to study it 
 as one of the world's most notable examples of 
 landscape architecture, Piickler evolved **from 
 out of the confused natural situation a composi- 
 tion in which all that was fundamentally char- 
 acteristic of the scenery, the history and industry 
 of his estate should be harmoniously united. . . . 
 He would not force upon his native landscape 
 any foreign type of beauty ; on the contrary, 
 his aim was the transfiguration, the idealization 
 of such beauty as was indigenous." Mr. Samuel 
 Parsons, the editor of the present volume, refers 
 to Prince Piickler's Hints on Muskau's develop- 
 ment as " so fundamental and comprehensive that 
 it would be difficult to find anything better of 
 its kind in landscape gardening literature." 
 
 Fiirst von Piickler-Muskau was not only one 
 of the best interpreters of the landscape art of his 
 time, he was also a prophet of city-planning. 
 More than a hundred years ago he dwelt upon 
 the necessity for natural and picturesque beauty 
 in great cities, giving as an example the open 
 parks and irregular streets of London. 
 
 The plates and other illustrations are a notable 
 part of this volume. They include not only all 
 the more important original plates and repro- 
 ductions of plans of the Muskau Estate before 
 and after the improvements of Prince Piickler, 
 but also examples of many of the great English 
 country places which are referred to by the au- 
 
Note 
 
 thor. The text and illustrations combined make 
 a unique contribution to the limited literature of 
 permanent value dealing with the art of landscape 
 gardening. 
 
 John Nolen 
 
 Cambridge June ^ igil 
 
Contents 
 
 Editor's Introduction xi 
 
 Author's Introduction I 
 
 Part First: Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 Errata 
 
 Page 46, line li from bottom: For Table I read 
 
 Plate I. 
 Page 126, line 2: For Plate XI read Plate A. 
 Page 133, line 5 from bottom of text: For Theorious 
 
 read Theorious. 
 Page 154, line 11 from bottom: For Table XVI read 
 
 Plate XVI. 
 Page 159, line 12: For in the water, and (Plate XX) 
 
 read in the water (Plate XX), and. 
 Page 165, line 5 : For Kobeln read Kobeln. 
 Page 179, lines li and 12: For finished on the map 
 
 read as it will appear when completed. 
 
 - - J 
 Part Second: Description of the Park in 
 
 MUSKAU AND its OrIGIN III 
 
 Index i^j 
 
Illustrations 
 
 ( The numbered plates are reproduced from the Atlas which accompanied 
 the original edition of the Andeutungen iibpr Landschaftsgartnerei, by 
 Prince von Piickler-Muskau, Some of the original plates are omitted as 
 of less interest and importance than those reproduced, but Prince Ptickler^ s 
 references to all the plates are retained in the text for the sake of com- 
 pleteness. ) 
 
 Plate XXVII. Cottages in the Park of 
 
 MUSKAU WITH THE ViLLAGE OF KoBELN BE- 
 YOND Frontispiece \/ 
 
 Hermann Heinrich Ludwig, Prince von 
 
 PiJCKLER-MuSKAU S 
 
 From the woodcut frontispiece in E. Petzold's First 
 Hermann v. Piickler-Muskau, Leipzig, 1874. 
 
 Magdalen College, Oxford : The Gravel 
 Walk from the West in 1847 
 
 From a drawing by F. Mackenzie reproduced in The 
 Old Colleges of Oxford, by Aymer Vallance, London, 
 1912. 
 
 Kenilworth Castle 
 
 From an Engraving by William RadclyfFe after a draw- 
 ing by J. V. Barber, in Kenilworth Illustrated, Chis- 
 wick, 1 82 1. 
 
 Tintern Abbey 
 
 From The Ruined Abbeys of Britain,hy Frederick Ross. 
 
 Eaton Hall 
 
 From an old print reproduced in English Houses and 
 Gardens in the XVlIth and XVIlIth Centuries, by 
 Mervyn Macartney, London, 1908. 
 
 XIV 
 
 / 
 
 :/ 
 
 XVlll 
 
 xxii V 
 
 / 
 XXV i ''' 
 
viii Illustrations 
 
 Blenheim Castle : East Facade and Formal / 
 
 Garden xxx 
 
 From Country Residences in Europe and America, by 
 Louis Valcoulon Le Moyne, New York, 1908. 
 
 View of the Lake at Blenheim xxxiv 
 
 From Country Residences in Europe and America, by 
 Louis Valcoulon Le Moyne. 
 
 Haddon Hall and the River Derwent 4 
 
 From Country Residences in Europe and America, by 
 Louis Valcoulon Le Moyne. 
 
 y 
 
 Plate I, a and b. Grass Paths for Boundary J 
 
 OF Park 28 
 
 Goethe's Garden House at Weimar 31 ^ 
 
 Redrawn from an illustration in E. Petzold's Landschafts- 
 Gartnerei. 
 
 Warwick Castle 36 '^ 
 
 From an engraving by J. C. Varrall after a drawing by 
 John Preston Neale, in Neale's Views of the Seats of 
 Noblemen and Gentlemen in England, Wales, Scotland, 
 and Ireland, hondon, 1818-29. 
 
 Bird's-Eye View OF Versailles 44'^ 
 
 From Country Residences in Europe and America, by 
 Louis Valcoulon Le Moyne. 
 
 Plate H. View from the Front of the Cas- 
 tle AT MUSKAU, showing EfFECT OF THE / 
 
 Removal of about Twenty Large Trees 60 
 
 / 
 A Vista in the Park of Muskau 64 ■ 
 
 From a photograph by Thomas W. Sears. 
 Windsor Castle 70 V 
 
 From a mezzotint by T. Sutherland in The History of the 
 Royal Residences of Windsor Castle, by W. H. Pyne, 
 London, 1819. 
 
Illustrations ix 
 
 Plate IV, e. Border Plantations in the Old 
 
 Style 72 
 
 f. Border Plantations after / 
 
 Nash's Method 72 
 
 Plate XLIII. A Diagram showing Arrange- y 
 
 ment of Shrubs and Herbaceous Plants 76^ 
 
 Plate V. Arrangements of Roads and Paths 82/ 
 
 Plate VI. Diagrams showing Arrangements / 
 
 OF Rivers, Lakes, and Islands 92 v^ 
 
 Plate VII. A Diagram showing Different 
 
 Arrangements of Islands 98 ^ 
 
 Plate VIII. An Artificial Waterfall with / 
 
 Rock Dam too V 
 
 Two Views of the Castle and Moat at 
 
 MusKAu 132 " 
 
 From photographs by Thomas W. Sears. . 
 
 Plate XV. View of the Castle, showing 
 
 Steps with Orange Trees and the Old ,/ 
 
 Castle 
 
 A View of the River as arranged and im- 
 proved BY Prince Puckler in his Park at 
 
 MuSKAU 
 
 Redrawn from an old print. 
 
 A Rough Stone Bridge in the Park of 
 
 MuSKAU 
 
 From a photograph by Thomas W, Sears. 
 
 Plate XVIII. ViewofMeadow,Trees, River, 
 AND Hills 
 
 Plate XIX. Another View of the Castle / 
 
 AND Lawn 158 ^ 
 
 152 
 
 V 
 
 152 
 
 / 
 
 156 
 
 / 
 
 158 
 
 / 
 
X Illustrations 
 
 Plate XX. View of Old and New Castles 
 
 AND Lake Lucie i6o 
 
 Plate XXL The Pheasantry,with the Post- 
 Bridge OVER THE River beyond i6o 
 
 Plate XXIV. The " Prince " Bridge over 
 
 A Ravine 162 
 
 Plate XXV. Bridge made of Oak Branches 164 
 
 Plate XXVI. English Cottage in the Park 166 
 
 Plate XXVIII. Proposed Cemetery Chapel 168 
 
 Plate XXX. River and Mill 174 
 
 Plate XXXIX. The Gobelin Colony : Cot- 
 tages OF THE Garden Laborers 184 
 
 Plate XL. View from the Wussina Deer 
 
 Park, Muskau 186 
 
 Plate XLI. Spruce Tree One Hundred Feet 
 
 High 188 
 
 Plate XLII. Oak Eighty-Five Feet High 188 
 
 Plate XLIV. Cottage near the Hunting 
 
 Castle 190 
 
 Plan A. The Grounds of Muskau before 
 
 THE Improvements were begun In Pocket 
 
 Plan B. The Park of Muskau with the Im- 
 provements made or projected by Prince 
 PiJCKLER In Pocket 
 
Hermann Heinrich Ludwig, Prince von Piickler-Muskau 
 
Editor's Introduction 
 
 HERMANN LUDWIG HEINRICH, 
 Prince von Piickler-Muskau, stood in the 
 first rank of landscape gardeners in his day and 
 generation, largely because of the time and 
 place in which the stage for his career was set. 
 His endowments were remarkable, but his op- 
 portunities were unique. He was the son of an 
 ancient house in Silesia, or Lusatia, as it was for- 
 merly called, whose authority on the great ances- 
 tral estates was supreme. Tradition and aristocratic 
 power gave the prestige of the house a peculiar 
 value. The despotic power of the highly placed 
 land-owners of Germany had not as yet changed 
 in spirit from that of the eighteenth century. In 
 the world of thought there had been an awaken- 
 ing. Goethe reigned in literature without a rival 
 in Europe and Schiller was a poetical inspiration 
 for all Germany. 
 
 Puckler, the son of a Count and Privy Coun- 
 selor of the King of Saxony, was born in the 
 palace of his race in Muskau, a town older than 
 the Roman occupation, where his forbears had 
 ruled for a thousand years. In 1785, the year 
 of his birth, the French Revolution was not as 
 yet. New ideas, however, were in the air, and 
 Voltaire and Rousseau had succeeded in pro- 
 foundly modifying the spirit of the age. Yet the 
 
xii Editor's Introduction 
 
 ap:e still retained much of the time of Mme. de 
 Sevigne, a century before, when her letters were 
 circulated in the salons of the chateaux of France, 
 letters that forgot even to mention the fact that 
 outside of the windows, in near-by fields, soldiers 
 were slaughtering starving peasants, their coun- 
 trymen. 
 
 Puckler, the boy, spent four years when he 
 was seven with the Moravians in their Herrnhut 
 School at Uhyst, in the Pedagogium at Halle, 
 and then, after studying with a tutor for some 
 years, he entered the University of Leipsic in 
 1800. Here, he took a general course, specializ- 
 ing in law. Soon, however, he gave up law and 
 chose a military career as better suited to his en- 
 terprising spirit. He came to excel in physical 
 accomplishments and was a daring and skillful 
 horseman. Tales of a combat come to us, where 
 he, a champion, met and vanquished a French 
 rival, in the presence and amid the plaudits of 
 the assembled armies of both sides. These and 
 other stories serve to indicate to us his reckless 
 daring and energy. Later, Puckler proved him- 
 self a skillful and experienced officer at Antwerp 
 under Bulow. Afterwards, under Geismar, he 
 was at the assault and taking of Cassel, where he 
 helped to capture several cannon. He received 
 many decorations for brilliant services and was 
 made a colonel. Later, he raised a regiment of 
 chasseurs and afterwards commanded at Bruges 
 as civil and military governor. In 18 14, when 
 the Allied Armies entered Paris, he was sent by 
 
Editor's Introduction xiii 
 
 the Duke of Saxe-Weimar as special ambassador 
 to the Emperor Alexander. Soon after this he 
 visited England a second time, spending a year 
 in that country. 
 
 During the years from 1816 to 1822 Piickler 
 occupied himself with many things. He traveled 
 everywhere — on the European Continent ; in 
 Africa, in Algeria, and Egypt and other places ; 
 in Asia and America, making notes as he traveled 
 and afterwards writing books. His adventures 
 even took the form of ascending in a balloon 
 with a celebrated aeronaut, a great feat in those 
 days. During this period came the death of his 
 father with whom he seems to have lived on good 
 terms except for the usual disagreements which 
 extravagant sons have with most fathers. Doubt- 
 less, he was many times during his travels so short 
 of funds as to be almost in dire want, but hav- 
 ing been bred a soldier and being of a high, free 
 spirit it is not likely that any shortage of funds 
 seriously troubled him. 
 
 He finally married a lady of rank, the Count- 
 ess Pappenheim, widow of the Count of the 
 same name and daughter of the Prince Harden- 
 burg. State Chancellor and one of the great states- 
 men of the age. We find Puckler at this period 
 of his career enjoying much society in the gay, 
 as well as in the diplomatic, world. In 18 18, for 
 instance, he accompanied his wife and father-in- 
 law to the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle. Later 
 he was offered an ambassadorship to Constanti- 
 nople and other high state employments. He, 
 
xiv Editor's Introduction 
 
 however, refused them all, and sought his very 
 considerable estates inherited from his father. 
 In the course of the settlement of certain bound- 
 ary and feudal rights, the Prussian Government 
 decided to give Puckler the title of Prince and a 
 considerable sum of money. 
 
 For the better part of ten years he devoted 
 himself to carrying out his great plans for his 
 estates, even importing American trees for which 
 he had conceived an admiration during a visit 
 he had paid to the United States. Eventually, 
 however, he found his funds so much exhausted 
 that about 1828 he bethought himself of mak- 
 ing a journey again to England with an idea of 
 bettering his fortunes in some mysterious, whim- 
 sical way, but chiefly, it may be surmised, be- 
 cause he loved England and travel. During this 
 trip in 1828 his travels extended over England 
 and Ireland, and resulted in the instructive and 
 witty letters afterward published in Stuttgart 
 under the name oi Brief e eines Gestorben ("Letters 
 of a Deceased Person"). They were translated 
 into English under the name 'Tour of a German 
 Pri?ice^ etc., etc. These letters became celebrated, 
 indeed so much so that Goethe wrote at the time 
 in the Berliner Buch that Puckler's letters had 
 been long a pattern in all that relates to land- 
 scape gardening. Goethe says, these letters " be- 
 long to the highest class of literature." As litera- 
 ture they certainly take high rank both for their 
 fine and true conception of landscape gardening 
 principles and for their descriptions of scenery. 
 
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Editor's Introduction xv 
 
 They possessed, moreover, a charm and wit that 
 recalled the touch of the incomparable letter- 
 writers of the eighteenth century : a century of 
 which Prince Puckler was a product in certain 
 singular ways; truly a grand seigneur with all his 
 large and modern ideas ; a soldier, a patriot, a 
 philosopher, and a humanitarian ; verily a land- 
 scape gardener of a most unique type ! He came 
 back to Germany from England no richer except 
 in literary fame. From that time the major part 
 of his attention was given to the development of 
 his estates and to the elaboration of his notes and 
 maps which later he published in the form of the 
 present book. 
 
 Traveling he naturally could not forego, and his 
 advice, moreover, was sought from time to time 
 for the improvement of great estates throughout 
 Europe from the Royal Park at Babelsburgh, 
 near Potsdam, to the Bois de Boulogne in Paris. 
 In 1 845 he had largely developed his estates at 
 Muskau, as may be seen to-day, but he had like- 
 wise so completely exhausted his means that he 
 was at last forced to sell his beloved ancestral home 
 to Frederick of the Netherlands and retire to 
 Braunitz, a smaller estate at some distance away. 
 It is said that so bitter was his disappointment 
 at leaving Muskau, that although he lived more 
 than thirty years afterward he never again visited 
 his old home. During these thirty years he con- 
 tinued to improve Braunitz, to write, and to 
 travel, and to take part in most of the great events 
 of the day. In 1863 he was made a member of 
 
xvi Editor's Introduction 
 
 the Prussian House of Lords (Herrenhaus), and in 
 1866, when eighty-one years old, he attended 
 the Prussian General Staff in the war with Austria. 
 In 1 871 he died full of honors, and with the 
 consciousness, in spite of many failures and poign- 
 ant disappointments, of having made for himself 
 a great career. The reason for thus dwelling at 
 length on the career of Prince Piickler is because 
 it goes far to explain why he became exactly the 
 sort of landscape architect he was. Yet it was not, 
 altogether, the character of his ancestors, his en- 
 vironment, nor his upbringing that accounted for 
 Prince Piickler. He had, fortunately for him, 
 just the background and stage-setting that would 
 enable him to grace the part that circumstances 
 and personal taste called on him to fill : but there 
 was a certain fire of genius in the man Puckler 
 that was sui generis , something of his very own. 
 Like all geniuses he was of his age, and yet not 
 of his age. No other landscape architect ever 
 resembled him, or perhaps equaled him, if his 
 accomplishments and work are duly weighed. 
 He was born and brought up, it must be remem- 
 bered, in the eighteenth century, imbibed its 
 charm in his early days and kept all his life in 
 his words and bearing something of its savor. 
 He could not help being, as shown by his letters, 
 a delightful companion and the old-time gentle- 
 man. As the years passed, however, and he 
 breathed the air of the new century, he naturally 
 became inspired by its humanitarian ideas and 
 its broader vision. He could not help belonging 
 
Editor's Introduction xvii 
 
 to the romantic school. It was in his blood: it 
 developed in his philosophy and in his art and 
 kindled into vivid life whatever he said, wrote, 
 and did. All his wild adventures and strange 
 visions and dreams, his love of Nature, his vague, 
 humanitarian schemes, even his somewhat high- 
 flown sentiments, expressed on all sorts of topics, 
 mark him as a type of the romantic artist. He 
 could, however, paint life with a broad and flow- 
 ing brush and at the same time with a simplicity 
 that explained perhaps why he was so keen and 
 appreciative an admirer of Mme. de Sevigne, little 
 as she had in common with the romantic school. 
 For simplicity as well as romantic fervor what 
 can be better than the following passage found 
 in one of his letters where he speaks of a lovely 
 lady dwelling obscurely in poverty in a remote 
 part of Ireland : — 
 
 I wish I could describe this sweet and lovely being 
 to you in such a manner as to place her visibly before 
 you, certain that you, like me, would love her at first 
 glance. But I feel that all description falls short. All 
 about her is heart and soul. She was dressed in black 
 with greatest simplicity, her dress was up to the neck 
 but fitting close to her beautiful form. Her person is 
 slender and extremely youthful, full of gentle grace, and 
 not without animation and fire in her movements. 
 Her complexion is of a pure clear brown and has the 
 soft polish of marble. More beautiful and brilliant black 
 eyes, or teeth of more dazzling whiteness I have never 
 beheld. Her mouth, too, with the angelic, childlike char- 
 acter of her smile, is enchanting. Her refined, unaffected 
 good breeding, the sportive grace of her gay and witty 
 conversation were of that rare sort which are innate, and 
 
xviii Editor's Introduction 
 
 must therefore please, whether in Paris or Pekin, in 
 town or country. The greatest experience of society- 
 could not give more ease and address, and no girl of 
 fifteen could blush more sweetly or jest more joyously, 
 and yet her life had been the most simple and uniform, 
 and her youth was rather the unfading youth of the 
 soul than that of the body, for she was the mother of 
 four children, nearly thirty, and just recovered from an 
 attack of the lungs which had threatened to prove fatal. 
 But the fire of all her movements, the lightning flashes 
 of her conversation, had all the freshness and all the 
 charm of youth, giving a resistless loveliness to the 
 gentleness of her nature. 
 
 Here is, doubtless, a somewhat exaggerated 
 picture of his imagination. An attractive woman 
 there was, but not just such a woman as he de- 
 picts her. Inspired, possibly, by some stray mem- 
 ory of Byron's verses which he greatly admired, 
 in any case, transfusing a homely incident of his 
 travels with the glow of his imagination, he 
 simply did what he was always doing with his 
 landscape architecture, and often afterwards in 
 other ways in the changeful phases of his varied 
 life. 
 
 Piickler's career in England was quite typical 
 of the man; going to that country to recuper- 
 ate his fortunes in some mysterious way, he trav- 
 eled like a grand seigneur in the most expensive 
 manner; then, when funds were short or carriage 
 lacking, on horseback or even on foot. His lit- 
 erary imagination found vent at this time in let- 
 ters to his divorced wife, and, strange to say, 
 then and afterwards his beloved companion and 
 
Editor's Introduction xix 
 
 confidante. These letters are truly models of epis- 
 tolary genius. Their descriptions of scenery are 
 especially fine, and one needs, fully to realize the 
 greatness of his literary power, to comprehend 
 Piickler's peculiar value as a landscape architect. 
 Here is one of his descriptions: — 
 
 On two sides the eye wanders over an almost im- 
 measurable plain, on the other, lies Loch Corrib, a 
 lake, thirty miles in length, behind which are the moun- 
 tains of Clare and in still remoter distance the romantic 
 ridge of Connemara. The lake just at the middle bends 
 inland like a river, and its waters gradually lose them- 
 selves between the lofty mountains which seem to form 
 a gateway for their entrance. Just at this point the sun 
 set: and Nature which often rewards my love for her, 
 displayed one of her most wondrous spectacles. Black 
 clouds hung over the mountains and the whole heavens 
 were overcast; only just at this point, the sun looked 
 out from beneath the dusky veil and issued a stream 
 of light which filled the whole ravine with a sort of un- 
 earthly splendor. The lake glittered beneath it like 
 molten brass, while the mountains had a transparent 
 steel-blue luster like the gleam of diamonds. Single 
 streaks of rose-colored cloud passed slowly across the 
 illuminated picture over the mountains; while on both 
 sides of the opened heavens distant rain fell in torrents, 
 and formed a curtain which shut out every glimpse of 
 the remaining world. Such is the magnificence which 
 Nature has reserved for herself alone, and which even 
 Claude's pencil couid never imitate. 
 
 These lines purport to give simply a descrip- 
 tion of Nature, but at the very end Piickler can- 
 not help writing as a landscape architect, which 
 is primarily his true vocation. 
 
XX Editor's Introduction 
 
 There are many fine descriptions of Nature in 
 the letters of Piickler, and it might be well to 
 quote one more as a further illustration of the 
 distinction of his purely literary work: — 
 
 Turn your imagination to a spot of ground so com- 
 mandingly placed that from its highest point you can 
 let your eye wander over fifteen counties. Three sides 
 of this vast panorama rise and fall in constant change 
 of hill and dale like the waves of an agitated sea, and 
 are bounded at the horizon by a strangely formed 
 jagged outline of the Welsh Mountains, which at either 
 end ascend to a fertile plain, shaded by thousands of 
 lofty trees, and in the obscure distance, where it blends 
 with the sky, is edged with a white misty line — the 
 ocean. 
 
 The peculiarity of such a description is not 
 only its eloquence and poetical expression, but 
 its real value lies in its landscape conception. 
 Probably no other man of Piickler's time could 
 have brought together, in a single picture, just the 
 right elements, and grouped them in such a way 
 as to set before one a great landscape scene in so 
 fine a manner. It is a case, as may be seen over 
 and over again in reading Piickler's letters, of a 
 landscape architect developing a great landscape 
 and transfusing it with the vivifying glow of his 
 own trained imagination. In other words, Piickler 
 knew just what to select from the landscape to 
 present its truest and most valuable character. 
 
 Prince Piickler was, however, a good deal 
 more than a lover of Nature in her higher moods 
 and a skillful artist in creating effects akin to 
 
Editor's Introduction xxi 
 
 Nature's best efforts: he was a great gentleman 
 with forbears of a thousand years ; he was a sol- 
 dier and an economist devoted to the interests 
 of his peasant laborers and German countrymen. 
 Hardly ever had the interests of one man ex- 
 tended so widely; certainly those of no landscape 
 architect. To show the diversity of his interests 
 I will quote a passage about Oxford: — 
 
 I have walked over Oxford and I cannot express 
 with what intense delight I wandered from cloister to 
 cloister, and refreshed myself in this living spring of 
 antiquity. There is a magnificent avenue of elms which 
 like the buildings date from the year 1520. From this 
 queen of avenues in which not a single tree was want- 
 ing, and which leads through a meadow to the river, 
 you see on one side a charming landscape, and on the 
 other a part of the city with five or six of the most 
 beautiful Gothic towers — ever a noble view, but to- 
 day rendered almost like a piece of fairy enchantment; 
 the sky was overcast, the wind drove the black, fan- 
 tastic clouds like a herd of wild beasts across it : at 
 length the most beautiful rainbow vaulting from one 
 tower and descending on another, spanned the whole 
 city. 
 
 Read this weird and soul-stirring description 
 of Kenilworth Castle: — 
 
 The day was gloomy, black clouds rolled across the 
 heavens, and occasionally a yellow, tawny light broke 
 from between them, rhe wind whistled from among the 
 ivy, and piped shrilly through the vacant windows. 
 Now and then a stone loosened itself from the crum- 
 bling buildings and rolled clattering down the outer 
 wall. Not a human being was to be seen; all was soli- 
 
xxii Editor's Introduction 
 
 tary and awful; a gloomy but sublime memorial of de- 
 struction. 
 
 There is more than the suggestion of mysti- 
 cism in this passage, but here is the real thing : — 
 
 I entreat you [he writes to a dear friend] , be with me 
 at least in thought, and let our spirits journey together 
 over sea and land and look down from the summit of 
 mountains and enjoy the sweet repose of valleys, for I 
 doubt not that spirits, in forms as infinitely various as 
 infinity itself is boundless, rejoice throughout all worlds 
 in the beauty of God's magnificent creation. 
 
 A mystic Piickler always was and always re- 
 mained. He was always dreaming and seeing 
 visions. There was a touch of madness in some of 
 his strange fancies. The reader of his book will 
 remember the lake he designed which was to 
 rear above the surface of its waters funereal me- 
 morials ; i.e., rocks inscribed with names intended 
 to commemorate his ancestors interspersed and 
 surrounded by weeping willows. 
 
 For magnificence of description and grandeur 
 of outlook, all transfused with the magic of his 
 imagination, it would be hard to find anything 
 better of its kind than the following description 
 of Warwick Castle which, on account of its 
 length, is given only in part : — 
 
 Let your fancy conjure up a space about twice as 
 large as the Colosseum at Rome, and let it transport 
 you into a forest of romantic luxuriance. You now 
 overlook the large court surrounded by mossy trees 
 and large buildings, which, though of every variety of 
 form, combine to create one sublime and connected 
 
Editor's Introduction xxiii 
 
 whole, whose lines now shooting upward, now falling 
 off into the blue air with the continually changing beauty 
 of the green earth beneath, produce, not symmetry in- 
 deed, but the higher harmony elsewhere proper to Na- 
 ture's work alone. The first glance at your feet rests on a 
 broad, simple carpet of turf around which a softly wind- 
 ing gravel walk leads to the entrance and exit of the gi- 
 gantic edifice. Look backward and your eye rests on the 
 two black towers of which the oldest, called Guy's Tower, 
 rears its head aloft in solitary threatening majesty high 
 above all the surrounding foliage, and looks as if cast in 
 one mass of solid iron; the other built by Beauchamp is 
 half hidden by a pine and chestnut, the noble growth 
 of centuries. Broad-leaved ivy and vines climb along the 
 walls, here twining around the tower, there shooting to 
 its very summit. On your left lies the inhabited part 
 of the Castle and the chapel ornamented with many 
 lofty windows of various size and form, while the oppo- 
 site side of the vast quadrangle, almost entirely with- 
 out windows, presents only a mighty mass of embattled 
 stone, broken by a few larches of colossal height, and 
 huge arbutuses which have grown to a surprising size 
 in the shelter they have long enjoyed. But the sublim- 
 est spectacle yet awaits you. On the fourth side, the 
 ground, which has sunk into a low, bushy basin form- 
 ing the court, and with the buildings also descending for 
 a considerable space, rises again in the form of a steep, 
 conical hill along the sides of which climbs the rugged 
 walls of the castle. This hill and the keep which crowns 
 it are thickly overgrown at the top with underwood, 
 which only creeps round the foot of the tower and walls. 
 Behind it, however, rise gigantic venerable trees tower- 
 ing above all the rocklike structure. Their bare stems 
 seem to float in midair, while at the very summit of 
 the building rises a daring bridge, set, as it were, on 
 either side with trees, and as the clouds drift across the 
 blue sky, the broadest, most brilliant masses of light 
 
xxiv Editor's Introduction 
 
 break magically from under the towering arch and the 
 dark crown of trees. 
 
 Prince Piickler's description of Tintern Ab- 
 bey — Wordsworth's Tintern Abbey — should 
 not be passed by : it is so fine : — 
 
 It would be difficult to imagine a more favorable 
 situation or a more sublime ruin. The entrance to it 
 seems as if contrived by the hand of some skillful scene 
 painter to produce the most striking effect. The church, 
 which is large, is still almost perfect; the roof alone and 
 some of the pillars are wanting. The ruins have received 
 just that degree of care which is consistent with the full 
 preservation of their character. All unpicturesque rub- 
 bish that would obstruct the view is removed without 
 any attempt at repair or embellishment. A beautiful 
 smooth turf cov.ers the ground and luxuriant creeping 
 plants grow amid the stones. The fallen ornaments are 
 laid in a picturesque confusion and a perfect avenue of 
 thick ivy stems climb up the pillars and form a roof 
 over head. The better to secure the ruin, a new gate 
 of antique workmanship is put up. When this is sud- 
 denly opened the effect is striking and surprising. You, 
 at once, look down the avenue of ivy clad pillars and 
 see the grand perspective lines closed at the distance of 
 three hundred feet by a magnificent window eighty feet 
 high and thirty feet broad: through its intricate and 
 beautiful tracery you see a wooded mountain from whose 
 sides project abrupt masses of rock. 
 
 When it comes to landscape gardening criti- 
 cism, we find all through his letters passages that 
 abundantly prove that his mind was continually 
 occupied in studying his art wherever he traveled. 
 Here is a bit on city planning and the landscape 
 connected with it which might have been written 
 
Editor's Introduction xxv 
 
 by some of the best authorities of the present 
 day: — 
 
 Faultless on the other hand, is the landscape garden- 
 ing part of the park [Regent's], which also originated 
 with Mr. Nash, especially in the disposition of the 
 water. Art has here completely solved the difficult prob- 
 lem of concealing her operations under the appearance 
 of unrestrained nature. You imagine you see a broad 
 river flowing on through luxuriant banks, and going 
 off in the distance in several arms, while in fact you are 
 looking upon a small piece of standing though clear 
 water created by art and labor. So beautiful a landscape 
 as this with hills in the distance, surrounded by an en- 
 closure of magnificent houses, a league in circuit, is cer- 
 tainly a design worthy of one of the greatest capitals in 
 the world, and when the young trees are grown into 
 majestic giants will scarcely find a rival. In the execu- 
 tion of Mr. Nash's plan many old streets have been 
 pulled down, and during the last ten years more than 
 sixty thousand houses built in this part of the town. 
 It is, in my opinion, a peculiar beauty of these new 
 streets, that, though broad, they do not run in straight 
 lines, but make occasional curves which break the uni- 
 formity. 
 
 It is interesting to follow the working of 
 Piickler's mind as he studies his subject, how the 
 principles of his art were formulating themselves 
 in his mind to be afterwards realized and actually 
 executed on his own place at Muskau where the 
 result can be seen to-day. Here is some keen 
 criticism of English scenery: — 
 
 The beauty of the country and the extraordinary 
 neatness and elegance of every place through which my 
 road lay to-day struck me in a most agreeable manner 
 
xxvi Editor's Introduction 
 
 . . . the picture has but one fault — it is all too culti- 
 vated, too perfect, thence always and everywhere the 
 same, and consequently, in the long run wearisome. 
 Indeed, I can even conceive that it must become distaste- 
 ful in time, like the savory dish of dainties to the stom- 
 ach of a sated man. 
 
 That Prince Piickler did not hesitate to criti- 
 cize the celebrated estates in England is indicated 
 by the following passage : — 
 
 We have hastened to see the wonders of Eaton Hall, 
 of which, however, my expectations have not been very 
 high. Moderate as they were they have been scarcely 
 realized. The parks and gardens were, to my taste, 
 the most unmeaning of any of their class I had seen, 
 although of vast extent. 
 
 On the other hand, here is a description in 
 another of Piickler's letters of what he considers 
 an ideal park or country estate : — 
 
 Mr. W.'s park is certainly one of the most perfect 
 creations of that kind and owes its existence entirely to 
 his perseverance and good taste. It is true that he could 
 nowhere have found a spot on earth more grateful for 
 his labors, but it seldom happens that art and nature 
 so cordially unite. It is enough to say that the former 
 is perceptible only in the most perfect harmony ; other- 
 wise it appears to vanish into pure nature, — not a tree 
 or a bush seems planted by design. The vast resources 
 of distant prospect are wisely husbanded ; they come 
 upon the eye by degrees and as if unavoidably ; every 
 path is cut in a direction which seems the only one it 
 could take without constraint and artifice; the most 
 enchanting effects of woods and plantations are pro- 
 duced by skillful management, by contrast of masses, 
 by felling some, and thinning others, clearing off and 
 

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Editor's Introduction xxvii 
 
 keeping down branches, so that the eye is attracted, 
 now into the depth of the wood, now above, now be- 
 low the boughs, and every possible variety within the 
 region of the beautiful presented. This beauty is never 
 displayed naked, but always sufficiently veiled to leave 
 the requisite play for the imagination ; for a perfect park 
 — in other words, a tract of country idealized by art — 
 should be like a good book, which suggests at least as 
 many new thoughts and feelings as it expresses. The 
 dwelling-house is not visible till you reach an opposite 
 height; it then suddenly emerges from the mass of the 
 wood, its outline broken by scattered trees and groups, 
 and its walls garlanded with ivy, roses, and creeping 
 plants. It was built after the plan of the possessor, in 
 a style not so much Gothic as antiquely picturesque, 
 such as a delicate feeling for the suitable and harmo- 
 nious conceived to be in keeping with the surround- 
 ing scenery. The gardens lay in all their indescribable 
 glow of beauty in a narrow and fertile valley full of high 
 trees under which three silver springs gush forth, and 
 flowing away in meandering brooks took their course 
 in all directions amid impervious thickets of blooming 
 rhododendrons and azaleas. 
 
 Of Chiswick, Piickler has the following per- 
 tinent criticism to make : — 
 
 I found the garden much altered, but not, I think, 
 for the better ; for there is a mixture of the regular 
 and irregular which has a most unpleasant eff*ect. The 
 ugly fashion now prevalent in England of planting the 
 pleasure-ground with single trees and shrubs, placed at 
 a considerable distance apart almost in rows, has been 
 introduced in several parts of the grounds. This gives 
 the grass-plots the air of nursery grounds. The shrubs 
 are trimmed round so as not to touch each other, the 
 earth carefully cleared about them every day, and the 
 
xxviii Editor's Introduction 
 
 edges of turf cut in stiff lines, so that you see more of 
 black earth than of green foliage and the free beauty 
 of nature is quite checked. Mr. Nash, however, adheres 
 to a very different principle, and the new gardens of 
 Buckingham Palace are models to all planters. 
 
 This criticism of Blenheim and the apprecia- 
 tion of the landscape architect. Brown, are spe- 
 cially interesting : — 
 
 The park is five German miles in circumference, and 
 the piece of water, the finest of its kind existing, occu- 
 pies almost eighty acres. The pleasure-grounds are on 
 an equally grand scale; forty men are ordinarily em- 
 ployed in mowing. Opposite the house the water forms 
 a cascade, so admirably constructed of large masses of 
 rock brought from a great distance, that it is difficult to 
 believe it artificial. 
 
 One cannot help admiring the grandeur of Brown's 
 conceptions as one wanders through these grounds: he 
 is the Shakespeare of gardening. 
 
 Doubtless the Prince here allowed himself to 
 say a little more in favor of this famous place 
 than he would have on sober thought. It should 
 be remembered that Piickler was entertained in 
 England everywhere by the aristocracy and even 
 royalty in the most magnificent manner, and 
 consequently it is remarkable that he should have 
 criticized adversely any of the English estates. 
 Think for a moment: would any one at the pres- 
 ent time make a tour of American and English 
 estates and write in his letters as boldly and criti- 
 cize as pointedly as Piickler did a hundred years 
 ago .? Perhaps it would be healthy for the art of 
 
Editor's Introduction xxix 
 
 landscape gardening if some one, competent and 
 independent, would undertake to write a few let- 
 ters like those of Piickler. 
 
 In order to see that he was little influenced 
 by what he saw of Brown's work at Blenheim, 
 it is only necessary to wander over the grounds 
 of the park at Muskau a few hours. The satiri- 
 cal lines of Peacock, said to refer to the art of 
 Brown, could hardly be applied to anything de- 
 signed by Piickler : — 
 
 Here sweeps a plantation in that beautiful regular 
 curve; there winds a gravel walk; here are parts of the 
 old wood left in these majestical regular clumps dis- 
 posed at equal distances with wonderful symmetry; 
 there are some singular shrubs scattered about in ele- 
 gant profusion; here a portugal laurel; there a spruce 
 fir; here a juniper; here a lauristinus; there a spruce fir; 
 here a larch; there a lilac; here a rhododendron; there 
 an arbutus. The stream you see has become a canal : 
 the banks are perfectly smooth and green, sloping to the 
 water's edge.' 
 
 Piickler wTote also more than once in praise 
 of Repton's work, and even brought Repton's 
 
 ' Headlong Hall. The Prince's criticisms of the landscape garden- 
 ing of Germany are severe and the comparisons he makes with England 
 are much to the disadvantage of his Fatherland. However, he had great 
 hopes of the Royal Gardens at Potsdam, which were being laid out at 
 that time by the famous landscape artist Lenne, and which are to-day 
 the glory of Germany, and it should be said here that a few of the 
 strictures made by Piickler in the early part of the nineteenth century 
 would apply to much of the German landscape gardening of to-day. I 
 do not mean to imply that a large part of the landscape gardening of 
 Germany is not open to criticism viewed from a high artistic standpoint, 
 just as is that of England; but it may be fairly said that German 
 landscape gardening approaches that of England more nearly now than 
 it did in the time of Prince Puckler. 
 
XXX Editor's Introduction 
 
 son from England to help him in improving 
 Muskau. He speaks appreciatively of many land- 
 scape architects and horticulturists or gardeners, 
 explains their ideas, and even quotes them at 
 length, and does not hesitate to criticize them as 
 he did in the case of Repton's son. Nor did he 
 claim for himself any special academic standing. 
 He did not apparently consider himself a pro- 
 fessor of the art, nor did he undertake to found 
 any special school of landscape gardening. Rather 
 he felt like a great amateur who engaged him- 
 self in a pleasant occupation with profound se- 
 riousness, and faithfully devoted himself to it 
 because it was the joy of his life. Probably, if 
 he had desired posthumous fame, he would have 
 written more for publication. It sufficed him to 
 make a fine map of the park of Muskau and 
 describe it more or less completely and add 
 thereto sundry " hints," as he terms them, 
 although their character is so fundamental and 
 comprehensive that it would be difficult to find 
 anything better of its kind in landscape-gardening 
 literature. A quaint, original, free spirit of a man ! 
 He did his chore in life with little regard to 
 fame, and none too much for rules or conven- 
 tions. Consequently, it is not strange that, with 
 his broad and almost prophetic outlook, he should 
 impress us as almost a man of the present day. 
 Certainly, as one walks and drives at the present 
 time around his park at Muskau, it is impossible 
 not to recognize the kinship of his work with ' 
 modern landscape gardening. He seems to have 
 
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Editor's Introduction xxxi 
 
 realized his ideas with such force and vividness 
 that when he finally executed them the excel- 
 lence of his work was so evident that except in 
 minor details it has remained unmolested until 
 the present time. It is not always so with great 
 places. Repton built Bulstrode for the Duke of 
 Portland in 1810 and gives an elaborate map of 
 it as one of his important works, yet Prince 
 Piickler notes in one of his letters that, at that 
 time, in 1829, it had been pulled to pieces and 
 the ground ploughed up. We can all remember 
 instances of a similar kind. It may be possible, 
 and even probable as already noted, that the land- 
 scape art of the park at Muskau may have been 
 of such evident excellence that, as the estate passed 
 from one owner to another, being at present in 
 the possession of Hermann von Arnim-Muskau, 
 each one has instinctively kept intact its essential 
 beauty. For similar reasons. Central Park, New 
 York, has acquired and retained defenders who, 
 amid the continued storm and stress of the attacks 
 from all sorts and conditions of men, have man- 
 aged to keep its landscape soul alive down to the 
 present day. Quite otherwise than with a paint- 
 ing the park or estate must display the finest kind 
 of art or it will not find the doughty defenders 
 needed to resist the enemies that will be sure to 
 rise up on every side from the midst of good 
 people who really think themselves the best of 
 friends. Nor do degeneration and destruction of 
 parks result generally from neglect, as in the 
 case of Babelsburgh, near Potsdam, much of the 
 
xxxii Editor's Introduction 
 
 beauty of which is the result of Prince Piickler's 
 ideas and advice, but it comes from sinning against 
 the Hght by those who ought to know better. 
 Fortunately, if the art is really sound and true 
 there generally seems to be a David to come for- 
 ward and redeem the delectable land from the 
 hands of the Philistines. 
 
 The full development of landscape architecture 
 came late. Greek art in architecture, sculpture, 
 song, and the drama struck a high note which 
 reached almost perfection two thousand years 
 before the glimmerings of true landscape archi- 
 tecture appeared in the seventeenth century. 
 Nature hardly appealed to pagan artists except in 
 the form of a human being. 
 
 When Christ said, " Consider the lilies," he 
 struck a new note, which, although submerged 
 and lost in the monastic sterility of the Middle 
 Ages, began to secure recognition of its true 
 value in the minds of men like Du Fresny who 
 first applied his genius to the landscape concep- 
 tion of a new Versailles, which was unfortunately 
 not accepted by Louis XIV. All through the 
 eighteenth century this lily of Christ's own 
 thought continued to open its petals until in the 
 early days of the nineteenth century, in the works 
 of Repton and Prince Piickler, the goodly flower 
 of landscape architecture appeared in full bloom. 
 It is not that finer trees and shrubs, better turf 
 and wider vistas have not obtained in later days. 
 That goes without saying ! It is that men have 
 learned how to design a landscape on natural 
 
Editor's Introduction xxxiii 
 
 lines, to take a terrain and study out just what it 
 is worth for the purpose of creating a landscape 
 which shall be evolved from its own peculiar 
 constitution and capacity for beauty. Better work 
 may be done and has been done; note Central 
 and Prospect Parks, New York City, designed 
 by Olmsted and Vaux. These men, as well as 
 Prince Piickler, also based their work on funda- 
 mental principles of art, and in the best land- 
 scape architecture of the future these principles 
 will not and cannot be changed, for they are in- 
 herent in the nature of the subject. 
 
 As an example of the way Piickler indicated 
 his principles of design it may be permitted to 
 quote a final passage from one of his- letters : — 
 
 The Park at Mount B. affords a perfect study for 
 the judicious distribution of masses of water to which it 
 is so difficult to give the character of grandeur and sim- 
 plicity that ought to belong to them. It is necessary to 
 study the forms of nature for the details, but the prin- 
 cipal thing is never to suffer an expanse of water to be 
 completely overlooked or seen to its whole extent. It 
 should break on the eye gradually, and if possible lose 
 itself at several points at the same time, in order to 
 give full play to the fancy; the true art in all landscape 
 gardening. 
 
 The estimate of the genius of Piickler, enunci- 
 ated by Goethe nearly a hundred years ago, has 
 been already quoted. It would seem well to com- 
 pare this with the latest and most authoritative 
 criticism of Piickler made in one of the letters 
 of the late Charles Eliot, the best writer on land- 
 
xxxiv Editor's Introduction 
 
 scape architecture of the present generation. He 
 writes as follows: Piickler "would evolve, from 
 out of the confused natural situation, a compo- 
 sition in which all that was fundamentally char- 
 acteristic of the scenery, the history, and indus- 
 try of his estate, should be harmoniously united." 
 In other words, as the same author writes farther 
 on, "he would not force upon his native land- 
 scape any foreign type of beauty ; on the contrary, 
 his aim was the transfiguration, the idealization 
 of such beauty as was indigenous." Again Charles 
 Eliot writes: — 
 
 One circumstance greatly favored the accomplish- 
 ment of his design — namely, the very fact that he had 
 to do with a valley and not with a plain or plateau. 
 The irregular rising land skirting the river levels sup- 
 plied the frame for his picture: the considerable stream 
 flowing through the midst of the level with here and 
 there a sweep towards the enclosing hills, became the 
 all connecting and controlling element in his landscape. 
 Well he knew what artists call breadth and unity of 
 effect was fully assured if only he abstained from in- 
 serting impertinent structures or other objects in the 
 midst of this hill-bounded intervale. 
 
 With his usual disregard of difficulties, Piickler 
 boldly diverted the river, first into a broad lake, 
 then into the moat of the castle, and finally into 
 a brook through the garden, where, unlike the 
 London rivers which the poet Gray says " only 
 glide and whisper," the water dances along over 
 rocks and "roars gently." This beautiful piece 
 of work looks so natural one cannot believe 
 
c 
 
 > 
 
Editor's Introduction xxxv 
 
 it artificial, and that is because Puckler faith- 
 fully applied his principles of art, not after the 
 Englishman Brown's methods, but according 
 to Nature's way. This kind of boldness and 
 nature-wise treatment appears everywhere, as 
 may be seen by any one visiting the park to-day. 
 While one wanders around the shores of the lake 
 out on the lawn and passes through the garden 
 and across the bridge and up and up to the 
 heights where the remnants of the sacred groves 
 stand, one finally turns and surveys the scene of 
 " tower and town," castle and baths, and the smoke 
 of the factories, all coordinated and unified in one 
 great picture as far as the eye can see, five thou- 
 sand acres, and miles of territory. The parts are 
 as completely harmonized as an opera, or a song, 
 or a great picture. 
 
 After dwelling on this scene, are we not justi- 
 fied in asserting that in all essential matters Prince 
 Puckler has stamped " the last word" on his park 
 at Muskau. There may be parks, and doubtless 
 are, more perfect in this or that part, but it must 
 be conceded by good judges that Puckler has, 
 in spite of his limitations, mistakes, and fail- 
 ures, created one of the few great parks of the 
 world. 
 
 The book. Hints on Landscape Gardening, 
 although it may seem to deal chiefly with 
 Piickler's letters from England, is really a kind 
 of notebook rather than a formal treatise. It is, 
 however, very informing of the principles and 
 practice of Puckler in his landscape treatment 
 
xxxvi Editor's Introduction 
 
 of his estates at Muskau. It is, in part, a disser- 
 tation occupying itself with many things be- 
 sides landscape architecture, but it is full of 
 sound ideas and suggestions. It does not devote 
 itself chiefly to the discussion of trees and shrubs, 
 as do many books of a similar kind, but it gives 
 you the underlying rules of the art. You will 
 readily excuse the digressions, which Puckler 
 himself deplores, when you come to study the 
 system of practice and the details of the plan by 
 means of journeys in the book which take you 
 miles around the park. It is doubtful whether 
 so extended a study of a great park was ever 
 written before by the man who designed the 
 entire scheme. The Prince did not undertake to 
 instruct the reader fully and completely. He 
 claimed to have had "a fairly long practical 
 experience, much careful study of practical ex- 
 amples combined with a passionate love of the 
 art of gardening in the widest sense," all of which 
 enabled him, he thinks, " to give some valuable 
 hints and to draw up some useful rules." 
 
 His philosophy, his art, and his poetry do 
 seem at times, however, to render his treatise 
 hardly scientific in the ordinary sense of the 
 term, and yet his advice is almost always sound 
 and sensible; moreover, with it all, he not infre- 
 quently drops into the frame of mind of the man 
 who, as the old phrase has it, "talks as he walks 
 and thus to himself says he." It is simply Prince 
 Puckler with all that goes to make Prince Piick- 
 ler. He is a prince and, at the same time, some- 
 
Editor's Introduction xxxvii 
 
 thing very like a socialist, and not, by any means, 
 always a gardener, deeply as he is interested in 
 horticulture. He had no desire to speak unkindly 
 of any one, but always his " free spirit " de- 
 manded scope of expression. Doubtless he wan- 
 dered far afield in his musings, but if the reader 
 will only dwell for a little on some of his sen- 
 tences that seem to him, at first, discursive and 
 even possibly absurd, he will finally come to find 
 in them food for much thought. It is the man 
 Piickler whom we cannot help wishing to know 
 quite as much as his interpretation of his art. 
 He was certainly a personality. Can any one re- 
 member as strong and interesting a personality 
 among landscape architects? 
 
 The author's treatment of his subject in his 
 book on landscape gardening is simple. He lays 
 down, or rather hints and intimates, as the title 
 of the book indicates, principles and ideas that 
 should control, in chapters devoted to the laying- 
 out of a park, to enclosures or fences, to the lo- 
 cation of buildings, to the making of country 
 estates, to trees and shrubs and their grouping, 
 to roads and paths, water features, islands, rocks, 
 grading, maintenance; all of which are illus- 
 trated by examples taken from the estate of 
 Muskau. 
 
 He evidently did not overestimate the value of 
 plans, excellent as his own were, deeming them 
 frequently deceptive. Personal superintendence 
 of the work, supplementing and developing still 
 further the ideas of the plan, evidently for him 
 
xxxviii Editor's Introduction 
 
 were of prime importance. Some things he says 
 about construction of roads and paths and the 
 management of plants, trees, and shrubs, etc., 
 might well be revised in the light of the im- 
 provements that necessarily come with the ex- 
 perience of nearly a hundred years, but it is 
 astonishing, at the same time, to find how much 
 of his advice agrees with the best practice of 
 modern days. 
 
 Indeed, when all is said that can be said about 
 Piickler's limitations, the question is still in 
 order, where else, except in his pages and those 
 of Whately, can be found an equally fine pres- 
 entation of the great art of landscape architec- 
 ture? Others writing on the same subject will 
 even seem to some, by comparison, dry and aca- 
 demic. Frederick Law Olmsted, almost alone, 
 has written passages that emit a like sparkle of 
 genius. Poetically inspired words and wit and 
 wisdom continually emerge from Prince Piick- 
 ler's strange, mystical meditations. He cannot 
 help writing in this vein even on what would be 
 ordinarily considered quite prosaic subjects, as 
 shown by the following quotation : — 
 
 What the gold backgrounds of the old masters, which 
 set out the sweet, lovable faces of madonnas and saints 
 in so ideal a manner, are to religious pictures, green, 
 luxuriant grass spaces are to a landscape. 
 
 Here, too, is a quotation, illustrative of what 
 I mean, which is decidedly quaint and original 
 and certainly poetical, far and away different 
 
Editor's Introduction xxxix 
 
 from what one would expect to find in this par- 
 ticular context : — 
 
 Even so one might compare a higher garden art 
 with music and, at least as fitly as architecture has been 
 called " frozen music," to call garden art " growing 
 music." It, too, has its symphonies, adagios, and alle- 
 gros, which stir the senses with vague but powerful emo- 
 tions. Further, as Nature offers her features to the 
 landscape gardener for use and choice, so does she of- 
 fer to music her fundamental tones; beautiful like the 
 human voice, the song of birds, the thunder of the 
 tempest, the roaring of the hurricane, the bodeful wail- 
 ing of branches — ugly sounds like howling, bellowing, 
 clattering, and squeaking. Yet the instruments bring 
 all these out and work, according to circumstances, ear- 
 splitting sounds in the hands of the incompetent, en- 
 trancing when arranged by the artist in an orderly whole. 
 The genial Nature painter does the same. He studies 
 the manifold material given him by Nature and by his 
 art works the scattered parts into a beautiful whole, 
 whose melody flatters the senses, but unfolds its high- 
 est powers and yields the greatest enjoyment only when 
 harmony has breathed true soul into the work. 
 
 Furthermore, it may be said, in addition to 
 these conclusions of Prince Piickler, that enter- 
 ing more deeply and widely into the heart of 
 Nature than either painting, music, or sculpture, 
 landscape architecture "is a union of many di- 
 verse elements, all constantly changing and act- 
 ing upon each other, such as we see in some fair 
 meadow, lit by sunshine after rain, wherein all 
 things, — from the chemical ingredients of the 
 grasses, and the lines of the flowers, to the con- 
 stituents of the stream that flows through it, to 
 
xl Editor's Introduction 
 
 the colors of the sky and the cloud shadows, and 
 the songs of the birds and the humming of the 
 little insects, and the quiver of the butterfly- 
 wings, — and each and all affected and affecting 
 each other, yet unite to create a whole which 
 has a deeper harmony than other arts, because it 
 is alive and changes in all its parts from moment 
 to moment." 
 
 The age in which Piickler lived was not ex- 
 actly that of great or original architects. This 
 was the case particularly in Germany. It was the 
 period of learning and versatility, and was chiefly 
 imitative in the character of its art, and essen- 
 tially classic. Schinkel planned a replica of the 
 Parthenon at Athens to be erected in the Crimea. 
 It is difficult to understand how Prince Puckler 
 could have been so carried away by his admiration 
 of Schinkel whose fame has not come down to us 
 with any real distinction. Schinkel's undoubted 
 versatility both in architecture and painting and 
 his great learning in Greek art gave him vogue at 
 the time. It is probable that many of the extra- 
 ordinary conceptions found in Piickler's flower 
 designs, bridges, and temples, fortunately seldom 
 carried out, owe their objectionable features to 
 the influence, if not the pencil, of Schinkel. 
 
 It is seldom, indeed, that we find a landscape 
 architect of parts who is also a really competent 
 architect, and the reverse is likewise true. At 
 first thought, it might seem quite feasible to com- 
 bine the work of the two professions, but, in 
 actual practice, the attempt generally fails. Cer- 
 
Editor's Introduction xli 
 
 tainly Le Notre did not succeed. Calvert Vaux 
 was a trained architect originally, but his abid- 
 ing reputation is entirely based on his work as a 
 landscape architect in designing Central Park, 
 New York, and other great parks of a similar 
 character. Mr. Olmsted, perhaps the greatest of 
 our latter-day landscape architects, never at any 
 time undertook to assume the role of architect. 
 
 On the other hand, it is doubtful whether any 
 eminent architect of the present day would as- 
 sume to lay out an entire park or country estate. 
 He does undertake to lay out gardens (called, it 
 is true, by Piickler "extensions of the house") 
 with a limited measure of success, for how can 
 he design a garden with intelligence, without an 
 intimate knowledge of plants which he rarely 
 has. A garden should be something more than 
 a problem of architecture. 
 
 It may be claimed and is claimed by most 
 landscape architects that landscape architecture, 
 like all work which seeks to deal with live Na- 
 ture, requires unity of idea everywhere, and that, 
 with many differences, parks and gardens should 
 be considered fundamentally the same. In the 
 case of both gardens and parks the landscape 
 architect deals with simple, open spaces, and in- 
 tricate, complicated, crowded spaces, with high 
 and low trees and shrubs, perennials and bedding 
 plants and grasses, each requiring artistic rela- 
 tions, one with the other. 
 
 In reviewing the various designs of Piickler, 
 it is interesting to note that some of the excel- 
 
xlii Editor's Introduction 
 
 lent advice that he gives is disregarded in the 
 actual designs that he proposes to use, and actu- 
 ally used, in some cases, in his park. No one, it 
 must be remembered, however, is entirely con- 
 sistent in his ideas nor is it desirable he should 
 be so. Certainly Piickler with his peculiar genius 
 could not be expected to be a paragon of con- 
 sistency. What Piickler writes on Italian villas 
 shows how instinctively his good taste leads him 
 to right conclusions. He says: — 
 
 In general, a certain irregularity is preferable in build- 
 ings in a park, as being more in conformity with Nature 
 and more picturesque. . . . This same principle ap- 
 pears in the designs of the ancient villas. . . . Traces of 
 this principle are also found in the Italy of the Renais- 
 sance, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries : buildings 
 half hidden by others, large and small windows on the 
 same face of the building, side doors, projecting and 
 receding corners, . . . cornice, roofs jutting out, and 
 balconies unsymmetrically placed, in short, everywhere 
 a great but by no means inharmonious irregularity, 
 which pleases the fancy because the reason for every 
 departure from regularity is evident or may be sur- 
 mised. The garden art of the Romans, which, through 
 the study of the classical writers, and especially through 
 the description which Pliny gives of his villa, again 
 came into practice in the fifteenth century in Italv, and 
 which has later, in the so-called French gardens, altered 
 into colder, less comfortable forms, deserves particular 
 consideration on this very point. This rich and sump- 
 tuous art, which may be called an extension of the art 
 of architecture from the house to the garden, — or, as 
 the English might say, the approach of the landscape 
 to the very doors of the house, — may be most suitably 
 applied to this purpose. 
 
Editor's Introduction xliii 
 
 It should be said, however, that many of 
 Puckler's most extravagant garden designs were 
 never carried out, either by himself at the time, 
 or by others at a later date, and to-day there is 
 little that is bizarre or offensive to good taste to 
 be seen at Muskau. The ideas of Puckler which 
 are essential to the development of his original 
 and comprehensive design have been unquestion- 
 ably, to a large extent, realized and retained. 
 Puckler has this paragraph in his book : — 
 
 To avoid all misunderstanding, I repeat that, in or- 
 der not to break the thread of my description at every 
 moment, much which is only proposed has to be de- 
 scribed as though already complete ; and that hardly 
 one third of the place has been so far carried out, al- 
 though perhaps three quarters of the work has been 
 done. 
 
 The difficulties he had to overcome were enor- 
 mous, as explained in his journeys with the reader 
 around his estate. 
 
 Puckler's passionate love of trees and his pride 
 in his ancestors is illustrated by the following 
 passage, which, on account of its peculiarly 
 characteristic quality, seems to demand special 
 mention in these preliminary pages: — 
 
 The finest forms of mountains and lakes, the bril- 
 liancy of the sun and sky, combined with the naked rocks 
 and bare lakes, cannot replace meadows and the . . . 
 diversified, pleasing green and rich foliage. Fortunate the 
 man to whom his forbears have bequeathed lofty woods 
 of old oaks, beeches, and lindens, these proud giants 
 of our Northern clime, standing still untouched by the 
 woodman's murderous axe. He should never regard 
 
xliv Editor's Introduction 
 
 them without veneration and delight, he should cher- 
 ish them as the apple of his eye, for neither money 
 nor power, neither a Croesus nor an Alexander, can 
 restore an oak a thousand years old in its wonderful 
 majesty after the poor laborer has felled it. Terrible 
 and swift is the destructive power of man, but poor 
 and weak is his power to rebuild. May an ancient tree 
 be to you, kind reader, who love Nature, a holy thing. 
 
 The concluding paragraph of the book makes 
 a fine ending to his dissertation on his much- 
 loved pursuit : — 
 
 For when once the landowner has begun to idealize 
 his property, he will soon become aware that cultiva- 
 tion of the soil will secure for him not only pecuniary 
 advantage, but also real artistic delight, and how thank- 
 ful Nature is to him who dedicates his powers with love. 
 So then, if each one does his best for his own tirelessly 
 and thoroughly, and the thousand facets combine easily 
 and well to form one ring, the lovable dream of the St. 
 Simonians might become true of a universal cult of our 
 mother earth. For this purpose, however, it would be 
 well to turn aside a little from these sad politics, which 
 absorb everything and give so little in return, and 
 revert a little more to happy art, whose service is in 
 itself a reward ; since for the ruling of the State we can- 
 not all strive. But to seek to improve himself and his 
 property is in the power of each one of us, and it is even 
 a question whether in such a simple manner, in honest 
 and homely endeavor, the so-much-desired freedom 
 may not be attained with more calm and safety than by 
 the many experiments in superficial theoretic forms of 
 State. For he only can be free who commands himself. 
 
 The letters from England, however, form the 
 best kind of introduction to the real Puckler and 
 
Editor's Introduction xlv 
 
 his book on landscape gardening. There is noth- 
 ing more informing of the growth and the aspi- 
 rations and inspirations of a man than his letters 
 to a close friend or dear relative, and the greater 
 the man, the more ready, generally, and it seems 
 in most cases, the more able, he is to reveal 
 on paper his actual heart and soul, — cor ad cor 
 loquitur. 
 
 Samuel Parsons 
 
HINTS ON 
 LANDSCAPE GARDENING 
 
 AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION 
 
Author's Introduction 
 
 Permit us to bring the beautiful also into our de- 
 sign: for I do not see why we should disassociate the 
 beautiful from the useful, for what — to come to the 
 point — what is useful ? Merely what nourishes us, warms 
 us, and shelters us from the weather ? And why do we call 
 such things useful? Only because they tolerably ad- 
 vance the welfare of mankind? Yet the beautiful ad- 
 vances it in a far higher and greater degree ; therefore 
 among useful things the beautiful is the most useful of 
 all. (VoM Regieren, German Memoirs.) 
 
 IN the greater part of Germany, it must be 
 admitted, we have scarcely yet awakened to 
 the practical and successful pursuit of utilities, and 
 but few have directed their intelligence and ener- 
 gies, without consideration of advantage, to the 
 beautiful ; a general, intelligent combination of 
 both aims is yet rarer. 
 
 This applies most of all to every kind of landed 
 property, and it is certain that herein England 
 has advanced beyond our level of civilization by 
 nearly a century: what is there accomplished with 
 ease, here remains all but impracticable. 
 
 But it is time that our well-to-do landowners 
 sought a closer rapprochement with the English 
 system and without slavish imitation studied 
 rather the intention than the form, always giving 
 due consideration to the conditions of locality. 
 
 If I cite England as an example, it is not be- 
 
4 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 cause it is the fashion, or from Anglomania, but 
 from the firm conviction that England must for 
 a long time remain an unattainable model in the 
 art of a worthy, and, if the expression may be 
 permitted, a gentlemanly [gentlemanartigeri^y en- 
 joyment of life, especially with regard to coun- 
 try life, in general "comfort" combined with the 
 fullest appreciation of a noble sense of beauty in 
 every form, as far removed from effeminate, Asi- 
 atic voluptuousness as from Continental squalor 
 and dirt, which has its origin, not in poverty, 
 but in bad habits and neglected household arrange- 
 ments. 
 
 In this higher cultivation of the pleasures of 
 life landscape gardening has also developed to an 
 extent that no period and no other country seem 
 to have known ; and, in spite of a generally 
 gloomy and sunless climate, England has devel- 
 oped it into the most delightful pursuit for the 
 friend of Nature, for the connoisseur who loves 
 her most when she appears in unison with the shap- 
 ing hand of man, as the raw jewel first obtains 
 its greatest beauty only through polish. I do not 
 by this wish to say that Nature at her wildest, 
 left alone to her simple, often sublime, and some- 
 time even awful, grandeur, may not evoke the 
 deepest, nay, the most religious, sentiments; but 
 for lasting welfare human care and intelligence 
 are indispensable. Even in painted landscape, we 
 demand something which reminds us of human 
 effort, — as we say, to animate it. Yet a far 
 greater variety is required in real, than in painted. 
 
c< 
 
Author's Introduction 
 
 landscape, and it is much more agreeable, as well 
 as beneficial, to the feeling human heart when, 
 as in England, we can admire in Nature, almost 
 everywhere idealized by art, not only the palaces 
 and gardens of the great in their pride and mag- 
 nificence, but also, in harmonious whole, the modest 
 dwellings of small farmers laid out with as much 
 charm, and finished as completely. For they 
 also, like the proud castles, peep sweetly out from 
 primeval trees or repose on gay meadows, sur- 
 rounded by blossoming shrubs, and show with 
 equal clearness, by appropriate form and sober 
 cleanliness, the delicate taste of their owners. 
 The poorest can deck his straw hat with flowers 
 and tend, after his daily work, a well-kept garden, 
 however small, where naught but velvet lawn 
 grows, " 'midst rose and jessamine odors." 
 
 Must we not be filled with a real sense of 
 shame when we look for a counterpart here and 
 still find the greater part of our country seats 
 whose chief view looks on the manure heap, at 
 whose gates for the greater part of the day swine 
 and geese disport themselves, and whose interiors 
 can show, as an attempt at cleanliness, only com- 
 mon boards strewn with sand? 
 
 I have frequently seen in my Fatherland in 
 North Germany very well-to-do persons, owners 
 of hundreds of thousands of marks, living in such 
 pseudo-castles — mansions, as they called them — 
 as an English farmer no doubt would without 
 hesitation have taken for stables. 
 
 Is such a place the seat of a gentleman? A 
 
6 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 property embellished by the cabbage garden, 
 usually close to the house, with at the most a few 
 carnations and single lavender plants surrounding 
 his onions and beet roots; alleys of crooked fruit 
 trees sadly hemmed in by cabbages and turnips! 
 Should a few old oaks or limes from his fore- 
 fathers' day have withstood the tooth of time, 
 then the good husbandman seldom fails to rob 
 them of their foliage for his sheep, so that they 
 stand there like naked victims, stretching out 
 their branches to heaven, as if for vengeance. 
 
 Yet more painful is it when the owner, bitten 
 by the fashion, has conceived the notion of 
 laying out his gardens in so-called English style. 
 The straight roads are then turned into cork- 
 screw forms which are just as mechanical, ser- 
 pentining in the most tedious manner through 
 young birches, poplars, and larches, and gener- 
 ally either impassable after every shower from 
 mud, or in dry weather making the visitor wade 
 perspiring through loose sand. A few exotic 
 shrubs, which grow badly and are much less 
 beautiful than native ones, are planted, mixed 
 with young firs on the borders. After a few years 
 they encumber the ground, have to be lopped, 
 later on lose their lower branches, and thus pre- 
 sent to our view only bare stems with the naked 
 earth between, while on the spaces left open the 
 badly nourished grass and stumpy exotics give a 
 picture neither of a free natural, nor of an arti- 
 ficial, garden. 
 
 If the plan is more seriously carried out and 
 
Author's Introduction 7 
 
 on a larger scale, the imperceptibly flowing ditch 
 is widened to what is called a stream, a gigantic 
 bridge is built of rough birch trunks in a formid- 
 able arch over the modest brook, two or three 
 stiff avenues are cut through the wood to give 
 distant views, and here and there the much- 
 affected temples and ruins are dotted about, of 
 which the first usually become in a short space 
 what the second pretend to be. 
 
 This, with a few exceptional cases, is as a rule 
 the highest achievement of such an undertaking, 
 which really only causes regret that good land 
 should be so uselessly withdrawn from field and 
 vegetable culture. 
 
 Meanwhile all this has been ridiculed with 
 more or less wit often enough, but it is seldom 
 better done, even now, and for this reason alone do 
 I here repeat, that many great and costly plans, 
 begun with the best intentions and executed at 
 some expense, unfortunately too evidently bear 
 traces of the very poor place which the art of 
 landscape gardening as yet holds in our Father- 
 land. It is true that there are a few exceptions, 
 but a completed example which could be set be- 
 side the best English plans has not come within 
 my experience. We may hope, however, that the 
 royal gardens, under the direction of the excel- 
 lent director, Lenne, which are to surround all 
 Potsdam with a park, will present us with such 
 an example. 
 
 Far from intending to instruct in any exhaus- 
 tive manner on this subject, a fairly long prac- 
 
8 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 tical experience, the careful study of excellent 
 examples, combined with a passionate love for 
 the subject and the earnest perusal of the best 
 works on the art of gardening in its widest sense, 
 have enabled me, I think, to give some valuable 
 hints and to draw up some useful rules, which 
 will appear to the expert not quite unworthy and 
 which may appear opportune to some dilettante 
 in Nature-painting, if I may so call the creation 
 of a picture, not with colors, but w- ith real woods, 
 hills, meadows, and streams, and which may put 
 it in the category of the arts. For rightly under- 
 stood and judiciously carried out, these sugges- 
 tions may put one in a position, without having 
 to travel the costly and difficult road of experi- 
 ence, to entrust to the park director, engineer, 
 inspector, gardener, or whatever he may be called, 
 merely the technical execution of his own ideas, 
 and thus himself present a work of art, sprung 
 from his own individuality, formed out of his 
 own temperament, instead of having a garden or 
 rather a region made, as one orders a suit of 
 clothes at the tailor's. 
 
 Much will be found, if not familiar, yet per- 
 haps not exactly new, and many an idea may 
 have been better expressed, especially in English 
 works, which, however, are apt to be tediously 
 prolix and to dilute every millionth part of salt 
 with a caskful of water.* 
 
 ' When this work was nearly finished, my attention was drawn to 
 a manual on the same theme, recently published in Leipsic. I was pre- 
 pared to suppress my work, but tbund on perusal of the manual, noth- 
 ing but a laborious compilation of badly digested recipes from English 
 
Author's Introductioi 
 
 The compression and brevity which I have 
 aimed at in matters of common knowledge will, 
 I hope, earn the gratitude of the reader, but as 
 a small merit I may claim that really nothing 
 has been copied from books, but that everything 
 which I give has been found to be true from per- 
 sonal experience and practically verified. 
 
 For the better understanding of what follows 
 it will be necessary briefly to give the manner in 
 which I intend ordering my remarks. 
 
 I shall show by titles in their order the con- 
 tents of each chapter, and for this I shall for the 
 most part utilize the park laid out by myself, 
 since my theory, as I have said, is chiefly carried 
 out in this park- 
 Drawings, which make the text more read- 
 able, have been inserted wherever necessary for 
 complete comprehension. A thorough exposi- 
 tion of general principles is followed by a short 
 history and description of the park itself, with 
 continual reference to the rules previously laid 
 down. It is not, however, my intention to go 
 into too great detail, but to set forth the results 
 obtained rather than the particular road taken, 
 and, as the title "Hints" shows, in no way to 
 give a complete manual, confining myselt to 
 those matters in which we seem to be chiefly 
 lacking, and finally leave to the technical work- 
 man or expert whatever lies in his province. 
 
 works. What Blumenbach said of phrenology applies to this book: 
 "The true is not new, and the new is not true." Repton has sup- 
 plied most of the useful matter, but, for the most part, it has been mie- 
 understood. 
 
PART FIRST 
 
 HINTS ON LANDSCAPE GARDENING 
 IN GENERAL 
 
Chapter I 
 
 The Laying-out of a Park 
 
 THE indispensable foundation for the build- 
 ing of a park is a controlling scheme.' It 
 should be begun and carried out with entire con- 
 sistency. It is therefore necessary to have it thor- 
 oughly thought out from the first, and guided all 
 the way through by one controlling mind, a mind 
 that should make use of the thoughts of many 
 others, welding them into an organic whole so 
 that the stamp of individuality and unity shall 
 never be lost. But let me not be misunderstood; 
 a general plan should govern the whole ; there 
 must be no room for random work ; in every de- 
 tail the guiding, creating brain must be seen; and 
 it is essential that the scheme should originate 
 from the special circumstances of the artist, from 
 the experience and conditions of his life or the 
 former history of his family, limited by the lo- 
 cality with which he has to deal. I do not ad- 
 vise, however, that the whole plan should be 
 worked out in exact detail at first and doggedly 
 
 ' One principle should, above all, underlie the art of park design; 
 namely, the creation, from the material at hand, out of the place as it 
 stands, of a concentrated picture having Nature as its poetical ideal; 
 the same principle which, embodied in all other spheres of art, makes 
 of the true work of art a microcosm, a perfect, self-contained world in 
 little. 
 
14 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 maintained to the end. I would, to a large ex- 
 tent, recommend just the opposite ; for even 
 if the main scheme comprehends many features 
 which may be considered from the start, in work- 
 ing it out, the artist must continually follow the 
 inspiration of his imagination. From time to 
 time the painter will alter his picture (which, 
 after all, is much less complicated than the pic- 
 ture the landscape gardener has to create), here 
 and there making a part more true to the gen- 
 eral effect or to Nature, here improving a tone, 
 there giving more accent, more power to a line. 
 Why, then, should the landscape gardener, who 
 works in material so refractory, so changeable, 
 and often so impossible to estimate in advance, 
 and who, moreover, has to unite many different 
 pictures in one, — why should he be expected 
 to succeed in hitting the mark at the first at- 
 tempt infallibly? Much will be discovered as 
 he goes on studying, observing, both within and 
 without the confines of the place, — the light 
 effects on his raw material (for light is one of 
 his chief assets), establishing cause and effect, 
 and thereby finding new ways of working out 
 in detail his early motives, or giving them up 
 altogether if other ideas for the treatment of 
 parts occur to him as being better. 
 
 To leave, undisturbed, some particular feature 
 which has proved a failure, is pitiable. The rea- 
 son the blemish is left is because it has cost 
 so much time, so much money, and because a 
 change would add to the expense, costing as much 
 
The Laying-out of a Park 15 
 
 again or even more. Constant discipline is indis- 
 pensable in the proper exercise of any art, and 
 when means are not sufficient to treat every part 
 of a park as it should be treated, what money 
 there is had better be devoted toward the im- 
 provement of the old established features than to 
 the making of new ones. The postponing of al- 
 terations which are recognized as advisable is a 
 dangerous proceeding also, because existing faults 
 easily lead to the wrong treatment of new fea- 
 tures. 
 
 It has been truly said that " artistic produc- 
 tion is a matter of conscience"; hence a person 
 with an artistic conscience cannot remain con- 
 tent with parts that have been recognized as not 
 up to the standard, or as failures. Following the 
 example of Nature, which starts and completes 
 her humblest work with the same assiduous care 
 that she bestows upon her most sublime crea- 
 tions, one would rather make any sacrifice than 
 leave the blemish one has become aware of, even 
 if in itself it is but a subordinate matter. 
 
 Although in my work at Muskau I never de- 
 parted a moment from the main idea which I 
 shall have occasion later to describe, yet I con- 
 fess that many portions have not only been re- 
 touched, but that they have been entirely changed, 
 often once, sometimes three and even four times. 
 It would be a great error to suppose that confu- 
 sion results from repeated alterations undertaken 
 with intelligence, for sound reasons and not from 
 caprice. Rather than that they should be un- 
 
1 6 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 dertaken from pure caprice it would certainly be 
 best never to have alterations for improvement, 
 in general the dictum, nonum prematur in annuniy 
 holds good. One must never rest with correcting 
 and refining until the best possible results have 
 been attained ; a principle never to be relinquished 
 and which oftentimes alone proves to be the great 
 teacher/ 
 
 One can see from this how unwise it is to 
 invite a strange artist for some days or weeks, or 
 even months, with the view of making a plan in 
 which every road and every plantation, the com- 
 manding features and all the details, are exactly 
 fixed; and worse still, to send such a person 
 merely a survey of the place, he having no knowl- 
 edge of the character of the region, of the efl^ects 
 of hill and dale, of high or low trees in the im- 
 mediate foreground or in the distance, so that he 
 may proceed at once to draw on submissive paper 
 his lines, which, no doubt, may look very pretty 
 and well there, but which realized into facts are 
 bound to achieve at best an inappropriate and 
 unsatisfactory design. One who intends to build 
 up a landscape must do so out of the actual ma- 
 
 ' Some years ago, when I was showing my place to a lady of intel- 
 ligence and understanding, she modestly remarked that she understood 
 but little of the matter ; that she could call to mind many more pic- 
 turesque, grandiose places than mine, but that here, with the general 
 impression of quietness and simplicity, something new appealed to her at 
 every turn. No remark could have been more flattering to me, and if 
 her opinion is well founded I may consider my work truly successful, 
 a result which may be attributed largely to the two principles followed: 
 to have one main idea, and yet never to allow any feature to remain 
 which had proved in any way to be a failure. 
 
The Laying-out of a Park 17 
 
 terials from which that particular landscape is to 
 be created, and he must be familiar with them 
 in every particular. Both in plan and execution 
 he works quite otherwise than does the painter 
 on his canvas ; he deals with realities. The beauty 
 of a bit of real Nature, which by the art of the 
 painter can only be partly hinted at, cannot on a 
 plan be given at all. I am inclined to believe, on 
 the contrary, that, except in a very flat region 
 where no views are possible and where little can 
 be achieved anyhow, a plan which is agreeable 
 to look at, with lines pleasing to the eye, cannot 
 truly stand for beauty in Nature. My experience 
 is that in order to achieve fine results in landscape 
 gardening one is often obliged to select lines 
 which in a plan drawn on paper have no charm. 
 
Chapter II 
 
 Size and Extent 
 
 FOR the landscape architect to achieve a great 
 effect, it is not necessary that a park should 
 be large. An extended estate is often so bungled, 
 so belittled by incompetent treatment, that, lack- 
 ing in unity, it appears quite small. I may here 
 remark, by the way, that I think Michael An- 
 gelo was totally wrong when he said about the 
 Pantheon, "Ye marvel at it on the earth, I will 
 set it in the heavens." He meant thereby to 
 achieve a more imposing effect, and as he said, 
 so he did. He gave to the dome of St. Peter's 
 the same size as that of the Pantheon, but how 
 unfortunate is the result ! The dome of St. 
 Peter's, looming up in the air above the enor- 
 mous masses of the building, appears in propor- 
 tion small and insignificant, while the dome of 
 the old Pantheon, placed on the right base, ap- 
 pears after centuries as sublime as the arch of the 
 firmament. 
 
 Poised on the summit of Mont Blanc the 
 Pyramids would hardly appear as large as sentry 
 boxes, and Mont Blanc itself, seen from the dis- 
 tant plains, looks like a little snow-hill. Large 
 and small are, therefore, relative terms. It is not 
 from the thing itself that we judge, but from its 
 
Size and Extent 19 
 
 appearance in given surroundings, and it is here 
 that landscape architecture has the widest of fields. 
 For instance, a tree a hundred feet high, which 
 in the middle distance hardly rises above the 
 horizon, will at a short distance tower above it ; 
 hence, with intelligent management, with due 
 appreciation of the value that a relation of fore- 
 ground has to distance, it is possible to give 
 character and expression to the landscape and to 
 secure an effect of grandeur and extent. 
 
 I cannot help remarking here that if I have 
 always held up as a model the general appear- 
 ance of English parks, which testify to a uni- 
 versally diffused taste for park culture and em- 
 bellishment, I still believe that in many ways 
 England might have done much better. It seems 
 to me that with much beauty most English 
 parks have one blemish which makes them, on 
 long acquaintance, rather tedious and monoto- 
 nous. I have in mind neither the English " pleas- 
 ure-grounds" nor their gardens, — which are full 
 of variety, — but their parks. For instance, in re- 
 gard to the deliberate treatment of these parks as 
 features laid out on a diminutive scale, the effect 
 seems to be altogether inadequate when com- 
 pared to the grandeur and magnificence of the 
 open country around them. Indeed, in my opin- 
 ion, the outside country not infrequently resem- 
 bles far more a region ennobled by art in variety 
 than the parks. 
 
 Many English parks are in fact nothing but 
 interminable meadows serving as pastures for 
 
20 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 numerous herds, either of tame deer, sheep, cat- 
 tle, or horses, with a few picturesquely arranged 
 groups of lofty old trees. The first view of such 
 noble spaces is imposing. One has the impression 
 of a splendid picture, but it is the same picture 
 and the impression therefore is always the same. 
 Many blemishes become evident in the detail. All 
 tree-trunks being browsed upon up to a certain 
 height by the cattle (often with an effect quite 
 as regular as if trimmed with shears), much and 
 needed variety of form is lost. The shrubbery 
 cannot be preserved without special enclosures; 
 and hence it is needed to diversify the scene, and 
 help make, within the picture of the ensemble, 
 many subordinate ones ; indeed, every newly 
 planted tree must be enclosed ; and such artificial 
 enclosures gives to the picture a very stiff look. 
 A single path usually leads through these wide 
 grassy expanses to and from the castle, which, 
 in the middle of the lawn, stands bald and cold 
 in lonely majesty while cows and sheep browse 
 .up to the marble steps leading to it. It would 
 not be surprising if the visitor, feeling quite for- 
 lorn in such monotonous and lonely grandeur, 
 should be under the impression that he had come 
 upon a bewitched region no longer inhabited by 
 man, where John Bull had been really trans- 
 formed into the shape of a beast. This effect 
 could easily be avoided if allotted spaces were 
 set apart for cattle as well as for deer, instead of 
 having the whole park given over to them. It 
 seems to have become a fixed idea with the 
 
Size and Extent 21 
 
 English that a landscape without cattle is bound 
 to be melancholy, and, on the other hand, they 
 consider the animation by human beings to be 
 proportionately objectionable, and private gar- 
 dens are, as a rule, barred to the stranger.^ The 
 democratic, humane use of our great German 
 estates is foreign to them, but their excuse is 
 perhaps to be found in the roughness of their 
 mob. 
 
 I have previously stated the proposition that 
 size is not an absolutely necessary element in the 
 making of a park ; yet, where possible, I think 
 it very desirable, in order that a greater variety 
 of parts may be gained, a quality which will 
 always present the supreme charm of novelty. 
 Laid out with equal intelligence I should always 
 prefer the more extensive to the smaller park, 
 even if the latter should be more favored bv 
 Nature. In Prussia, where land has so much less 
 value than in other countries, such large estates 
 are easily obtainable, and I advise every one of 
 my countrymen to strive for large places. It is 
 certain that, considered as a little world sufficient 
 unto itself, a park where one cannot ride or 
 drive for an hour at least without going over the 
 same roads, and which does not comprise many 
 roads and walks, very soon tires one, if confined 
 to it alone. But where a rich, picturesque Nature 
 has already idealized the region around and has 
 made it, as it were, into a great work of art, as 
 in the case of many parts of Switzerland, Italy, 
 
 ' This is not the case at the present time. 
 
22 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 South Germany, or Silesia, then I am, on the 
 whole, of the opinion that projects of parks are 
 hors d'oeuvre. It would be like a little landscape 
 in the corner of a magnificent Claude Lorrain. 
 There one's work should be confined to the lay- 
 ing-out of good roads, that the enjoyment of 
 such rare scenery may be made easier, here and 
 there taking down some isolated trees in order 
 to open views which are hidden by Nature, 
 always indifferent to the display of her beauties. 
 Near the house, however, one should seek for 
 the charm of a garden of modest proportions, 
 which, whenever possible, would contrast with 
 Nature around. In such a garden one should 
 have in view, not so much the variety of a land- 
 scape, as comfort and charm, safety and elegance. 
 The garden art of the Romans, which, through 
 the study of the classical writers, and especially 
 through the description which Pliny gives of his ^ 
 villa, again came into practice in the fifteenth 
 century in Italy, and which was later, in the so- 
 called French gardens, altered into colder, less 
 comfortable forms, deserves particular considera- 
 tion on this very point. This rich and sumptu- 
 ous art, which may be called an extension of the 
 art of architecture from the house to the garden, 
 — or, as the English might say, the approach of 
 the landscape to the very doors of the house, — 
 may be most suitably applied to this purpose. 
 Imagine, for instance, among the precipices and 
 waterfalls, the dark pine woods and blue glaciers 
 of mountainous Switzerland, a classical, antique 
 
Size and Extent 
 
 23 
 
 building, a palace from the Strada Balbi, sump- 
 tuous in its decorative flourishes, surrounded with 
 high terraces, with rich, multi-colored parterres 
 of flowers, studded with marble statues and alive 
 with the movement of waters, — what a contrast 
 would this be to the tremendous, naked grandeur 
 of the setting of mountains ? A few steps aside 
 in the woods, and palace and gardens would have 
 vanished from view, as by niagic, to make room 
 again for the undisturbed loneliness and majestic 
 wilderness of Nature. Farther on, perhaps, a 
 bend in the road would open up an unexpected 
 vista, where, in the distance, the work of art, 
 like a realized fairy dream, would show through 
 the dark firs, glowing in the light of the setting 
 sun, or rising over the mysterious darkness of the 
 valley in a mass where, here and there, the tiny 
 sparkles of lighted candles would glow. Would 
 not such a picture be wonderful, and owe its 
 chief beauty largely to contrast } When Nature 
 offers new material, the scheme must be differ- 
 ent; then the park, an oasis in a broad, flat space, 
 must first create its own environment. Although 
 the same laws are everywhere the foundation of 
 beauty, they have to be interpreted and expressed 
 in various ways. In such a case, where no im- 
 pression by great contrasts can be achieved, one 
 must carefully seek to create a pleasant and gen- 
 tle harmony, bringing the few large elements, 
 such as distant views, into correspondence with 
 the character given to the park. The size of the 
 domain then becomes a chief consideration. In 
 
24 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 the former example it is necessary to embellish 
 only a single spot to make all surrounding Na- 
 ture serve one's own purpose. Here, the treat- 
 ment should extend to the whole region. Exam- 
 ples which lie between these two schemes will 
 require modifications of both propositions and 
 should be tastefully treated according to the re- 
 spective localities. In all these cases the princi- 
 ples I have laid down are basic ones. 
 
Chapter III 
 
 Enclosure 
 
 1HAVE often heard the opinion expressed that 
 nothing is more contrary to the way of Nature 
 — to which, after all, landscape gardening seeks 
 to conform itself — than the enclosure of a park; 
 but I think otherwise, and quite approve of the 
 English fashion of having every park enclosed 
 with great care. This enclosure, however, should 
 be varied and in large part it should not be felt 
 inside the park. At bottom this question of en- 
 closure is rather a matter of expediency than of 
 esthetics, and yet as an element of beauty I do 
 not condemn it. Are not such beautiful, unculti- 
 vated spots marked off as it were by distinct 
 boundaries, and does not such a division often 
 increase their charm ? For example, a valley shut 
 in by a dense forest or by impassable rocks, an 
 island surrounded by running water, give the feel- 
 ing of home, of entire possession, of security 
 against intrusion or disturbance, allowing us to 
 enjoy all the more comfortably the beauty of the 
 surroundings. And, therefore, in a park the pres- 
 ence of a protecting wall or fence should be wel- 
 comed as a highly desirable element, necessary, 
 in excluding the unwelcome intruder, for the 
 peace and security of our enjoyment, but which 
 
26 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 should be so designed as to permit our going out 
 from the park into the surrounding country. 
 Hence the sight of an enclosure can be obnox- 
 ious only to those who hold so exaggerated a 
 notion of freedom that, hating everything that 
 bears the name of barrier, they would wish to 
 overturn even imaginary barriers! In England, 
 as I have said before, not only every park, but, 
 on account of the precious cattle, every section 
 of it, every coppice and every exposed young 
 tree, is surrounded with a fence, and though, 
 from being carried to excess, this disturbs the 
 general effect, I have frequently found that here 
 and there a fence is very picturesque, especially 
 where the character of the landscape changes, the 
 fence then preparing the mind for new impres- 
 sions and affording an easy transition to new scenes. 
 So for security's sake let our parks have an en- 
 closure high and strong, assuming that this is 
 possible — for, to be sure, just as French cookery 
 books very wisely begin their receipts with " Ayez 
 une carpe, ayez un perdreau, etc.," I preface my 
 advice with the proviso that, locality being favor- 
 able and means at hand, the park should be en- 
 closed. But inasmuch as the heavier and bigger 
 the wall, the worse as a rule, is its appearance, and 
 bearing in mind also that it is a great mistake to 
 limit the field of fancy by too familiar a view of 
 its limits, a close and broad plantation should 
 hide the greater part of it. If such a barrier is 
 made by a wooden fence, it should never be seen, 
 but supplied with interesting points at intervals. 
 
Enclosure 27 
 
 and a deep ha-ha or ditch alongside, while all 
 the abruptness of the hollow thus made can be 
 avoided by covering it with varied plantations. 
 The paths should approach this ha-ha or ditch 
 only when — for instance, by means of a small 
 bridge — one wishes to sally forth through an 
 opening into the surrounding country. The 
 method of screening the bridge and the bound- 
 aries should be as varied as possible. In one place 
 the foliage should run two or three hundred paces 
 along the boundaries, showing a high plantation 
 of trees; in other places again, it should be made 
 up of narrower and lower groups of trees, so that 
 over and beyond one can catch glimpses of the 
 outside country. In other places, these distant 
 views should be visible above coppices and under 
 isolated trees, standing among but high above 
 the shrubbery. If a wall surrounds the park, this 
 can, at intervals, be allowed freely to emerge, bro- 
 ken only by scattering bushes and trees, and will 
 look best in a ruined or unkempt state, covered 
 with ivy and Virginia creeper, or the foliage 
 may be merged into a building, a gallery, etc. 
 Under such conditions the wall will never be a 
 disturbing influence, but an improvement. 
 
 If the locality permits, — probably only in a 
 few cases, — I would propose the following plan 
 as my ideal for an enclosure for our climate, 
 although I could follow it only in certain por- 
 tions of my estate. On the boundaries of the 
 park, wherever open views are not desirable, a 
 trench one Ruthe (a rod = twelve feet) wide, should 
 
28 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 be dug and sown with blackthorn or acacia seed, 
 which even in poor ground, in a few years makes 
 an impenetrable mass. Next I should set a plan- 
 tation of firs, mixed with a few deciduous leafed 
 trees and bushes, so as to secure variety of color 
 in summer. For the portions that are to be kept 
 lower we must in our climate take juniper, yew, 
 and medium-sized pine trees, and perhaps also 
 the ordinary spruce and white fir, both of which 
 may easily be kept low by trimming. Along this 
 plantation on the boundary, sometimes broad, 
 sometimes narrow, but hardly ever more than 
 three Ruthen (three rods = thirty-six feet), should 
 run irregularly a grass road thirty-six feet wide. 
 On the side toward the interior of the park should 
 begin the mixed plantation for forming a screen 
 for the general view. Here deciduous leafed trees 
 should predominate and in summer hide the too 
 monotonous evergreen foliage which should be 
 left conspicuous only where it is desirable. It is 
 surprising how such an arrangement enlivens a 
 park even in melancholy winters, and how the 
 lawn or grass path even amid snow and ice, where 
 everything else is bare, makes the most charming 
 walk. The evergreen foreground, which covers 
 the boundaries both winter and summer and bor- 
 ders the grass path, gives color to the whole re- 
 gion, thus supplying a quality much desired in 
 winter days; [although a well-grouped and de- 
 signed park should, during all seasons of the year, 
 even without color satisfy our sense of beauty, 
 especially in winter, when all ordinary decora- 
 
o 
 
Enclosure 29 
 
 tion is absent, making an interesting picture by 
 the harmony of its masses of trees, lawns, water, 
 its pleasant lines of paths and banks. That the 
 border plantation of pines and other evergreen 
 trees should be made so as to give the appear- 
 ance of a natural growth is obvious, and in the 
 chapter on " Plantations " examples will be given 
 in detail. Meanwhile the sketch in Plate I will 
 make my views clearer, hta the green path from 
 the park is practically hidden; at b it appears only 
 as a cutting which loses itself in the shrubbery. 
 
 Along the boundary wall of many English 
 parks, carrying out in old times the work of 
 Brown and his followers, there runs a path be- 
 tween an almost regular band of foliage planted 
 with shrubs and trees, so that the wall is often 
 conspicuous between the tree-trunks. Brown may 
 be called the Shakespeare of the art of garden- 
 ing, but his work, while highly beautiful and 
 poetical, was often crude, angular, and uncouth. 
 This criticism is especially applicable to the work 
 of those who, undertaking to follow his teach- 
 ing, often imitated only his faults and were seldom 
 able to achieve his beauties. 
 
 My reader must not confound my plan with 
 this English plan, as the green path that I advo- 
 cate is a part of the lawn, and has no definite dis- 
 tinction from the lawn, but simply melts into it. 
 The English idea originated in the infancy of 
 landscape gardening, when parks of such size 
 were first laid out, and when it was a matter of 
 vanity to make them appear as large as possible; 
 
30 
 
 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 but the means defeated the end, since they osten- 
 tatiously pointed out what they should have ar- 
 tistically concealed. Apart from this enclosure, 
 which is necessary for protection, it is obvious 
 that every interesting feature of the distant land- 
 scape should be included in the park, all outer 
 rays concentrating into this focus. Distant views 
 of great extent, lying away beyond the actual 
 grounds, give an appearance ot measureless extent. 
 When such opportunities are skillfully utilized, 
 they greatly surpass the reality. They must, how- 
 ever, be so managed that one should never be- 
 come aware of the intervening park boundaries. 
 Moreover, such special features should never be 
 seen twice in the same way. For instance, many 
 partial glimpses may be given of a distant hill, 
 but only once should the hill be revealed in its 
 entirety. The same applies to the town or city. 
 Such effective planning, affording glimpses which 
 tempt one's imagination and excite the pleasure 
 of anticipation, and compositions in which each 
 part is interdependent, are far more difficult to 
 achieve than full revelations. When people stum- 
 ble on a remarkably beautiful view and, after lin- 
 gering long, remark, ** What a pity that great tree 
 stands in the foreground, how much grander the 
 view would be if it were absent," they would be 
 much astonished if one did them the service to 
 hew away the tree. They would have a stretch 
 of country before them, but no longer a picture 
 — for a garden in the great style is really a pic- 
 ture gallery, and a picture demands a frame. 
 
Chapter IV 
 
 Grouping in General^ and Buildings 
 
 IN a landscape to be created, nearly all objects, 
 large as well as small, call for a well-considered 
 grouping. The best guide here is innate taste. 
 Later on I will give some instructions as re- 
 gards details, and will formulate here only the 
 following general rule: If the lights and shadows 
 are arranged in due proportion in the picture, the 
 grouping as a whole will be successful. Grass- 
 plots, water, and fields, which do not themselves 
 throw any shadow, but only receive it from 
 other objects, are lights in the hands of the 
 landscape artist, while trees, forests, and houses 
 (and rocks where they can be used) must serve 
 as shadows. The unpleasant effect should be 
 avoided of restlessness and dispersion arising 
 from an excess of detail and too much inter- 
 rupted light; and, on the other hand, the pic- 
 ture should not be darkened by a few immense 
 blotches of shadow, nor should the meadows and 
 the water present too great an expanse of level 
 space, but should be laid out so as to be lost to 
 view here and there in dark groups of vegetation, 
 or so as to appear suddenly as carefully calcu- 
 lated points of light amid the darker ground- 
 work. Buildings should never stand freely ex- 
 
32 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 posed, lest they appear as spots, unconnected with 
 the natural surroundings. Concealment enhances 
 beauty, and here something should always be left 
 to the imagination. The eye frequently finds 
 more pleasure in a single chimney in the dis- 
 tance, with its spiral of gray smoke curling up- 
 ward against a background of trees, than in a 
 bare palace exposed to view on all sides, which 
 Nature has not yet lovingly approached and em- 
 braced. It is highly important that buildings 
 should always take on the character of the land- 
 scape in which they figure.' Many of our Ger- 
 man architects regard this too little. Buildings in 
 a citv, for instance, must be different from build- 
 ings in a park. In the one case they are com- 
 plete in themselves ; in the other, they are only 
 a component part of the whole and are depend- 
 ent on it for picturesque effect, which they in 
 turn are also called upon to produce ; hence their 
 effect in the landscape must be carefully studied. 
 In general, a certain irregularity is preferable 
 in buildings in a park, as being more in conform- 
 ity with Nature and more picturesque. A temple 
 devoted to a cult, a theater, a museum devoted 
 to art, doubtless demand symmetry and a more 
 severe style, but the mansion or villa gains by 
 greater irregularity, in comfort as well as in pic- 
 turesqueness. This same principle appears in the 
 
 ' A contrast may also occasionally fit in with the character of the 
 whole, hut it must always harmonize, as I have pointed out in the ex- 
 ample in the last section : the sublimity of wild nature and magnificent 
 art. A pretty villa would not be a fitting contrast, while an imposing 
 ruin would present an analogy, but no contrast. 
 
''''II-. 
 
 
 ^^.tl 
 
 -f^'< 
 
 •*f ' '«. /• ,!• . I 
 
 
 
 
Grouping in General, and Buildings 33 
 
 designs of the ancient villas and country houses, 
 as we may gather from the ruins. The most note- 
 worthy example is perhaps the villa of Hadrian 
 near Tivoli. Traces of this principle are also 
 found in the Italy of the Renaissance, in the fif- 
 teenth and sixteenth centuries: buildings half 
 hidden by others, large and small windows on the 
 same face of the building, side doors, projecting 
 and receding corners, occasionally a high, bare 
 wall with a richly ornamented cornice, roofs jut- 
 ting out, and balconies unsymmetrically placed, 
 in short, everywhere a great but by no means in- 
 harmonious irregularity, which pleases the fancy 
 because the reason for every departure from reg- 
 ularity is evident or may be surmised. 
 
 The site of a building must also be carefully 
 considered. For instance, a feudal castle in the 
 midst of a level field of grain, as we find at Ma- 
 chern near Leipzig, appears somewhat comical ; 
 and so is the Egyptian pyramid which is to be 
 found there in the idyllic surroundings of a gay 
 birch wood. As well imagine a straw-thatched 
 hut surrounded by a French parterre. All these 
 are undesirable contrasts that destroy the har- 
 mony. For example, pointed Gothic buildings 
 would make an unfavorable impression if set 
 among spruces and Lombardy poplars, while 
 among oaks, beeches, and pines they would be 
 quite in place. On the other hand, spruces and 
 poplars harmonize with the horizontal lines of 
 an Oriental villa. 
 
 The importance of harmonious beauty has for 
 
34 
 
 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 its corollary that the purpose of a building must 
 be evident in its style. A Gothic house, for in- 
 stance, which is nothing else and has no other 
 significance, being built just for the sake of hav- 
 ing something Gothic on the grounds, produces 
 a feeling of dissatisfaction. It is a hors d'ceuvre, 
 uncomfortable as a dwelling, and as a decoration 
 unrelated to its surroundings ; but if we see on a 
 distant hill the spires of a chapel rising above 
 the ancient trees, and we are told that this is the 
 burial-place of the family, or a temple actually 
 used for worship, then we feel satisfied, because 
 we find utility combined with fitting beauty. 
 
 The same effect of dissatisfaction is produced 
 by an immense palace set on a small estate, sur- 
 rounded by the huts of poverty, or a vast park 
 with an insignificant cottage in the center. 
 
 Buildings, then, must stand in appropriate re- 
 lation to their surroundings and should always 
 have a positive purpose. Hence, one should be 
 very careful in the matter of temples, which in 
 ancient times had a quite diflferent, popular re- 
 ligious significance, and also with meaningless 
 monuments, if they are to leave a deeply moving 
 and not a trivial impression. The trite, incoher- 
 ent manner in which in these days mythology is 
 taken up, makes it desirable to abandon it en- 
 tirely, and similarly to refrain from the rule of 
 inscriptions which are intended in certain locali- 
 ties to arouse certain sentiments. Even were they 
 from Goethe himself, as in Weimar, these in- 
 dubitably find in his writings a better place. 
 
Grouping in General, and Buildings 35 
 
 Only where they are occasionally necessary, as 
 on the finger-post at a crossroad, does one thank- 
 fully acknowledge the required direction. The 
 most amusing example under this heading must 
 surely be the one represented in the " Gardeners' 
 Magazine" by a fine drawing of a bench dedi- 
 cated to friendship, whose back forms the words 
 " Orestes and Pylades." Near it stands a music 
 pavilion, crenelated with music notes, from 
 which the passer-by can at once sing " Freut 
 euch des Lebens" as he goes. Such a lesson is 
 splendid, for it brings culture within the scope 
 of the most limited intelligence. 
 
 In England also one is not free from such ab- 
 surdities. Thus, I found, in an otherwise very 
 pretty villa near London, in the shrubbery a 
 plump, wooden, white-daubed Amor, with puffed 
 cheeks, hanging by ropes between branches, and 
 threatening to shoot the passer-by with his arrow; 
 and twenty steps farther on some apes of the 
 same material, which played on the lawn like fos- 
 silized figures. On inquiry I found that the taste- 
 ful grounds belonged to a newly wed young 
 brewer who had just returned from the Conti- 
 nent with his bride; hence Amor and the Apes 
 were sufficiently explained! 
 
 The most important building in the park is 
 naturally the dwelling-house. It should be suited, 
 not only to the surroundings, but also to the posi- 
 tion, the means, and even to the calling of the 
 owner. The roomy castle and its battlements and 
 towers are perhaps unsuitable to the merchant. 
 
36 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 but quite becoming to the noble aristocrat, the 
 fame of whose family has been handed down for 
 centuries, and whose forefathers really needed 
 them to make strongholds of their abode. The 
 elder Repton (Amenity Repton, so-named) went 
 so far as to hide entirely with trees the fine view 
 of the city of Bristol, in order that the owner of 
 a certain villa, a merchant who had retired from 
 business, should not be unpleasantly reminded of 
 his past cares and worries by beholding the city 
 where he had spent his laborious days. This is 
 thoroughly English, as well as the endeavor of 
 many egotists there to hide from view everything 
 that belongs to their place, no matter how pic- 
 turesque it is. Without going so far, I will say 
 here that the view from the dwelling-house 
 should harmonize as much as possible with the 
 individual taste of the owner, since the eye al- 
 ways rests on it, and hence the view of x\\q house 
 should be secondary to the view from the house, 
 while the reverse might hold good for most of 
 the other buildings of the park. 
 
 I will remark here, by the way, that the points 
 of the compass should also be considered. A per- 
 son in our climate occupying the north side of 
 a dwelling will often hear the storm winds howl, 
 and will behold all objects under a somber veil, 
 while his neighbor who occupies the south side 
 beholds a clear sky and a sunlit landscape. 
 
 Where there are genuine old castles, or manor 
 houses, which have been in the possession of the 
 family for a long time (not new buildings in imi- 
 
u 
 
Grouping in General, and Buildings 37 
 
 tation of an o/c/ style), I am of the opinion that 
 their ancient character should be preserved when 
 they are enlarged or made more comfortable, 
 even if a much finer building might be erected 
 on the spot. The memory of a by-gone time, 
 the majesty of years, also counts for something, 
 and it is a real misfortune that our pasteboard 
 age has destroyed so many of these relics. Thus, 
 quite recently a splendid castle in my neighbor- 
 hood, the possession of one of the first nobles of 
 the land, was pulled down at great cost and sup- 
 planted by a three-cornered structure resembling 
 a Leipzig goods store built by an up-to-date 
 architect, in which the yard measure, flanked by 
 bales and cases, would have been the only appro- 
 priate insignia. 
 
 The English have not yet been guilty of this 
 folly, and nowhere else are family possessions 
 more religiously and more proudly preserved. 
 We also find there many estates of mere bour- 
 geois families which for more than six centuries 
 have passed from father to son, and with so little 
 change in general that, for instance, in Malahide 
 in Ireland, the family seat of the Talbots, even 
 the woodwork and the furniture of entire apart- 
 ments date back to those early years. And who 
 can behold the splendors of majestic Warwick 
 Castle, with its colossal tower a thousand years 
 old, or the royal seat of the Duke of Northum- 
 berland, without feeling penetrated with romantic 
 awe, and without delighting in the matchless 
 beauty of these grand piles? 
 
38 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 On the other hand, it is a mistake to erect 
 buildings intended for peaceable dwellings in the 
 style of a castle or stronghold. The most costly 
 examples of this kind in England are Eatonhall 
 and Ashridge, where millions have been spent 
 in creating a child's toy, immense fortresses set 
 in flower gardens, whose innumerable turrets and 
 battlements looking down upon the hothouses 
 filled with exotic plants seem ludicrous, and whose 
 owners, in the words of a waggish traveler, should 
 walk about their pleasure-grounds like Don 
 Quixote, with shield and armor, to be in har- 
 mony with their buildings. A dallying with 
 things Gothic is as silly as a man in second child- 
 hood. 
 
Chapter V 
 
 Parks and Gardens 
 
 PARKS and gardens are two very different 
 things, and it is perhaps one of the chief 
 drawbacks of all the German and English grounds 
 that I know, that this distinction is almost never 
 sufficiently observed, so that, as Milliner says, we 
 too frequently meet with only a hodge-podge 
 of art and nonsense. Although the term " park" 
 in the larger sense is generally applied to the en- 
 tire landscape design of the region, including 
 all dwellings, it really means, more accurately de- 
 fined, a combination of "pleasure-grounds" and 
 gardens within the larger area of the main park.' 
 The park must have the character of untrammeled 
 Nature, where the hand of man is visible only in 
 the well-kept roads and the judiciously scattered 
 buildings. It seems to me, however, a lack of 
 taste to ignore the human element altogether, 
 and, in order to keep the illusion of wild Nature, 
 to have to wade through the tall grass and tear 
 one's self on thorns in the woods, and come upon 
 
 ' The word "pleasure-ground" is difficult to translate accurately 
 into German, and I therefore consider it better to retain the English 
 expression; it means a terrain, abutting on the house and decorated 
 and fenced in, of far larger dimensions than gardens usually are; some- 
 thing that establishes a gradation between the park and the true garden, 
 which should appear to be really a part of the house. 
 
40 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 a bench for the weary without a rest for the back, 
 although Rousseau recommends all this. Such 
 grounds should represent Nature, it is true, but 
 Nature arranged for the use and comfort of man. 
 If one can bring within the park a manor house 
 with its fields adjoining, a mill or a factory, this 
 will give it only the more life and variety, which 
 is much to be recommended; on the other hand, 
 one must be careful not to overdo it. In order to 
 avoid the latter, one should endeavor to separate 
 the different elements by a harmonious arrange- 
 ment of the various parts of the whole, and not 
 mingle them awkwardly with one another. 
 
 The fields, for instance, should be massed in 
 the farm and not scattered all over the park ; 
 everything should be allotted its distinct place 
 and maintain its peculiar characteristics, and the 
 transition should be appropriately defined. But 
 if various objects have already approached too 
 near each other, or if they are required for other 
 purposes, then, in order to avoid overloading 
 and confusion, let everything be given as much 
 as possible the same character. In my park,' for 
 example, a fisherman's hut leaning against high 
 oaks is set beside a lake formed by a branch of 
 
 » I will repeat here that I so frequently refer to my own park, not 
 in a spirit of boastfulness, but because I can, of course, find no better 
 illustrations for my theories, and I am also obliged to describe, as act- 
 ually existing, things which are not in reality completed, but which are 
 in process of construction and determined on the plans, as far as I have 
 made them, because they have been sufficiently tried. I must do this 
 for the sake of brevity, and also because I should otherwise have to 
 wait ten more years before publishing this book, in which time, I hope, 
 it might appear superfluous. 
 
Parks and Gardens 41 
 
 the river ; somewhat higher up, not quite two 
 hundred feet from the bank, which is steeper 
 here, there is a wax bleachery ; quite close to 
 this, are an ice-house and the lodge of a park 
 keeper ; farther away on the other side of the 
 river, still in the same vista, and apparently near, 
 is an English cottage; and behind are seen the 
 thatched roofs of the village, and, crowning all, 
 the spire of the village church. 
 
 If all these objects, which serve entirely dif- 
 ferent purposes, and are either really very close 
 together or are made to appear so from the road 
 by optical illusion, were built, each one in a dif- 
 ferent style, they would be a perfect salamagundi, 
 offensive to good taste. In order to obviate this, 
 it was only necessary to have all the buildings, 
 with slight variations, preserve the rustic char- 
 acter of the village, which is the dominating 
 feature of this plot, and to cover the English 
 cottage, the fisherman's hut, the bleachery, and 
 the ice-house, like the village, with straw or 
 some other rustic covering. Thus, the plot ap- 
 pears as one integral part of the park, as a pleas- 
 ant little village spreading out on both sides of 
 the river, inhabited by well-to-do villagers. I 
 have thus produced unity out of multiplicity ; 
 twenty buildings, each with a character of its 
 own, scattered over the landscape, look like 
 twenty separate objects, while a city of ten thou- 
 sand connected houses forms a simple unit in its 
 general effect. 
 
 Should the view embrace a stretch of land- 
 
42 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 scape, it is true that heterogeneous objects might 
 without detriment be visible at one glance, yet 
 the imagination can never succeed in accepting 
 with satisfaction (what has been attempted in 
 many parks, famous in their time) the conjunc- 
 tion of a Chinese tower with a Gothic church, 
 two or three Greek temples, a Russian block- 
 house, a ruined castle, a Dutch farmhouse, with, 
 perhaps, a volcano thrown in, all being part of 
 one picture. In contemplating such a scene, no 
 matter how beautiful the setting, taste could not 
 but suffer from artistic indigestion ! 
 
 On the other hand, the principles which should 
 be established for the "pleasure-ground" and 
 gardens are entirely different ; the latter may be 
 as varied as possible, as flower gardens, winter 
 gardens, orchards, vineyards, vegetable gardens, 
 etc. In England I saw exotic gardens, Chinese 
 gardens, American gardens, monastic, and even 
 porcelain, gardens. 
 
 I may repeat here with some variation what 
 I have said before : as the park is Nature ideal- 
 ized within a small compass, so the garden is an 
 extended dwelling. Here the tastes of the owner 
 may have free play, following his imagination 
 and indulging even in trivialities.' Everything 
 should be decorative, designed for comfort, and 
 
 ' Of course there may be things that are obvious absurdities. In a 
 garden in Vienna, for instance, I saw a house in the shape of a tub in 
 which sits an immense Diogenes of cardboard, who seems to have just 
 extinguished his light in deference to the spectator; or elsewhere a 
 bench, where a person who sits down upon it is drenched, after a few 
 minutes, with a squirt of water, and other like impertinences. 
 
Parks and Gardens 43 
 
 as ornamental as the means permit. Let the lawns 
 appear as a velvet carpet embroidered with flow- 
 ers ; gather together the rarest and the most 
 beautiful exotic plants, curious animals, multi- 
 colored birds ' (provided that Nature or art will 
 enable them to thrive) ; polished benches, re- 
 freshing fountains, the cool shades of dense ave- 
 nues, order and fancy; in short, everything in 
 turn to evoke the richest and most varied effects, 
 just as one furnishes every salon in the interior 
 of a house in a different style. Thus, one may 
 continue the suite of rooms on a greater scale 
 under the open sky, whose blue vault, with ever- 
 renewed cloud canopy, takes the place of the 
 painted ceiling, and in which sun and moon are 
 the perpetual illumination. To draw up rules for 
 such details is more in the province of the dec- 
 orative gardener, still more of the individual 
 taste of the master, and perhaps most of all should 
 be left to the delicate taste and delightful fancy 
 of women. Hence, as regards this point I shall 
 only make some general remarks. 
 
 It is essential that the confines of each garden, 
 in which I always include the " pleasure-ground," 
 for the sake of security should have an enclosure 
 which separates it from the park. 
 
 If the locality allows of a high terrace, or a 
 continuous ha-ha, this would, in most cases, be 
 
 ' But there must be no superfluity, nor any trace of dirt or odors, 
 and if tiiis cannot be so managed, then the menagerie should be re- 
 moved; for curiosities which can be admired only with the handker- 
 chief at the nose are undesirable in a place which should be devoted 
 only to the comfortable enjoyment of beauty. 
 
44 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 the best enclosure for a "pleasure-garden," and 
 regular lines that are not concealed, but quite 
 visibly mark the difference, are here to be recom- 
 mended ; for a garden is the occasion for very 
 obvious art, and must therefore appear as such. 
 While this barrier keeps out of the gardens the 
 cattle or the deer grazing in the park, or visibly 
 divides from them the meadows intended only 
 for hay, the eye dwells with pleasure, first, upon 
 the rich colors of the foreground, with its wealth 
 of flowers and the emerald carpets of carefully 
 kept lawns, and beyond, upon the open land- 
 scape with its imposing trees or the waving 
 grasses sown with wild flowers, where the mow- 
 ers swing their glittering scythes in the sun or 
 repose at noon in the fragrant hay. This contrast 
 between free Nature and artistic cultivation, vis- 
 ibly separated and yet melting into one harmo- 
 nious picture, is doubly soothing to the feelings. 
 It depends on the locality whether all the dif- 
 ferent gardens (and the more there are the more 
 pleasing effect of variety they produce) shall be 
 enclosed in one large space, most fittingly near 
 the dwelling-house, or whether they shall be 
 scattered about the park. I have pursued a mid- 
 dle course, extending the "pleasure-ground" all 
 around the castle, and not, as is generally done in 
 England, only on one side; the flower gardens ap- 
 proach close to the windows, a conservatory open- 
 ing from the salon forming a connecting link ; 
 then at a little distance, as a plot by itself, but 
 still within the circumference of the " pleasure- 
 
> 
 
 w 
 
 m 
 
Parks and Gardens 45 
 
 ground," the orangerie, the winter garden, the 
 conservatories, and the vegetable gardens ; but 
 the orchards, the vineyard, and the nurseries I 
 have distributed, at a distance from the castle, 
 through the park; moreover, I have laid out sev- 
 eral smaller gardens, in different styles, around 
 the other principal buildings of the park, which 
 I will describe more in detail farther on. 
 
 Although all these gardens are decorated here 
 and there by scattered flower beds, the great mass 
 and variety of flowers are reserved for the flower 
 gardens proper. I repeat here that the selection 
 and distribution of the flowers must be left to the 
 individual taste of the owner, though I will say 
 in passing that flowers of the same kind in large 
 masses generally make a far more impressive 
 effect than a mixture of many different kinds in 
 the same bed. Yet the nuances are so various, and 
 there is so much to be considered in the design- 
 ing, that only years of practice and experience 
 will give the best. The light cast upon the flow- 
 ers by the surrounding objects is a prime consid- 
 eration. A rose in shadow and a rose in light 
 yield quite different colors; much more the 
 blue flowers. But especially striking is the effect 
 brought about by the contrast of dark shade with 
 bright sunlight on full white flowers mixed with 
 others of brilliant color. Generally speaking, it 
 is advisable to break strong-tinted flowers with 
 white, in order to make the former stand out in 
 stronger relief. 
 
 A winter garden, as the name implies, must 
 
46 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 be confined to evergreen plants, and in our cold 
 climate it is very difficult to grow any variety. 
 Orangeries and hothouses belong to them ; also 
 statues and fountains, which, even when the water 
 freezes, do not lose their picturesque character. 
 Reo-ular arrangements after ancient models, or 
 French taste growing therefrom yield the best 
 results, and if the effect of turf is desired, then 
 evergreen creeping plants or the bright green 
 dwarf bilberry and cranberry plants may be util- 
 ized. I can only touch slightly on these points, 
 partly on account of the numerous details which 
 lie out of the scope of this work, and partly be- 
 cause further remarks will be forthcoming in my 
 description of the park at Muskau. 
 
 I close this chapter, therefore, with the re- 
 mark that kitchen and fruit gardens, although 
 essentially for use, can be made pleasing to the 
 eye by the happy arrangement of the beds of the 
 first, and in the second by the training of fruit 
 trees en espalier or by the trellising of them on 
 walls (see Table I c) ; by convenient paths, and 
 by the utmost cleanliness and order, so that one 
 mav here enjoy the warm sunlight in the spring, 
 or later in the year pluck the ripest fruit. In 
 England, where everything is made to serve the 
 utmost convenience, strawberries are planted in 
 terraces near the paths, to be reached without 
 troublesome stooping. And raised paths are made 
 under the fruit trees, so that cherries and apples 
 grow on the level of the stroller. Several lengths 
 of wall are built in the middle of the kitchen 
 
Parks and Gardens 47 
 
 garden, affording, not only a protected sunny side, 
 but also a shady side, and all kinds of fruit trees 
 are skillfully trained on them. English fruit, even 
 in the open, gets too little sunlight, and the ripest 
 are still, as in the time of the Due de Langeais, 
 the cooked apples.' 
 
 ' The well-known saying was, " Qu'en Angleterre il n'y avait de 
 poll que I'acier et ne fruits murs que les pommes cuites." ('* There is 
 in England nothing polished but steel, and no ripe fruit but the baked 
 apple.") 
 
Chapter VI 
 
 Concerning the Laying-out of the Lawns of Parks 
 Meadows y and Gardens 
 
 WHAT the gold backgrounds of the old 
 masters, which set out the sweet, lovable 
 faces of madonnas and saints in so ideal a manner, 
 are to religious pictures, green, luxuriant grass 
 spaces are to a landscape. They are, as it were, the 
 canvas of Nature-painting, the playground where 
 the sun disports an element of brightness which 
 sets out the whole landscape. Green grass en- 
 hances the freshness of the entire landscape and 
 furnishes a carpet for the sun to shine upon, 
 whereas an arid, gray heath appears like a shroud 
 even in the most beautiful spot. But while the 
 grass plot should be green, it should not be 
 marshy, being thereby rendered inaccessible, nor 
 so soft and spongy that horses and wagons leave 
 their tracks in passing over, thereby spoiling its 
 appearance for months after. Although the latter 
 cannot be wholly avoided in the first weeks after 
 laying the plot out, especially in wet weather, 
 yet if the grass is well kept it soon acquires a firm 
 texture, even in light soil. 
 
 For the making of lawns I can recommend 
 the following rules, which the experience of sev- 
 eral years in my neighborhood has confirmed: — 
 
The Laying-out of Lawns 49 
 
 (i) Whether in a meadow or for a park or 
 pleasure-ground it is of no avail to sow only one 
 kind of grass seed. With only one kind of grass, 
 perennial or not, it is not possible to secure a 
 close grass texture. 
 
 (2) For the first two — namely, meadows and 
 park — I consider the richest mixture to be the 
 best, but with this proviso, that the particular 
 kind of grass which experience has found to be 
 the most suitable to the special soil should dom- 
 inate, to the extent of a third to a half of the 
 mixture. In wet ground the greater part should 
 be timothy [Phleum pratense)\ for heavy soil, rye 
 grass (Lolium perenne) ; for loam, yellow clover 
 [Medicago lupulina) and French rye grass [Ar- 
 rhenatherum elatius) ; for light soil, honey or vel- 
 vet grass [Holcus lanatus) ; for high ground, white 
 clover {T'rifolium repens)^ etc. 
 
 (3) If the plot that is to be sown is dry, it is 
 advisable to trench it twelve to eighteen inches 
 first, whatever the soil may be, but the top soil 
 must be spread over the surface again if the soil 
 below is inferior, and a sandy soil must of course 
 be improved by muck, compost, or field soil. If 
 the expense of digging trenches is too great, then 
 one must plough to at least the usual depth, and 
 in most cases still deeper with a subsoil plough. 
 The field so prepared should be sown (here from 
 the middle of August to the middle of Septem- 
 ber) in rather moist weather and very thickly, 
 and the seed at once well rolled in. On heavy 
 soil it is best to wait for a dry day. By the end 
 
5© Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 of October the most beautiful green will cover 
 the new meadows. The next year they should 
 be mowed quite early, in order to obtain an even 
 growth, but the seed should be allowed to ripen 
 and fall to the ground, thus securing a greater 
 density of turf for the following year. Nothing 
 more is now necessary than to roll it well every 
 year after each mowing, and every three or four 
 years, as may be required, to fertilize it plenti- 
 fully with a compost field soil, muck, or with 
 manure. In this manner, on light dry soil and 
 to the surprise of many landowners, I have pro- 
 duced the most luxurious meadow, which, in- 
 stead of giving out in ten years as was prophe- 
 sied, steadily improved, and from a pecuniary 
 point of view has proved quite a good invest- 
 ment, as in four years the capital spent on it has 
 been repaid. 
 
 (4) Marshy ground should first be dried, for 
 which the English method of underground drains 
 is the best. This consists of large hollow tiles 
 laid on flat tiles (bricks), making durable little 
 canals, which are not constantly choked by debris, 
 as is the case with drains made by filling ditches 
 with brushwood and stones. If one has plenty 
 of rapidly flowing water, one may often devise 
 charming open waterways, which drain off^ the 
 water even better than the tiles, and make a most 
 attractive feature in the landscape. If cleverly 
 constructed in a natural way, they will improve 
 instead of disfiguring the prospect. I recom- 
 mend, for such little streams, the construction 
 
The Laying-out of Lawns 51 
 
 of open, clean-cut main channels, with sharp 
 rather than round bends, and then, banks made 
 as sloping as possible, in order not to break the 
 grass level too abruptly and lose too much meadow 
 land. To give the required variety in detail to 
 the bed of the stream, the earth may be taken 
 away here and there, sometimes from the upper, 
 sometimes from the lower bank, and still further 
 to vary the effect, bushes, stones, or water plants 
 may be set on or near the edge of the water. It 
 is obvious that, wherever possible, watering or 
 flooding a lawn or grass field must be carefully 
 provided for, and that there should be one gen- 
 eral flooding for a few days in the spring, and 
 even after every mowing. Wherever this can be 
 done, it is preferable to the daily watering dur- 
 ing the hot weather, from which I have never 
 derived much benefit. 
 
 (5) If one desires to lay out lawns for " pleas- 
 ure-grounds " and gardens, grass seeds should be 
 mixed according to the ground, but all coarse 
 grasses, such as honey or velvet grass {Holcus lana- 
 tus)^ French rye grass [Arrhenatherum elatius)^ 
 thread grass, etc., should be avoided. Festuca 
 ovina (sheep's fescue), white clover {Trifolium 
 repens), and English rye grass {Loliuin perenne)^ are 
 generally used in England, and when the finer 
 kind of lawn is desired, instead of rye grass, sev- 
 eral kinds of Agrostis or red-top and other very 
 fine grasses. In our soil and climate the most 
 beautiful and firm turf can be best assured in a 
 short time by sodding with selected fine park 
 
52 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 grass which one can find everywhere on the bor- 
 ders of fields and edges of woods. It should be 
 cut off in long strips, rolled up, then laid on the 
 properly prepared ground in the same way it lay 
 before it was cut, firmly bedded with wooden 
 pounders, all gaps stopped, a little good garden 
 earth strewn over, and a little of the above grass 
 mixture sown on top ; the whole being finally 
 rolled and watered. This is sure to give the de- 
 sired result, and if later on any portion of the 
 lawn should show patches of poor turf, I have 
 often found, in order to make the growth strong 
 and healthy, that it was quite sufficient to dig 
 up such parts and sow fresh seed. 
 
 The proper treatment later on is, however, 
 the most important thing, without which no 
 short grass can long remain in good condition. 
 First of all it must be mowed every eight days 
 in wet, every fourteen days in dry, weather, and 
 it should be rolled at least as often. It is best to 
 let the rolling precede the mowing, first, in or- 
 der to press down little stones and other obstruc- 
 tions, in which the scythe is apt to catch and 
 stick, and second, so as to obliterate the stripes 
 which the roller leaves on the lawn and which 
 are conspicuous for several days. The usual rye 
 scythes will serve with grass as well ; but the 
 operation requires considerable practice and a 
 very even stroke. Also, to avoid leaving out bits of 
 long grass, one must mow every piece twice, down 
 and up, in dry weather. The morning hours, 
 before the dew is gone, are the best for mowing. 
 
The Laying-out of Lawns 53 
 
 If these instructions are followed out exactly, 
 it will seldom be necessary to have to weed out 
 isolated encroachments of flowers or weeds ; they 
 either die out of themselves, or have no time to 
 affect injuriously the evenness of the turf. It is 
 also a mistake to try to weed out all moss in a 
 lawn of this kind. Many kinds, under the treat- 
 ment I have described, in the shade of the trees, 
 where no grass will grow, make a carpet which 
 is like satin in softness and excels even grass in 
 freshness. I remember to have seen in the Isle 
 of Wight a long stretch of moss of this kind, 
 which, in elasticity, soft green, and closeness of 
 texture, excelled any lawn I have seen in Eng- 
 land, and also I have succeeded in making charm- 
 ing places of this kind under high trees. 
 
 As soon as the grass is cut, the lawn should 
 be raked oflF and then swept carefully its entire 
 length with sharp brooms, until it is as clean as 
 a floor. It is then more pleasant for walking 
 than the best gravel path and does not at all 
 require the anxious warnings and notice boards 
 which in our gardens often border on the ridicu- 
 lous. One may play ball on it all day without 
 fear of doing it any damage. It is true that, 
 during a severe drought, I have been compelled 
 to water my lawns with a large Aire engine con- 
 nected with a pump which was stationed for 
 this purpose near the castle, with sufficient power 
 to use a leather hose having a length of more 
 than three hundred feet. I cannot, however, as- 
 sert that much good was accomplished thereby, 
 
54 
 
 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 and I have abandoned it on account of the great 
 expense. In time of extreme drought any lawn 
 will, in spite of all irrigation, be inferior to one 
 which has had plenty of rain, but even if, in the 
 hottest months, the lawn should be apparently 
 all burned up, yet it will be renewed in the au- 
 tumn. In any case, during periods of great heat 
 and severe drought it is advisable neither to roll 
 nor to mow. Except under these circumstances, 
 the time of mowing and rolling should begin 
 when the grass has grown an inch or two and 
 only cease on the approach of the season of frost 
 and snow. This continuous procedure is, of 
 course, expensive, and in many places in Eng- 
 land it is customary to keep well mowed only 
 the lawn in front of the house and on the bor- 
 ders of the "pleasure-ground," especially when 
 the master is absent. The closeness of the grass, 
 however, as well as its cleanliness, suffers, as I 
 have often experienced, if it is not continually 
 mown. In very large gardens it is as well to 
 keep several men for the single purpose of mow- 
 ing,' and to let them mow continuously in the 
 morning hours, so that when the last piece is 
 finished, the work can be at once taken up at 
 the beginning. In this way it is possible to have 
 the lawn appear for the largest part tidy all the 
 time, as to mow and roll and sweep such exten- 
 sive spaces all at once in one or two mornings 
 
 ' In general it is advisable to keep the same workmen on the one 
 task. They do their work better and more quickly, and give more 
 satisfaction. 
 
The Laying-out of Lawns ^^ 
 
 would require, especially with the sluggishness 
 and slow way of working of our country folk, 
 an extraordinary number of men, and the un- 
 skilled labor necessarily employed would, more- 
 over, give poor and unequal results. 
 
 I have dwelt on these details, because in Ger- 
 many few things are so neglected ; indeed, in 
 many cases they seem to be quite ignored. On 
 my place I have proved that with similar treat- 
 ment we can obtain as good lawns in spring, 
 summer, and autumn as in England; on account 
 of our harder climate it is not possible in win- 
 ter, at the beginning of which English lawns 
 are at their best. It is less possible, perhaps, for 
 us to vie with the richness of the open meadows 
 in England, especially with their wealth of 
 flowers, of which I remember examples, where 
 at a little distance bright reds, blues, and yellows 
 entirely mantled the green. 
 
 The field set apart for meadow is sown for a 
 year or two with root crops, then it is laid out 
 in little sections for the men engaged in manur- 
 ing and working it, irregularities are leveled 
 down, and each section worked across. When 
 the whole field has been thoroughly worked in 
 this manner according to its quality, — since it 
 is seldom that even a field of ten acres is of the 
 same quality, — I spread on the lighter soil clay 
 and marl, on the heavier soil, sand and light 
 loam, also a compost made of turfy earth and 
 oak tan bark, leveling the whole once more with 
 the spade so that the smallest inequalities are 
 
56 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 worked into the trenches and hollows. The 
 whole field is then prepared so that the roller 
 can reach every bit of its surface.' 
 
 The best time for sowing with grass I have 
 found to be in August; also in September when 
 the weather permits, though August is prefer- 
 able. The advantages of sowing in the summer 
 are: (i) In the autumn one does not expect to 
 have such severe droughts as in the spring ; there- 
 fore, the grass becomes thick and very strong be- 
 fore winter. (2) On meadows the grass seed sown 
 in the autumn grows more vigorously and safely. 
 ( 3 ) One can level the ground and improve it with 
 compost in the summer when the work of the 
 spring and other pressing requirements have been 
 attended to, according to the number of men and 
 draught cattle available. Here, where wages are 
 not exactly excessive, I have the ground, when 
 it has been prepared as above, turned up in July 
 in small sections. As soon as rainy weather sets 
 in and the clods are half dry, so that the earth 
 does not clog, I go over it once with the harrow, 
 and sow it in the order of the following mix- 
 tures: English rye grass [Lolium perenne), or- 
 chard grass [Dactyiis glo??ierata), meadow fescue 
 [Festuca pratensts^, velvet grass {Holcus lanatus), 
 French rye grass {Arrhenatheru?n elatius) and tim- 
 othy grass in equal parts, and allow for a Magde- 
 burg acre (.63 of an English acre) one half hun- 
 
 ' It may perhaps interest students to have a regular receipt for the 
 sowing of lawns, which I have set down as suggested by my head gar- 
 dener, giving the manner in which the most successful of my lawns 
 have been procured. 
 
The Laying-out of Lawns ^y 
 
 dredweight of clean seed. Generally, however, 
 because of cost, the seed is not sufficiently cleaned, 
 and in this case double and, on lighter ground, 
 treble the above amount is required. Timothy 
 grass, on account of its fine and heavy grain, 
 does not mix well with the other seeds, and 
 therefore to ten pounds of timothy (Phleufn pra- 
 tense) I add one pound of white clover [Tri fo- 
 lium repens), one pound red clover {Trifolium 
 pratense^, one pound of yellow clover, and one 
 pound of sweet or Bokhara clover [Melilotus 
 qfflchiaUs^^ and later spread this mixture, which 
 is of equally heavy grain, over the space which 
 has already been sown with the lighter mixture. 
 Then the field is harrowed and rolled lengthways 
 and crossways. When the greater part of the 
 seed is ripe the next summer, I have it beaten 
 off with rakes or small stakes before mowing. In 
 good weather the greater part of the fallen seeds 
 sprout again, whereby I obtain a fairly thick 
 grass turf in one year, which otherwise I could 
 not expect from a sown meadow for several years, 
 unless I were to sow three times as thickly, which 
 would be very expensive, since the harvesting 
 and threshing of grass seed is rather difficult and 
 depends very much upon the weather. 
 
Chapter VII 
 
 Trees and Shrubs and their Grouping, and 
 Plantations in General 
 
 THE first requirement of a landscape is the 
 vigorous growth of all plants. The finest 
 forms of mountains and lakes, the brilliancy of the 
 sun and sky, combined with the naked rocks and 
 bare lakes, cannot replace meadows and the luxu- 
 riant growth of various forms of trees with their 
 diversified, pleasing green and rich foliage. For- 
 tunate the man to whom his forbears have be- 
 queathed lofty woods of old oaks, beeches, and 
 lindens, these proud giants of our Northern clime, 
 standing still untouched by the woodman's mur- 
 derous axe. He should never regard them without 
 veneration and delight, he should cherish them 
 as the apple of his eye, for neither money nor 
 power, neither a Croesus nor an Alexander, can re- 
 store an oak a thousand years old in its wonder- 
 ful majesty after the poor laborer has felled it. 
 Terrible and swift is the destructive power of 
 man, but poor and weak is his power to rebuild. 
 May an ancient tree be to you, kind reader, who 
 love Nature, a holy thing. And yet, here also, 
 the individual tree must be sacrificed, if need be, 
 to the general group. 
 
 It may happen that a tree which, taken alone. 
 
Trees and Shrubs 59 
 
 is most beautiful, does really disturb the effect- 
 iveness and harmony of the whole, and then it 
 must be sacrificed. Such occasions, however, are 
 very rare, and I, unfortunately, know from my 
 own experience that a slight alteration of plans 
 would often be sufficient to spare a precious vet- 
 eran whose execution at first seemed unavoidable. 
 At all events, before applying the executioner's 
 axe, be sure to deliberate not once but many 
 times. It may be that the importance which I 
 give to this matter may appear exaggerated, yet 
 a true lover of Nature will understand me, and 
 appreciate the qualms of conscience that half a 
 dozen trees murdered without reason continue to 
 cause me. On the other hand, my only conso- 
 lation is that by boldly cutting down other trees 
 I have made such great improvements that the 
 gain outbalances the loss. Besides, there is no 
 denying that by the removal of a few big trees 
 more can be accomplished in one day than in a 
 hundred years by planting thousands ot speci- 
 mens, and that the loss of a few of these is not 
 to be regretted if their number is increased a 
 hundredfold to the eye by making so many others 
 visible which had previously been quite obscured. 
 This is so certain, that, although I have not been 
 blessed with a surplus of ancient trees in my park, 
 yet I have succeeded in apparently multiplying 
 tenfold the number of them left standing. These, 
 by the removal of some eighty others, are visi- 
 ble now from all points. One is often struck by 
 the fact in such cases that "One cannot see the 
 
6o Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 woods for the trees." The great art in laying out 
 a park consists in making use of comparatively 
 few objects in such a way that a great variety of 
 different pictures result, in which the recurrent 
 elements are not recognized or at least produce 
 novel and surprising effects. The double illustra- 
 tion on Plate II shows the result which was 
 brought about by the removal of about twenty 
 old limes which stood in front of the castle. 
 
 It is far more important to select, for trees to 
 be transplanted, the kind of soil which suits them, 
 or to procure it artificially if it is not natur- 
 ally available, and above all, never to transplant 
 them to worse ground than they previously occu- 
 pied. It is really amusing how ignorant most 
 planters are in this matter, and how they place 
 various species of trees quite haphazard, without 
 suspecting, much less taking any trouble to dis- 
 cover, how various are the mixtures of soil which 
 each plant particularly requires. The most ordi- 
 nary agriculturist is quite aware of this with re- 
 gard to his fruit trees, and observes it daily; the 
 ornamental tree planter, at the most, knows so- 
 called "good soil," that is, heavy loam and sand. 
 On this matter I must be content to draw the 
 attention of the reader to its importance, as a ne- 
 cessarily long disquisition would take me too far 
 beyond my prescribed limits. Sterile soils can be 
 made to produce, without great expense, luxuriant 
 growth of all kinds of trees which can bear the 
 climate provided one has a proper compost of 
 mixed peat, sand, loam, and in addition manure 
 

 
 u 
 
Trees and Shrubs 6i 
 
 and straw and lime, if it can be obtained at a 
 moderate price. 
 
 In case there is underlying the whole region 
 a coarse gravel or impenetrable clay, all attempts 
 are hopeless. Any one who plants lindens in heavy 
 loam, chestnuts in marl, beeches in peat, planes 
 in quicksand, as I have often seen done, has him- 
 self to blame when he raises cripples instead of 
 trees. So much for transplanting single trees. With 
 regard to the art of their grouping I will add the 
 following : Frequently several trees may be planted 
 close together in one and the same hole, some 
 fork-like; sometimes five to six should be placed 
 in almost straight lines, etc.; for groups symmet- 
 rically rounded off become as monotonous in the 
 end as do regular alleys. The accompanying illus- 
 tration (Plate III, a and F) shows two ground- 
 plans with the same number of trees, one badly 
 and one well grouped: c shows artificially, and 
 d naturally, planted groups. On slopes, because 
 of the long shadows they throw, single trees show 
 better than groups. On flat ground trees should 
 less often stand out singly, but should be so dis- 
 posed as to give the eye a certain continuity of 
 view, not too much broken up, here by sweep- 
 ing, there by nearer, sometimes round, sometimes 
 extended, groups. 
 
 A pleasing effect is frequently obtained by 
 planting two entirely different species of trees in 
 the same hole, such as birch and alder, willow 
 and oak, of which I possess a very picturesque 
 specimen in my "pleasure-ground," or by allow- 
 
62 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 ing one tree to grow askew leaning almost hori- 
 zontally over the water. 
 
 To bring about such little artifices one must 
 observe Nature herself and await a convenient 
 opportunity for the undertaking. Thus, I recom- 
 mend the planting of all trees intended to stand 
 alone on a somewhat rounded spot of ground, as 
 the heaped-up earth gives them a more graceful 
 outline, and old trees which have grown up from 
 seed nearly always stand naturally on just such a 
 swelling point forced up by the growing roots. 
 
 In order to judge of their effect beforehand, 
 it is a good idea, before planting groups, to stick 
 in the ground felled trees and branches. I should 
 advise this course until riper experience gives the 
 proper instinct and until the trained powers of 
 the imagination become able to paint the picture 
 accurately in the mind. But one cannot expect 
 that every arrangement will look equally well 
 from all sides; that is impossible; so one should 
 take only the chief points of view, test the whole 
 from these points only, and by the disposition of 
 the paths prevent the visitor from being led to 
 the less favorable spots. 
 
 With solid young plantations I generally take 
 the following course: First of all, I have the 
 entire plot of ground trenched to a depth of at 
 least two feet, even if the soil consists only of the 
 lightest drift sand. The chemical effect of trench- 
 ing and the receptivity for moisture thus imparted 
 to the earth often passes all expectations. By 
 trenching four feet in bare granular sand on a 
 
Trees and Shrubs 63 
 
 sterile hill, where one would expect only birches 
 and pines to prosper, I have grown good oaks, 
 maples, limes, and firs, and, as they have flour- 
 ished for a period of twelve years, their future 
 growth is reasonably safe.' 
 
 Only on steep declivities, where trenching is 
 impracticable, would I permit, even in the case 
 of solid plantations, the forester's method of 
 planting trees in small single trenches, a style 
 only to be used in ornamental work were abso- 
 lutely necessary. Wherever it is possible without 
 excessive cost, I try to improve the original soil 
 in some degree, but if this is not feasible, I select 
 for planting thereon only such kinds of trees as 
 may be expected to thrive. If time, however, 
 allows, I manure the trenched territory first and 
 plant it with potatoes for one year. I make a point 
 of planting everywhere as closely as possible: 
 first, because the trees thrive better thus; secondly, 
 because I can utilize such a plantation as a nur- 
 sery later on by the removal every year of a part 
 of the young plants which have been too closely 
 set. The quick-growing trees that have grown 
 higher, such as poplars, alders, acacias, etc., should 
 be distributed here and there, always with due 
 regard to the soil, thereby giving from the be- 
 ginning a more finished appearance to the whole 
 mass, but these should be cut down for under- 
 brush later on, the nobler species, the oaks, lin- 
 
 ' If there is a foot of earth on top and only sand below, the trench- 
 ing should not be so deep, as it is a good idea to keep the roots as much 
 as possible in the rich earth. 
 
64 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 dens, beeches, chestnuts, etc., being given the 
 preference. I consider it inadvisable to plant too 
 small and too young specimens, partly for their 
 own welfare and partly to avoid waste of time. 
 Therefore, I seldom take for the purpose trees 
 less than five or six feet high, and I also use only 
 shrubs that have acquired some bushiness. It is 
 hardly necessary to remark that, in general, ex- 
 tended nurseries are most important in all grounds, 
 or at least should be found in the neighborhood/ 
 
 It is to this simple method that I attribute the 
 fact that my plantations, according to many visi- 
 tors, as a rule have, after two or three years, the 
 appearance of ten or fifteen years' growth, and 
 at the same time have served for a considerable 
 period. 
 
 For two or three years only I have the new 
 plantations in the park weeded and raked, and 
 after that no more. This is to keep the surface 
 roots undamaged and also to save expense. The 
 plantations are then left alone, except that they 
 are gradually thinned out, either by taking away 
 trees entirely, or by cutting down others so that 
 the fresh growth will form underwood. In course 
 of time one can, with the greatest ease, give 
 plantations so arranged every variety required, 
 making them a thicket impenetrable to the eye, 
 or a forest of a slender growth which will unfold 
 itself in spreading foliage, allowing peeps into 
 
 ' I cannot refrain from mentioning here the magnificent nursery in 
 Potsdam and congratulating its founder, Head Gardener Lenne, for all 
 that he has accomplished in this branch of gardening with such tireless 
 energy. 
 
Photograph by Thomas W. Sears 
 
 A Vista in the Park of Muskau 
 
Trees and Shrubs 65 
 
 the depths, or break into dappled light and shade 
 over a small, open plot of meadow in beautiful, 
 wavy lines, or out of all these combine a mingled 
 effect of many kinds of scenery. 
 
 In the park I avail myself, as a rule, of native 
 or thoroughly acclimated trees and shrubs, and 
 avoid all foreign ornamental plants, for idealized 
 Nature must still be true to the character of the 
 country and climate to which it belongs so as to 
 appear of spontaneous growth and not betray the 
 artifice which may have been used. We have 
 many beautiful flowering shrubs growing wild 
 in Germany which should be freely used, while 
 a centifolia rose, a Chinese lilac, or a clump of 
 such shrubs in a spot in the middle of a wild 
 wood strike us unpleasantly as an affectation un- 
 less they are found by themselves in an enclosed 
 space, as, for instance, in a little garden near a 
 cottage which sufficiently indicates the neighbor- 
 hood and hand of man. Some foreign trees, such 
 as white pines, acacias, larches, planes, locusts, 
 purple beeches, may be regarded as native, 
 though I prefer for our country lindens, oaks, 
 maples, beeches, alders, elms, chestnuts, ash, 
 birch, etc. 
 
 Varieties of poplar which are very useful in 
 the beginning on account of their rapid growth, 
 I remove in the course of time, as their branches 
 are too straggly and their grayish green too som- 
 ber; yet modifications occur easily; silver poplars, 
 for example, relieved against any dark wood, 
 making a pleasant variation, and old Canadian 
 
66 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 poplars often overhang lower shrubs very prettily 
 and also add to the height of different parts of 
 the group. 
 
 The Lombardy poplars had better be entirely 
 removed from the park, but in the " pleasure- 
 ground " they produce a not unpleasing effect 
 when grouped in large masses. Singly their shape 
 is too stiff and unpicturesque, and used in alleys 
 they are a real horror. 
 
 On the whole, I try to arrange the larger 
 plantations so that in each section one kind of 
 tree dominates, and, of course, that one of the 
 kind for which the soil is most suitable, but I 
 try to avoid having a whole division with only 
 one kind of tree. This mode of planting is very 
 popular in our German gardens, where the vari- 
 ous kinds of trees, especially evergreens and de- 
 ciduous trees, are as anxiously separated in groups 
 in connected plantations as if contagion were to 
 be feared from one species of tree to another. 
 All this, perhaps, may be said to produce a gran- 
 diose, though hardly a gay, effect, but in my 
 opinion, on the contrary, it gives just the appear- 
 ance of a harlequin's jacket. Nor is such a pro- 
 ceeding in any way founded on Nature. Where 
 Nature, left to herself on an area, relatively as a 
 park, has sown a thousand kinds of trees and 
 shrubs in one climatic temperature, it stands to 
 reason that they must have been much mingled 
 together. Here and there a group may be found 
 making a little wood, as it were, of the same 
 tree, quite naturally, but the systematic separa- 
 
Trees and Shrubs 67 
 
 tjon of the different kinds of trees is the most 
 unnatural arrangement imaginable. 
 
 There is nothing more beautiful and more in 
 accordance with untrammeled Nature than a 
 luxurious mixed forest where the sun dances 
 among the many hues of green, and nothing 
 more monotonous and dismal than a district 
 where one passes now a clump of firs, then a 
 long stretch of larches, here a patch of birches, 
 and in another place a collection of poplars or 
 oaks, and a thousand paces on the same tedious 
 rows beginning again. It is entirely different in 
 the case of large forests of aged trees, where, in 
 the end, as in the world of men, the dominating 
 species oppress the weaker, and yet one may see 
 in a fruitful soil, even in a wild state, the fir 
 pairing with the oak, the birch with the alder, 
 the beech with the lime, and the thornbushes 
 with all kinds of deciduous trees. 
 
 As regards the latter, I have always kept in 
 mind the advice of Mr. Repton, the eminent 
 garden expert, seldom to plant a tree without 
 giving it a brier as a protector. Although this 
 rule must not be taken literally, yet it is a most 
 useful one both for protecting and for giving 
 variety to the plantation. 
 
 I need hardly recommend that all blossoming 
 and berry-bearing plants, such as wild fruit trees, 
 thorns, hips, peonies, mountain ash, barberries, 
 alders, etc., must be brought forward to the bor- 
 ders and made conspicuous, but one must be 
 careful not to make the intention too obvious 
 
68 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 by overdoing this work. Nor should the highest 
 trees be always placed in the center and rows of 
 shrubs always along the edges, as most of our 
 gardeners do. The outline of the plantation 
 should, on the contrary, be interrupted by trees 
 trimmed high, especially where the road leads 
 close by them, and trees with low-hanging 
 branches should be set farther back. Often, too, 
 where there is room, one should strive after that 
 graceful negligence, so difficult to emulate, in 
 which Nature remains ever the mistress, by the 
 plantation of single shrubs and trees scattered 
 freely over the grass. So also the clumps in the 
 " pleasure-ground," as I shall presently attempt 
 to describe, should show the greatest variety, not 
 only in the species, but also with regard to their 
 form and situation. Here also it is, as I have 
 said, not always necessary to place the largest 
 trees in the middle and the lower-growing ones 
 graded down to the border. The contrary has a 
 far more natural appearance, and a tall tree ris- 
 ing high out of the bushes along the edge and a 
 broken line of greenery is more picturesque, even 
 in small groups, than masses always rounded and 
 sloping gradually on each side and which would 
 be improved by being broken up. The drawing 
 in Plate IV shows an inferior, and what I have 
 indicated as the better, way, a and b for wood 
 plantations near the paths, and c and d for shrub- 
 beries in the grass plots. 
 
 How far one may plant with the deliberate 
 intention of attaining artistic light and shade and 
 
Trees and Shrubs 69 
 
 color contrast, I will not venture to state. The 
 matter presents great difficulties, and in my ex- 
 perience these attempts, if I went too far into 
 detail, have seldom succeeded very well, and, on 
 the other hand, plantations mixed quite recklessly 
 often unfolded the most unexpected charms; nay, 
 they earned me many compliments for my art 
 wherein I was as innocent as many a physician 
 who has effected a great cure without knowing 
 how he did it, I do not lay much stress on any 
 instructions in this matter, as I have always taken 
 an easy middle course. It must also be remem- 
 bered that the foliage of trees will often assume 
 an entirely and unexpected shade when trans- 
 planted to a different soil, and this cannot always 
 be regulated in a large plot. It may happen that 
 a dark-colored maple intended for shading grows 
 a very light foliage. It is quite obvious, however, 
 that one should avoid too variegated a mixture 
 of leaves, too frequent alternations of dark and 
 light green foliage, but here also, where it would 
 be hard to lay down good, sharp rules in detail, 
 the taste of the owner must be the best guide. One 
 of the greatest difficulties in all plantations is to 
 give to the edges a natural and graceful outline.^ 
 Many excellent examples of forest plantations 
 are found in England, and I may be excused for 
 referring to the park of Lord Darnley, in Cob- 
 
 ' The outlines are generally indicated by sticks set in the ground at 
 short intervals. The effect may be still better judged by outlining the 
 shape on the grass with cords and running a furrow along this outline. 
 This furnishes an easy means of judging, and, if necessary, altering, the 
 shape. 
 
70 
 
 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 ham, which really leaves nothing to be desired 
 in this respect and may be recommended to all 
 strangers for study. But as far as pleasure-ground 
 plantations go, the well-known architect, Mr. 
 Nash, has only recently, in my estimation, pre- 
 sented the right way, and in the Gardens of 
 Buckingham Palace, the new palace of the King, 
 and also in Virginia Water, has established one 
 of the most magnificent examples. In passing, I 
 may say that I consider Windsor Park, with the 
 new grounds of Virginia Water, one of the most 
 perfect examples in England. In its extension 
 and variety it forms a complete and splendid 
 landscape. Castle and park have become, by the 
 munificence and splendor of the late King, the 
 worthiest seat for the most powerful monarch 
 on earth. 
 
 It is a pity that, at the time of my visit, ac- 
 cess to the finest part where George IV resided 
 was so difficult to obtain ; however, the liberality 
 of the present King will have surely changed all 
 this. His late Majesty so shunned the eyes of 
 strangers that in many places, where an indis- 
 creet glance might possibly penetrate, a second 
 and even a third story of boards was erected and 
 nailed to the wooden fence which surrounds the 
 park. Whoever did not have the personal ac- 
 quaintance of His Majesty, or had not special 
 connections, or who did not care to spin out a 
 kind of intrigue, could not approach Virginia 
 Water. For the garden-lover this was doubly to 
 be deplored, because the King was not only, as 
 
u 
 
Trees and Shrubs 71 
 
 his worshipers declared, the first "gentleman" 
 in the land, but deserves to be called one of the 
 most tasteful landscape artists in England. 
 
 The English are greatly favored by their cli- 
 mate, vi^hich permits all kinds of evergreens to 
 live safely through the winter, such as rhododen- 
 dron, cherry laurel, Portuguese laurel, all vari- 
 eties of holly, arbutus, viburnum, buxus, and 
 Daphne laureola, etc., which at all times furnish 
 ready material for thick flowering and beauti- 
 fully shaded shrubberies. 
 
 The usual way for planting has hitherto been, 
 and still is, even now, in famous places like Chis- 
 wick and others, to arrange either oval or round 
 clumps on the lawn and draw long, wavy lines 
 (or have strips of grass of an even width) along 
 the paths, which are always marked off by a 
 clean-cut border, and back of this appears the 
 black soil of quite elevated beds which are care- 
 fully raked clean. The shrubs are also severely 
 pruned so that they hardly touch one another. 
 Flowers are set here and there in order to give 
 more color to the plantation, but the result of it 
 largely is that one sees so much black earth in- 
 stead of green color that a disagreeable vacilla- 
 tion between formality and natural irregularity 
 is apparent. Mr. Nash has entirely abandoned 
 this kind of arrangement. He masses the shrubs 
 more closely together, allows the grass to disap- 
 pear in wide sweeps under the plants, or lets it 
 run along the edges of the shrubs without trim- 
 ming them. At the same time he sets a number 
 
72 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 of isolated trees and shrubs on the lawn beside 
 the plantation in order to interrupt the lines nat- 
 urally from all sides. These shrubberies are then 
 neither raked nor trimmed except where neces- 
 sary for their growth ; hence, they soon develop 
 into a thicket that gracefully bends over the lawn 
 without showing anywhere a sharply defined out- 
 line, just as bushes in the wild state grow and 
 shape themselves on the edge of a meadow. No 
 tender bedding flowers can be employed in this 
 way, since they demand continuous attention, 
 nor are they necessary, since the English climate 
 produces, besides the beautiful rhododendrons 
 and the many species of roses, a sufficient num- 
 ber of hardy perennial plants to give variety to 
 the plantation ; and the flowers are massed in 
 the flower gardens where regularity is entirely 
 in order. For further explanation see Plate IV, 
 where the sketch e shows the border plantations 
 in the old style, and/J Mr. Nash's method. 
 
 In our climate and less productive soil, where 
 even the commonest varieties of roses suffer from 
 cold or are quite destroyed by the frost, a middle 
 course must be found, since we can hardly pro- 
 duce ornamental shrubberies without resorting to 
 herbaceous plants and annuals. For a long time, 
 therefore, I have managed in general my planta- 
 tions in the same way that Mr. Nash has done, 
 while leaving, here and there in the shrubberies, 
 places prepared for hardy herbaceous plants, 
 which, though ugly in the early spring, are 
 bright with color in summer and autumn, our 
 

 
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Trees and Shrubs 73 
 
 season for the country, whereas in England this 
 season is more often in the winter. On the other 
 hand, in the flower garden, where the health of 
 herbaceous plants demands it and formality is 
 quite out of place, I maintain the old style which 
 I have described in the shrubberies, though 
 within bounds, and with this difference, that I 
 conceal the black earth as much as possible by 
 flowering perennial plants. 
 
 To the flower beds themselves I give a distinct, 
 defined shape and surround them preferably by 
 basket-work ; sometimes I make use of ironwork, 
 or sometimes of wooden borders bound with 
 cord, earthenware, tiles, leaf-shaped or other- 
 wise ; also borders of merely plaited osiers with 
 an overhanging arch on which I train flowering 
 vines, etc. Flower beds, star- and rosette-shaped, 
 surrounded by box borders, big vases, French 
 parterres with gravel walks and elegant flower 
 stands, — all these are here in place with appro- 
 priate surroundings. 
 
 From what I have said one sees that Mr. 
 Nash is at bottom an innovator only in this, that 
 he has applied to the "pleasure-ground" (that 
 is, the larger garden which represents something 
 midway between park and garden) the same 
 principles that hold good in all wild wood and 
 shrub plantations ; namely, that the true line of 
 beauty of the exterior of a plantation must lie in 
 imperceptible transitions, sharp angles, and deep 
 recesses, here and there in almost straight lines, 
 broken, however, by single projecting trees and 
 
74 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 shrubs which bind them loosely together. This 
 does not mean to employ that ideal wavy line 
 called more accurately, " corkscrew " form, which 
 is the most unnatural of all and which impedes 
 any effect of light and shade, the greatest secret 
 of landscape painting. Besides, in spite of its 
 twists, when seen in front it presents only a 
 meaningless zigzag without any character. Sharp 
 corners, on the other hand, seldom do harm, as 
 they always become rounded in time by vegeta- 
 tion. Finally, after the first two years, when the 
 needful cultivation, weeding, etc., have been 
 done, I sow grass on the borders of the planta- 
 tions and wherever a bare place shows itself be- 
 tween the shrubs, until every trace of abruptness 
 in the dividing line disappears, and the most nat- 
 ural and spontaneous connection between meadow 
 and wood is created. 
 
 Wherever the path leads through the planta- 
 tion, either the plantation is brought quite close 
 to the edge or a border of grass is made to lose 
 itself naturally in the shrubbery. 
 
 It is only in the flower garden that I permit a 
 continuous border cut regularly to one width; 
 this even is broken here and there by a border 
 of box or violets, etc. Evergreens should not, as 
 a rule, be placed close to the roads, since they 
 may have to be trimmed high for the benefit of 
 the passer-by, thereby losing their beauty, and, 
 moreover, no grass will grow underneath them. 
 But they are often very ornamental if set far 
 enough back from the border of the walk or 
 
Trees and Shrubs 75 
 
 drive to permit them to spread out their branches. 
 These rules also admit of exceptions, and I take 
 occasion here once for all to warn against pe- 
 dantry. Nulla regula sine exceptione. But to allow 
 one's self exceptions, one must all the more be 
 familiar with the rule. Thus, it is not advisable 
 in the long run to increase by the addition of 
 young trees plantations which have grown old. 
 They are apt neither to look well nor do well; 
 yet at times it is necessary. In that case a por- 
 tion of the older trees should be removed and 
 some rather large specimens of the younger trees 
 planted in wedge form in gradation, whereby the 
 transition from the old to the new soon disap- 
 pears. For the same reason some of the older 
 and inferior trees on the border should often be 
 cleared away and replaced by a younger growth 
 until the disagreeable sharpness of the division is 
 quite lost. 
 
 I will add a few words here on the shrubberies 
 made up of flowering shrubs and perennial plants 
 and annuals : — 
 
 ( 1 ) It is better in general, but not always, to 
 group one kind in connected masses instead of 
 planting too many single and isolated specimens. 
 
 (2) With such masses it is especially advisable 
 to cover over conspicuous points of shrubbery 
 with a lower growth, connecting it with higher 
 shrubs in such a manner that these shrubs shall 
 not stand detached and appear intentionally 
 placed there. 
 
 (3) Only those plants should be grouped to- 
 
76 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 gether which have in the beginning the same 
 relative height that they attain in proportion to 
 one another when full grown ; for instance, do 
 not set a young white lilac one foot high with a 
 grown Persian lilac four feet high, because the 
 relative proportions of the two would before long 
 be reversed. 
 
 If all plants are mixed as they happen to grow, 
 young and old together, they will, of course, 
 finally come to their full stature, but for a con- 
 siderable time they will make a confused, and 
 therefore undesirable, effect. In explanation see 
 the accompanying vignette, which shows a mix- 
 ture of shrubs blooming in the spring and sum- 
 mer. 
 
 This model can, of course, be varied indefi- 
 nitely, though a dozen different patterns might 
 be sufficient, which, as a matter of convenience 
 and approved effectiveness, might be repeated in 
 part or entire throughout the " pleasure-ground." 
 I wager that no one will notice that there are 
 only twelve different patterns, but a garden de- 
 signed in accordance with this principle will pro- 
 duce a much greater variety of effects than one 
 where the patterns are indiscriminately mixed, 
 although the latter should contain a much greater 
 variety of plants. Besides, one may, if one will, 
 take twenty-four instead of twelve such patterns, 
 but should always proceed methodically, for with- 
 out this precaution, nothing succeeds in art. 
 
 The pattern I have given is a very simple one 
 with only the most ordinary kinds of plants that 
 

 
 
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Trees and Shrubs 77 
 
 any one can obtain. Here is a proper field for 
 the ladies, who may transfer their embroidery 
 patterns in animated form into their gardens with 
 free play to their innate fine sense of color. 
 
 A FINAL WORD ON AVENUES 
 
 I by no means condemn regularity for ave- 
 nues, though they rarely look well planted in this 
 way until the trees have attained to a ripe old 
 age. But trees so planted are useful for various 
 purposes, such as a border for highways, for 
 avenues to large palaces, etc. Three points, how- 
 ever, must be observed here: first, the avenues 
 should be very wide, avoiding long stretches of 
 straight lines ; second, a double row of trees 
 should be set rather closely together on either 
 side wherever possible, these two rows being sub- 
 sequently again thinned out so as to permit the 
 remaining trees to attain to their normal growth; 
 third, only trees suitable for the purpose should 
 be taken ; that is, trees that are shapely, perma- 
 nent, and that throw a good shade. In our coun- 
 try elms and oaks in sandy soil, lindens, chest- 
 nuts, or maples in richer soil, and acacias in 
 protected positions. Money laid out on the soil 
 in the beginning to prepare it for the finer kinds 
 of trees is well spent, since poplars and birches, 
 which grow anywhere, are ugly in avenues and 
 not so enduring as other trees. Following a sug- 
 gestion which I brought home from Chelten- 
 ham, I am trying on my estate a method which 
 
yS Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 has so far not been applied to avenues, but from 
 which I expect the best results, especially, in a 
 sandy region like ours. I run a furrow, wide or 
 narrow according to the locality, along both 
 sides of the road, which, following the English 
 way, slopes toward both sides with subterranean 
 drainage where necessary and a few side gutters. 
 This furrow is closely packed with young trees 
 as in a grove, mixing in with them here and 
 there groups of larger trees which form a kind 
 of continuous, irregular avenue rising above the 
 undergrowth. Where I do not own the adjacent 
 ground, I continue these high groups without 
 the undergrowth in a narrow strip along the 
 road. (See Plate IV, ^.) The trees are generally 
 treated as undergrowth or underbrush and are 
 pruned every six or ten years, while the larger 
 trees are left to grow undisturbed. In this way 
 even barren regions will soon appear attractive 
 when seen from the road ; and a variety of effects 
 may be produced subsequently by various differ- 
 ent modes of treatment, allowing larger masses 
 to grow high, carefully trimming some of the 
 older trees, keeping others down, etc., or, finally, 
 the landscape, where it is unattractive, may be 
 hidden by a wall of greenery. Should some of the 
 larger trees that have been set out die off in the 
 course of time, or not thrive well, the neighbor- 
 ing trees may be allowed to grow up, and in this 
 case any kind of tree that thrives well may be 
 used. This mode of treatment will do away with 
 unsightly bare spaces and make a natural avenue 
 
Trees and Shrubs 79 
 
 which will lighten in appearance the most bar- 
 ren of heath and pine woods, forming an easy 
 transition between them, while the long rows of 
 soldier-like Lombardy poplars which one sees far 
 off through the black pines brings genuine de- 
 spair to any one who has the remotest idea of the 
 picturesque. For myself, at least, when my ill 
 star leads me along such avenues I try to escape 
 this desolate feeling by closing my eyes and forc- 
 ing myself to sleep. 
 
Chapter VIII 
 
 Roads and Paths 
 
 ROADS and paths should be, above all, firm, 
 and as dry as possible. Were I writing this 
 book for English readers I could pass over this 
 point entirely, since the construction of the roads 
 there is fairly adequate, but, as we are still very 
 much behind in this respect, a few words on the 
 technical aspect of this question will not, I think 
 be superfluous at the end of this chapter. Good 
 roads and paths are, of course, expensive, and 
 this, as I was frequently told, is the chief reason 
 why there are so few roads and paths in English 
 parks and a drive entirely round the estate so 
 seldom to be found, and often, where a path 
 leads from the "pleasure-ground" into the park, 
 it stops suddenly at the iron fence which encloses 
 the former and from that point one has to wade 
 painfully through wet grass and other disagree- 
 able features. We could, considering the differ- 
 ent value of money in the two countries, get 
 much more from the outlay if we should follow 
 diflferent methods. For what is the good of a 
 park that presents the same recurring picture 
 from a few points of view, a park where I am 
 never led, as by an invisible hand, to the most 
 beautiful spots, seeing and comprehending the 
 
Roads and Paths 8i 
 
 picture in its entirety and at my ease? This is 
 the purpose of roads and paths, and while they 
 should not be unnecessarily multiplied, too many 
 are better than too few. Roads and paths are the 
 dumb conductors of the visitor and should serve 
 in themselves to guide him easily toward every 
 spot which can afford enjoyment. Roads and 
 paths, therefore, should not be too conspicuous, 
 but should be carefully laid out and concealed by 
 plantations: I mean too conspicuous in the Eng- 
 lish sense, where a property of one thousand acres 
 has only one or two main roads or paths ; yet the 
 opposite system of our imitation English gardens, 
 where often two or three adjacent paths all show 
 the same points of view and lead to the same 
 spot, is also very objectionable. 
 
 It follows from what I have said elsewhere 
 that the roads and paths should not run in con- 
 tinual curves like a serpent wound round a stick, 
 but should rather make such bends as serve a de- 
 finite purpose easily and effectively, following as 
 far as possible the natural contours of the ground. 
 Certain aesthetic rules dictate these bends in 
 themselves, and hence in places obstacles must 
 be set up where they do not naturally occur in 
 order to make the graceful line appear natural. 
 For instance, two curves close together in the same 
 road or path seen at the same time do not look 
 well. If this cannot be entirely avoided, then a 
 sharp turn should be relieved by a larger, more 
 rounded turn, and the former should seem justi- 
 fied by trees or plantations on the inner side, or 
 
82 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 by elevations where the road or path is appar- 
 ently more easily led around than over them. 
 (See Plate V, a, b, c, and d.^ 
 
 If there is no obstacle the road should be al- 
 lowed to run straight or only slightly curved, no 
 matter what the distance. Wherever an obstacle 
 appears, it is better to make a short turn close to 
 it than a long, gradual turn for the sake of the 
 so-called curve of beauty. The sharp turns are 
 by far the more picturesque, especially if the 
 road disappears with such a turn in the depths of 
 a forest. Nor should a road running parallel with 
 another be visible from it unless there is a dis- 
 tinct division of hill and valley between, or a dip 
 in the ground, for without this natural division 
 two adjacent paths leading in the same direction 
 appear superfluous, especially when they are on 
 the same level, for the mind must recognize the 
 fitness of the details before the eye will be satis- 
 fied by the entire picture. 
 
 In a landscape of wide sweep, especially, the 
 form given to the grass plots by the enclosing 
 roads must be carefully considered. One may 
 entirely spoil an extensive territory by a short 
 piece of road badly arranged. I call to mind one 
 example which first attracted my attention to this 
 point. There is a hill in my park which extends 
 out conspicuously into a wide stretch of meadow, 
 thereby apparently dividing it into two equal 
 parts. The river flows along this entire stretch of 
 country and a road follows its course. (See ground- 
 plan, Plate V, f.) Observe particularly the line of 
 
o 
 a! 
 
 < 
 
 > 
 
N 
 
Roads and Paths 83 
 
 the ridge indicated by the shading in the plan, 
 being the most conspicuous object in the neigh- 
 borhood, as well as the two markedly divided 
 portions of the meadows which are overlooked 
 by a certain building on the height. Another 
 road leads to this building along the upper side, 
 and for the sake of convenience I required a foot- 
 path connecting the two roads which had to be 
 at the left side leading to the castle. I first laid 
 it down as in Plate V, e, where the ascent is eas- 
 iest, this being the line it would follow in ac- 
 cordance with ordinary rules; yet I was never 
 satisfied with it, and although I changed the line 
 ten times, the path persisted in spoiling the har- 
 mony of the view. It finally occurred to me that, 
 since the hill once for all conspicuously divided 
 the prospect into two almost symmetrical por- 
 tions, the path interrupting the stretch of 
 meadow would have to follow the same direction 
 so as not to destroy the harmony, or, so to speak, 
 the balance, of the picture; for there is a certain 
 kind of undefined, hidden symmetry in which 
 there is no contradiction whatever, but which, 
 in order to produce a satisfactory effect, must be 
 evident in every expanded arrangement of this 
 kind. As soon as I changed the line of the path 
 in agreement with this principle (see x), the 
 matter was arranged satisfactorily. It may take 
 a practiced eye to understand this point on the 
 plan, but the advantages gained by the change 
 may be perceived by any one on the ground. 
 Drives should be laid out so that chief points 
 
84 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 of interest and the most noteworthy objects in 
 the entire park may be visited one after another 
 without passing the same object twice — at least 
 not in the same direction — on the round trip. 
 This problem is frequently a peculiar one to solve. 
 I may say I have given a good example in my 
 park and it has cost me almost as much labor as 
 the building of labyrinths may have cost our an- 
 cestors. The footpaths also must run into one 
 another with this end in view, affording many 
 separate paths, apparently undesigned, which 
 should be connected so as to leave a wide lati- 
 tude of choice. Where one or several of the 
 main roads or paths through the park are in- 
 tended to serve as an approach (as it is called in 
 English) to the castle or dwelling-house, it should 
 be concealed for a time to make the road appear 
 long and more extended ; but once the destina- 
 tion has come into view, it is not well to allow 
 the road to turn off any more unless there be a 
 mountain or lake or other palpable obstacle for 
 which the road must deviate. 
 
 The customary drive around the whole park 
 should in every respect be the opposite of the 
 encircling belt as designed by Brown (which I 
 have already censured), which runs continually 
 on and on by a monotonous plantation around the 
 wall. This driveway should, on the contrary, be 
 laid out so that the vicinity of the boundary is 
 nowhere suspected ; therefore, relatively large 
 plots of grass, visible if possible at one glance, 
 should be massed between the boundary line and 
 
Roads and Paths 85 
 
 the park road, and while the latter should lead 
 to the finest spots in the domain, it should also 
 quite as often open out views (over the hidden 
 fence) outside of the park as well as inside. This 
 can be managed, as was described in Chapter III 
 ("Enclosure"), by a ha-ha or some other de- 
 vice. Care must be taken also, by the appropri- 
 ate placing and disposition of the plantations, to 
 make the roads, as one goes in and out, present 
 different views. This obviously doubles their in- 
 terest and can be achieved by the disposition of 
 the bordering plantations, which, so to speak, 
 should compel the visitor to see one part of the 
 landscape on arrival and another on departure. 
 At any specially fine point it is well to lead the 
 road for some time in full view of it, to allow 
 one to enjoy it more completely and not to let 
 it be visible merely to a hasty glance whereby 
 its beauties can be easily overlooked. 
 
 I hold it to be unnecessary to make the roads 
 in a park as broad as in a highway, only five or 
 six feet wide for footpaths and ten to fourteen 
 feet for drives. For public gardens another scale 
 of widths may be advisable. 
 
 The construction of drives and footpaths in a 
 park is very much the same, the whole difference 
 lying in the thickness of the stone foundation. I 
 have myself taken the following course with the 
 best and most durable results : — 
 
 The bed for both path and drive must first be 
 dug out two, one, or only half a foot deep re- 
 spectively, and where there are watercourses, or 
 
86 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 water is liable to gather, a drain with sufficient 
 inclination must be built underneath, also lateral 
 drains leading into it from both sides of the road 
 protected from above by an iron grating, through 
 which the water may run down freely. Where 
 there are steep banks along the drive or path, 
 stone gutters may be built alongside of them be- 
 tween the drains so as to prevent the earth from 
 being swept away, or if the stone gutters are too 
 expensive the same purpose may be attained by 
 using a mixture of tar and rosin. In the park I 
 sometimes have opened ditches, constructed to 
 save expense on one or both sides of the road, 
 and slanting ridges in the park itself, which 
 serve the same purpose, but do not look so well. 
 Where there is little water to be considered, one 
 need not wall up the subterranean drains, but 
 simply fill them up with large field stones or lay 
 them with the hollow tiles I have spoken of in 
 Chapter VI, in the section on the drainage of 
 meadows. For the drives, stones broken as small 
 as possible (in my park granite stones) are laid 
 six inches thick and stamped with broad wooden 
 stampers in order to make them assume a slightly 
 arched form, and on this spread fine coal ashes, 
 mixed with broken brick, two inches deep ; 
 this is again pounded together with old plaster 
 and building refuse ; then an inch of coarse river 
 gravel. Finally, the whole is heavily rolled with 
 iron or stone rollers. The last part of the work, 
 the covering with the gravel and the rolling, is 
 generally repeated every year, or, at least, every 
 
Roads and Paths 87 
 
 two years. Such a road is sufficiently strong to 
 bear any travel imposed upon a parkway and has 
 an advantage over the macadamized roads built 
 in England in that it is smooth and even as soon 
 as it is finished and is pleasant for driving, while 
 the macadamized roads, which consist entirely 
 of broken granite, are comfortable only after con- 
 siderable travel has smoothed them down, being 
 at first very hard on horses and foot travelers, and 
 even later broken edges of the stone will always 
 protrude here and there. 
 
 Footpaths I build on the same principle, ex- 
 cept that I often take only coal ashes or broken 
 clinkers, mixed with plaster or building refuse, 
 instead of the broken stone, and cover all with 
 fine gravel. (See Plate V,y; the transverse section 
 of the road, and g, the surface.) In localities 
 where the brownish, so-called " Windsor gravel " 
 is found, — in England only in a few districts 
 of the kingdom, — it forms a compact mass, and 
 is not disturbed by moisture as easily as loam. 
 In order to make a good path, it is only neces- 
 sary to dump a six-inch layer of this Windsor 
 gravel over the drain; it is as smooth as a par- 
 quet floor, never requires weeding, and needs 
 only to be picked up and rolled every spring. If 
 one does not possess this excellent gravel, the 
 yellowish-brown color of which stands out so 
 well against the green of the lawn, the drives 
 must be weeded as often as twice or thrice a year, 
 which, however, is necessary only on the borders, 
 and which, as well as the clipping of the grass 
 
88 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 edges, can be done by women, and consequently 
 need not be very expensive. It is possible that 
 the building refuse which I recommend as bind- 
 ing material encourages vegetation, especially 
 when the roads are little used. The advantage, 
 however, so much outweighs the disadvantage 
 that, lacking the clay gravel, I know no better 
 way for constructing a road. I have formerly at- 
 tempted, by a mixture of dried clay and coarse 
 river gravel, to manufacture the Windsor gravel 
 artificially, but the result is seldom satisfactory, 
 as the mixture easily goes wrong, and then does 
 not bind sufficiently. Later on I was lucky in 
 finding a gravel similar in color and other prop- 
 erties to the Windsor gravel. For economy one 
 can also make use of what we call here " Gov- 
 ernment roadways," — that is, clay with ordinary 
 gravel spread over it, — but with continuous wet 
 weather and in winter these roads are always bad. 
 
 The gravel paths must in summer be swept 
 with brooms, and in wet weather must some- 
 times be rolled, and will then be always in good 
 condition, except, perhaps, on thawing after a 
 cold winter; but even after a very heavy shower 
 they are quite dry again. Only, I repeat, it is an 
 essential condition that sufficient outlet be fur- 
 nished for proper drainage of water. 
 
 Grass drives and paths also, which can be made 
 by laying grass sods, must have on top of the 
 stone foundation half a foot of earth under the 
 grass and be protected with covered or open 
 drains to last well for riding ; they are then more 
 agreeable than paved roads. 
 
Roads and Paths 89 
 
 Finally, I may remark that for the subsoil of 
 a road sand is the best ; even swampy ground is 
 better than heavy, impenetrable clay, which will 
 not allow water readily to pass through. 
 
 If, later on, depressions and bad spots show 
 themselves, these need only to be picked up, 
 freshly spread with coal ashes, builder's waste, 
 and gravel, and be well pounded. In very bad 
 weather, especially in spring, the earth that has 
 been loosened by vehicles should be scraped off, 
 and as soon as dry weather sets in the yearly 
 quota of gravel should be spread over, the river 
 running through my park conveniently furnish- 
 ing the necessary material. 
 
 The chief rules for roads are thus limited to 
 the following : — 
 
 ( 1 ) Lay them out so that they lead insensibly 
 to the finest views. 
 
 (2) They should form an attractive and prac- 
 tical line. 
 
 {3) They should divide the spaces through 
 which they run into picturesque sections if those 
 spaces are visible in their whole extent. 
 
 (4) They should never make a turn without 
 the requisite obstacle that necessitates it. 
 
 (5) Finally, they should be well constructed 
 and should always be hard, smooth, and dry. 
 
 I am convinced that whoever accurately fol- 
 lows these rules will not be dissatisfied with the 
 result, and if the locality is at all favorable, the 
 expense will be found to be considerably less 
 than, perhaps, is expected. 
 
Chapter IX 
 
 Water 
 
 THOUGH not so indispensable to landscape 
 as a rich vegetation, fresh and clear water, 
 whether stream or lake, greatly increases its charm. 
 Eye and ear are equally delighted, for who does 
 not hearken with delight to the sweet murmur of 
 the brook, the distant plashing of the mill wheels, 
 the prattling of the pearly spring ? Who has not 
 been enchanted in quiet hours by the perfect 
 calm of the slumbering lake in which the giants 
 of the forest are dreamily mirrored, or by the 
 aspect of foaming waves, chased by the storm, 
 where the sea-gulls merrily rock? But it is very 
 difficult for the artist to conquer Nature here, 
 or to impose on her what she herself has not 
 created on the spot. 
 
 Therefore, I would advise to leave undone 
 altogether a faulty imitation. A region without 
 water can still present many beauties, but a bad- 
 odored swamp infects every one ; the first is only 
 a negative fault ; the second a positive, and, with 
 the exception of the owner himself, nobody will 
 take a cesspool of this kind for a lake, or a stag- 
 nant ditch overgrown with duckweed for a stream. 
 But if one can by any means guide a running 
 stream into one's own property, if the terrain 
 
Water 91 
 
 gives any prospect of it, one should do one's ut- 
 most, and forego neither expense nor pains to ac- 
 quire such a great advantage ; for nothing offers 
 such an endless variety to the beholder as does 
 the element of water. 
 
 But in order to give water, artificially ob- 
 tained, whatever form it may take, a natural, 
 unforced appearance, much trouble is necessary. 
 In the whole art of landscape gardening, per- 
 haps nothing is more difficult to accomplish. 
 Englishmen are very backward in this matter ; 
 even the ornamental waters of Repton, their best 
 landscape artist, which I have seen, failed in many 
 respects. Mr. Nash alone has given us a few fine 
 samples — Regent's Park in London among 
 others.' 
 
 His work in St. James's Park is less successful, 
 though the task here was perhaps an impossible 
 one on account of the small territory. His mode 
 of procedure, as he explained it to me, was as 
 simple as it was ingenious. He had the entire 
 surface of the ground surveyed, noting all the 
 dips and elevations, to learn where an inunda- 
 tion might find its natural bed. From this he 
 constructed in a natural manner the form of his 
 artificial waters, only digging out the ground 
 where necessary. He thus obtained the double 
 advantage of a more natural outline and less ex- 
 pensive work. In most parks of the well-to-do 
 
 ' It is possible that equally good examples are to be found in the 
 celebrated work of Loudon and of Mr. Kennedy. I do not know these, 
 however. 
 
92 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 English, the waters are still the parties honteuses^ 
 or eye-sores of the whole, often slimy, very sel- 
 dom quite concealing their artificial origin. 
 
 Several of the rules which I have given for 
 laying out roads and for the outlines of planta- 
 tions can be readily applied to the shape of the 
 water effects. As in the former case one can, ac- 
 cording to the requirements of the terrain and 
 the obstacles that occur, bring in sometimes long 
 and sometimes short, abrupt bends, making pref- 
 erably rounded corners rather than semicircles, 
 sometimes even quite sharp turns where the 
 water is visibly diverted. Both banks of a stream 
 or brook should follow fairly parallel lines, yet 
 with various nuances, which must be decided, not 
 according to one's fancy, but by the laws deter- 
 mined by its course. Two rules hold good al- 
 most universally : — 
 
 (i) The side toward which the stream turns 
 should have a lower bank than the opposite, be- 
 cause the higher one diverts it. 
 
 (2) Where the current of the water suddenly 
 becomes swift and yet needs to be turned aside 
 lest it break bounds if left free, a sharp bend 
 should be constructed rather than a round one 
 and a steeper shore should signify the conflict. 
 But never follow what our gardeners call "noble 
 lines." ^ I suppose the terrain to be the same in 
 
 ' In Berlin I once saw in a water feature such imaginary lines of 
 beauty actually following a barrier painted green and on an open lawn, 
 without any obstacle which would excuse it, running on in regular 
 curves close by a straight road. This must have doubled the cost with- 
 out arriving at any result but that of making the owner ridiculous. 
 

 -s^* 
 
 r #' 
 
 Plate VI. Diagrams showing Arrangements of Rivers, Lakes, and Islands 
 
Water 93 
 
 both cases. The old practice would give the line 
 of the stream as illustrated in Plate VI, a; the 
 student of Nature will try to make it something 
 like b. 
 
 Frequently, larger and smaller promontories, 
 as well as deep bays tend to give the scene a 
 natural appearance, and it is equally effective to 
 vary the height and form of the crown or upper 
 part of the bank. One must be careful to avoid 
 high finish in constructing the slope of the bank 
 in such a way as to betray the artificial work. 
 
 An exception to this may be made in the 
 case of the " pleasure-ground " ; but here also it 
 would be well to strike a middle course between 
 Nature and cultivation. (See Plate VI, c, for the 
 stiff, and d, for the more natural, bare bank; 
 e, for the advantages of variety in the banks on 
 both sides.) The plantation supplies what is still 
 lacking and completes the whole by the free play 
 of the overhanging branches. It would hardly 
 be possible to give an entirely natural appearance 
 to an artificial bank without a plantation. 
 
 If one would like a larger, more lakelike ex- 
 panse of water, which is especially desirable in 
 the view from the mansion, one should so treat 
 it — partly by means of islands, partly by very 
 deep bays, the limits of which are mostly con- 
 cealed in shrubbery — that from no one point 
 the whole mass of water can be overlooked, but 
 that everywhere, behind the thick shrubbery, the 
 water appears to flow onward ; otherwise, every 
 piece of water will appear small, even though it 
 
94 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 should take an hour to walk round it. Open, 
 grassy banks, single high trees, woods, and thick- 
 ets should vary the effect with broad spots where 
 the sunlight can have full entry, in order not to 
 deprive the water of its transparency and bril- 
 liancy by concealment. A lake whose shores are 
 entirely in shadow loses much of its effective- 
 ness, as the water reveals all its magic only under 
 the full rays of the sun, where the reflections 
 from above appear to come from the bottom in 
 transparent, silvery clearness. I have frequently 
 seen this very necessary rule quite ignored by 
 unskillful gardeners. The projecting tongues of 
 land must, for the greater part, run into pointed, 
 not rounded ends, for I cannot sufficiently dwell 
 on the fact that no line in picturesque landscape 
 is more unpropitious than that taken from the 
 circle, especially in any great extent of space. A 
 tongue of land which ends quite in a point, and 
 is at its termination almost in the same line as 
 the water, and beyond which the water appears 
 on the other side, makes quite a charming variety, 
 especially when a few high-branched trees stand 
 on it, and where one looks through under the 
 foliage. If any important object stands near, — 
 a building, hill, or conspicuous tree, — plenty 
 of room should be given for its reflection in the 
 water, and attention should be drawn to the pic- 
 ture shimmering in its depths by a path or bench 
 placed there for the purpose. 
 
 Water plants, reeds, etc., the various species 
 of irises, and other free-blooming water plants 
 
Water 95 
 
 in the " pleasure-ground," are extremely useful. 
 They blend the different parts of the picture in 
 a light and agreeable way. Reeds are best sown 
 by kneading the seeds in balls of clay and then 
 throwing them into the water. 
 
 (See, for the above, Plate VI. The form ^ is 
 by no means the worst which I have seen car- 
 ried out, nor will I say that g is the best for 
 execution ; but the latter will assuredly make a 
 more picturesque effect, and from no point of 
 view will the end of the water be visible, which 
 is one of the chief considerations.) 
 
Chapter X 
 
 Islands 
 
 A LONELY spot in a well-wooded island, 
 or the distant view of a mass of arching 
 foliage swimming on the crystal surface of the 
 water, is more attractive to many than all the 
 charms obtainable on dry land. This pleasure 
 also must, therefore, be sought and provided 
 for. 
 
 Islands scattered in a large lake or judiciously 
 arranged in the broad, flowing river are of great 
 assistance and add much to the beauty of the 
 whole by their variety. Here, too, the example 
 of Nature must be very fully studied. It is re- 
 markable how seldom this is the case, and I can 
 hardly remember having seen anywhere an arti- 
 ficial island which did not betray at first glance 
 its forced, unnatural origin. Thus I recently 
 found, even in the small celebrated Royal Gar- 
 dens attached to Buckingham House, which I 
 have highly praised elsewhere, one which repre- 
 sented more the picture of a pudding in its sauce 
 than an island built up by Nature. It is true 
 that Nature sometimes indulges in peculiar freaks, 
 but there is always yV ne sais quoi, which cannot 
 be attained by mere imitation; therefore, it be- 
 comes us to follow her rules, not her exceptions. 
 
Islands 97 
 
 just as the painter must avoid certain true effects, 
 merely because, being too rare or too difficult to 
 represent, they must appear unnatural even if 
 they should not be so. Here also one may ap- 
 ply the saying, " Le vrai souvent tiest pas vrai- 
 semblable." 
 
 Generally, as I have said, artificial islands can 
 be recognized at the first glance. Their shape is 
 either oval or round, sloping down equally on all 
 sides, and planted at random in separate patches. 
 Nature forms them quite otherwise, seldom by 
 building up, more frequently by erosion. For 
 how does an island originate ? It is made by 
 flowing water, and there are laws for it. Either 
 a piece of land which has withstood the pressure 
 of the flood by its height and solidity, or which 
 has been forcibly torn away, or an eminence 
 which is quietly surrounded by a stream in its 
 course, or finally, accumulated soil which has 
 been borne along by the stream, remains after 
 the flood has receded as an island above low 
 water. In the first case sudden declivities and 
 corners and abrupt, as well as rounded, lines 
 will appear. (See Plate VII, a.) In the second 
 and third case (see Plate VII, b^y the ends will 
 nearly always be sharply pointed; a rounded 
 oval will seldom be the result ; never an entirely 
 rounded island. Islands in the middle of a stream, 
 or, at least, those at some distance from the 
 bank, mostly take the shapes here indicated. 
 Single obstructions produce different shapes ; for 
 instance, a break in the side will probably result 
 
98 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 in shape c (see Plate VII, c) with some incidental 
 nuances in the detail of the line. 
 
 Where the water flowing swiftly into a basin 
 forms an island at the inlet, it will take about 
 the shape of ^ (Plate VII, ^) ; following the outer 
 banks, the swiftly flowing stream, by its strong 
 pressure on both sides, will somewhat round the 
 ends. But if the river widens into a lake by 
 gently filling a deep basin, rather than by rush- 
 ing into it, then e (Plate VII, ^) may be assumed 
 as the natural shape, for here the river does not 
 round off both sides, but forms, in a slow cur- 
 rent on the right, a long spit on the left bank, 
 beyond which the quiet water, no longer in a 
 powerful stream, gently flows round the higher 
 ground. Very seldom, on the other hand, does 
 a stream flow into a basin as is generally made 
 out, after the model of a bottle. (See Plate 
 VII, /.) 
 
 Let the surface and shelving of an island on 
 the same principle be constructed in accordance 
 with the probable effect of the terrain and the 
 water which washes it. The equal shelving on 
 all sides with equality of height throughout is 
 the commonest mistake. I fell into this error 
 at first. (See the objectionable form g and the 
 better form y6, in Plate VII; ^ is bad and h is 
 good.) 
 
 But even the best forms may be bettered by 
 plantations skillfully arranged, covering the spots 
 that appear less satisfactory and giving more 
 variety to the surface without disturbing the 
 
Plate VII. A Diagram showing Different Arrangements of Islands 
 
Islands 99 
 
 harmony, concerning which the right feeling 
 certainly must again decide, united taste and ex- 
 perience recognizing the proper course, which 
 cannot be altogether taught by correct rule. 
 What has been said about shrubberies applies 
 also to islands, since the former may be consid- 
 ered as islands of shrubs on the lawn. I append 
 here only two examples, / and k, which can be 
 much modified. Islands planted down to the 
 water's edge cannot be quite failures, be their 
 shape what it may, and if the construction is 
 poor, it is the only alternative. I should never 
 recommend leaving the island entirely unplanted, 
 even if it is of a very good form, since the bare 
 outline of Nature, if I may so express it, is the 
 most difficult of all to imitate. Finally, one 
 must confess that, with all our endeavors to em- 
 ulate Nature, she yet retains in petto something 
 unattainable, and says to us poor human beings, 
 " Thus far and no farther." 
 
Chapter XI 
 
 Rocks 
 
 IT is a doubtful task to make rocks, and where 
 Nature does not supply the real thing in the 
 neighborhood so that it can be blasted and built 
 up again in its old form, no one can quite reach 
 his ideal by any imitation. 
 
 But there is a middle course for which Na- 
 ture likewise supplies models ; that is, masses of 
 heaped-up stones driven together by floods or 
 mountain streams, which, without human agency, 
 present something of a rocky character and are 
 at least extremely picturesque. 
 
 This genre can be well imitated, and one only 
 needs to be careful to make such piles consistent 
 by allowing isolated pieces of rock to lie about 
 in the vicinity and by placing the rocks so that 
 they emerge from earth, plantation, or water, 
 and are only partially visible, never in their whole 
 circumference. They may also occasionally be 
 connected with a stretch of wall built of blasted 
 field stone, as if, for some purpose, say recon- 
 structing a bridge or supporting a steep bank, 
 one had merely taken advantage of the rocks 
 which had naturally accumulated and had sup- 
 plemented the rest with a wall for the same 
 purpose. This supplies the opportunity to col- 
 
< 
 
 c 
 
 < 
 
Rocks ioi 
 
 lect such plants as demand a rocky soil, and 
 which are often very ornamental, especially near 
 water, where such rock-work is most desirable 
 for a bulkhead, dam, strong wall, etc., and in a 
 large park they are almost indispensable. 
 
 A slight artistic touch which can be recom- 
 mended is to set the stones in a slanting direc- 
 tion, as if they had been forced up in that 
 manner, and to make one or more of the edges 
 stand out conspicuously, which gives the whole 
 a more picturesque and bold aspect. As an ex- 
 ample for illustration I append the drawings of 
 two dams and a supporting wall which have 
 been built according to these principles on my 
 estate. (See Plates VIII, IX, and X.) 
 
 The dams were built from the foundation, as 
 far as they were not visible, of brick, in a rock 
 wall, and then covered and overlapped with 
 pieces of rock, while, of course, needful care 
 was taken to obtain the most picturesque fall of 
 water, which must, by no means, be left to 
 chance, and also to arrange the shrubberies and 
 plantations suitably. 
 
Chapter XII 
 
 Earthworks and Esplanades 
 
 THERE is not much to be said about this 
 subject, except that such works should be 
 avoided as much as possible. The natural un- 
 evenness of the terrain is, as a rule, more pictur- 
 esque than inequalities painfully wrought out by 
 art. Artificial hills generally make little effect, 
 and should be made only where necessary in 
 order to obtain a view from their summits, to 
 give additional height to a plantation, or to 
 get rid of the earth dug from a lake. The direc- 
 tions given for islands may be substantially fol- 
 lowed here, since water has often contributed to 
 the shaping of the natural elevations, partly 
 rounding them or partly tearing them away. 
 The surfaces and sides should be alternated by 
 steep and more gradual lines without running 
 into confusion, and plantations should do the 
 rest. 
 
 When fine old trees that you do not wish to 
 remove happen to stand on a spot to be filled 
 in, the custom in England is to surround them 
 with a kind of well constructed of stones, in 
 which air and moisture can penetrate to the 
 roots. With oaks, however, this is not necessary. 
 I have been surprised to find that old as well as 
 
Earthworks and Esplanades 103 
 
 young oaks may be buried up to one third of 
 their height without suffering in the least. 
 
 Although in general a certain undulation of 
 the terrain is advisable, at times an excellent 
 effect is brought about by making the bottom 
 of little valleys, having steep surroundings, quite 
 level. We often find such formations in Nature 
 which charm us by the contrast. 
 
 On meadows, as a rule, here. and there the 
 little ups and downs must be leveled, for practi- 
 cal reasons as well as appearance, but larger un- 
 dulations of the terrain should in no case be 
 unnecessarily disturbed. But if, nevertheless, it 
 is desirable for other reasons to remove and level 
 any considerable height, and any fine trees hap- 
 pen to be standing there which should not be 
 removed, then I advise leaving them standing 
 on single small hillocks (tertres^ which give the 
 meadow still more variety, for which reason I 
 have often deliberately planted in this way and 
 with good results. In this connection I will add 
 a remark that would have been more in place 
 in a former chapter. If it is desired to select the 
 best point of view from which to see an unusu- 
 ally fine tree or group of trees, this must be 
 sought, not at the foot of the group, but from a 
 point about half its height, if possible from a 
 steep slope, and at a distance double its height. 
 It will then appear twice as imposing as if seen 
 from the foot, where one must look up to it. 
 
 In all soil removals, where no gravel plots, 
 roads, or houses are intended, the humus or top 
 
104 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 soil must be carefully removed and spread over 
 the finished surface again, as everybody knows, 
 yet I have seen this precaution neglected more 
 often than one would think. 
 
Chapter XIII 
 
 Maintenance 
 
 HAVING explained in the preceding chap- 
 ters how a landscape may be ennobled and 
 in a way created by art, I conclude with a few 
 words as to its maintenance. It is quite impos- 
 sible to plant a large, extensive park so that it 
 will present the same picture when full grown 
 as it did at the beginning, except on an altered 
 scale, and so that the objects in it shall be for- 
 ever after in the right relation to one another ; 
 for Nature cannot be calculated so accurately 
 and it would also take too much time. 
 
 Here we meet with the drawbacks of our art, 
 in a certain sense, though it may also be regarded 
 as an advantage. For it is impossible to create a 
 finished, permanent work of art in landscape 
 gardening, such as the painter, sculptor, and 
 architect are able to produce, because our ma- 
 terial is not inanimate, but living ; we can say 
 of the landscape gardeners' art, as of all Nature's 
 own pictures, as Fichte said of the German lan- 
 guage, " It is about to be, but never is " ; that 
 is, it never stands still, can never be fixed and 
 left to itself. Hence a skillful guiding hand is 
 always necessary for works of this kind. If the 
 hand is lacking too long, they not only deterio- 
 
io6 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 rate, they become something quite different ; but 
 if the hand is present, beauties are continually 
 being added without losing or sacrificing those 
 already in existence. The chief tool which we 
 use — that is, our brush and chisel — is the spade 
 for construction; the chief tool for maintenance and 
 improvement is the axe. It must not rest for a 
 single winter, or it will happen to us with the 
 trees as with the water-carriers in the tale of the 
 "Wizard's Apprentice" — they will grow over 
 our heads. 
 
 But the axe is just as necessary for keeping 
 the plantations everywhere at the right height 
 as for attaining the right density, for giving them 
 plenty of air, and for providing against over- 
 crowding. As, moreover, thinning is the quick- 
 est and lightest work, and in winter there is not 
 much else to be done, there is always plenty of 
 time for it, provided one never misses a year. 
 
 To keep large masses of mixed plantations at 
 a given height one must not, as it were, decapi- 
 tate them all, but only regularly every year cut 
 out the highest growth, which then for the 
 greater part will produce new undergrowth, and 
 after a certain term of years will begin in turn 
 to be the highest. In this manner the planta- 
 tions appear always of the same age and natural 
 form, a piece of art of which it may be truly 
 said that it is a pity that it cannot be applied to 
 mankind. 
 
 Where there are narrow vistas, single trees 
 must be decapitated here and there, but this can 
 
Maintenance 107 
 
 be done so that the tree will not be disfigured, 
 at least, not when it is covered with leaves. The 
 evergreens must be cut close exactly at the crown 
 of the branches, — I mean at the base of one 
 of its yearly growths, — and then the branches 
 tied together. This conceals the operation very 
 quickly. With deciduous trees also the branches 
 must be cut out only where another branch is 
 growing close by, so that a naked stump is never 
 left conspicuous. The oftener groups of this sort 
 are skillfully cut, the less will be the work and 
 the more thick and natural will they grow. I 
 repeat, however, that one must not miss any- 
 thing, and at the outset one should calculate how 
 high the plantations are intended to be, for after 
 too long neglect it is difficult to regulate them 
 without damage. 
 
 I have said before that density and vigorous 
 growth in vegetation can be got only by thin- 
 ning the plantations. This is most important ; 
 otherwise one rears nothing but wooden sticks, 
 which at times may find place in a park for the 
 sake of variety, but their presence cannot be con- 
 sidered the rule. For free development on all 
 sides every plant requires as much light and air 
 as it can obtain consistently with the health, 
 density, and luxuriousness of all. This is the 
 freedom of the trees, that freedom which we 
 human beings also desire so much for our- 
 selves. 
 
 Large sections of forests, which are not in- 
 tended to be in the nature of a grove, are treated 
 
io8 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 simply in forester's style; that is, at stated pe- 
 riods they are thinned out according to the na- 
 ture of the wood ; with birches, sixty to eighty 
 (because birches in shade when cut down recover 
 with difficulty) ; with other kinds, about one 
 hundred larger trees can be left standing on an 
 acre. The only alteration which I permit myself 
 is that the larger trees are left standing, not all 
 singly, but partly in groups, which is more in 
 accordance with landscape, if not with forester's, 
 principles, with us, of course, the first considera- 
 tion. 
 
 All that I have laid down here applies especi- 
 ally to landscape on a large scale — to the park. 
 In the " pleasure-ground " and the gardens one 
 is justified, by the smaller scale and the far larger 
 choice of plants (especially the number of shrubs 
 which serve the purpose), in a looser application 
 of these rules, for only so much thinning out is 
 necessary as concerns the health of the plants, 
 or at times the improvement of their shape. 
 '^ On the maintenance of meadows I have al- 
 ready enlarged, and so no further remarks are 
 necessary except that every year they must be 
 rolled at least once and if possible twice ; that 
 moles must be diligently caught; that in spring 
 and autumn these meadows must be watered ; 
 and that every three or four years they must be 
 manured if they are to be always fresh and thick- 
 set. Rivers and lakes require occasional repairs 
 when damaged by accidents, but no maintenance. 
 The more the water gnaws at the shores, and 
 
Maintenance 109 
 
 the more the edges are clothed with green and 
 water plants, the better. 
 
 But the cleaning out of ponds which are not 
 very deep is advisable every three years, partly 
 to prevent clogging of the bottom with water 
 mosses and other plants, partly for economy's 
 sake, because the collected sediment or mud 
 makes the best manure for meadows. 
 
 I believe I have enumerated herewith all the 
 chief points in the theory of our profession, land- 
 scape gardening (although in accordance with 
 my plan, only partially and in a cursory manner), 
 and shall pass on to the second practical part 
 which describes the application of the foregoing 
 to a particular spot. 
 
PART SECOND 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE PARK IN 
 MUSKAU AND ITS ORIGIN 
 
Part Second 
 
 Description of the Park in Muskau 
 and its Origin 
 
 I CONFESS that it is with some trepidation 
 that I begin the present description. Although 
 this little work, in view of its purely didactic 
 nature, can make no great pretension to be en- 
 tertaining, yet it is to be feared that the follow- 
 ing very dry analysis of certain special conditions 
 must be tedious in still greater degree than the 
 foregoing part to any one who does not have a 
 very personal interest in such undertakings. 
 
 Nevertheless, it is a fact that I have taken up 
 the pen only for this latter class, and less apology 
 is due them because I found myself obliged, in 
 order to make the matter readable, to introduce 
 much that was personal. No doubt it can interest 
 the great public but little, while those who de- 
 sire to turn the book to account as a guide and 
 handbook for their own undertakings may find 
 in these personal matters some profit ; for many 
 will find themselves in similar situations, either 
 in respect to the whole or in this or that detail, 
 and will perhaps be less intimidated by difiicul- 
 ties and overcome them more easily when they 
 see how I succeeded in mastering them. 
 
 I must begin by frankly confessing that who- 
 
114 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 ever should expect to find in Muskau already a 
 completed, I mean a finished, work, would be 
 quite disappointed. Hardly a third of the plan 
 has so far been carried out, although perhaps 
 three-fourths of the work has been done ; for sel- 
 dom has a private person had to contend in such 
 undertakings with greater obstacles than I have. 
 Among others more than two thousand acres of 
 the needful terrain were the property of individ- 
 ual citizens of the town or the neighboring vil- 
 lages, and we know how difficult it is to acquire 
 such pieces of land, even at three or four times 
 their value. Moreover, a whole street in the 
 small town, which ran directly past my " Schloss " 
 or castle, had to be bought first, then removed 
 to suit my plan, and a lake had to be dug on the 
 spot. A number of large, and in part even magnifi- 
 cent, buildings belonging to me were so unfortu- 
 nately situated that they could not remain. Again, 
 the castle itself was surrounded by ancient fortifi- 
 cations, deep moats and walls eight to ten feet 
 thick, which last had been built in the solid old 
 times of our forefathers, and would have to be 
 blown up with powder.^ 
 
 But the work of destroying these fortifications 
 and filling up the moats was unavoidable, partly 
 because the stagnant standing water was detri- 
 mental to health and partly because the whole 
 
 ' I was compelled to make a regular assault with battering-rams 
 manned by twenty or thirty men, and, in order to get rid of them, to 
 bury the pieces broken down which still stuck together. One does not 
 make such walls nowadays, neither common masons nor freemasons, nor 
 statesmen and nations, however anxious they are to build. 
 
The Park in Muskau 115 
 
 genre Q-ppesred foreign to the character and purpose 
 of the building as well as to the whole region. 
 
 In order to obtain the earth required for filling 
 in, and at the same time be able to have the com- 
 mand of several pieces of water, it was necessary 
 to plan and excavate a new arm from the river 
 which runs through the park, which arm, in a 
 course of two or three miles, forms two lakes of 
 considerable area. The last and perhaps the great- 
 est difficulty was that five to six hundred acres 
 of land nearest to the castle consisted of barren 
 sand and clay, hard as iron, and this could only 
 be made fertile at great expense. 
 
 I therefore was confronted with more difficul- 
 ties at the very outset than many a man in a more 
 favorable situation finds throughout his entire 
 work. Plate XI, for instance, gives the view from 
 the drawing-rooms of the castle as it is now, and 
 on the flap or folding sheet, as it was. On Plates 
 ^ and B, two ground-plans of the park in these 
 different epochs, one can follow every detail of 
 my descriptions.^ 
 
 The greater part of the preliminary work is 
 now complete; all that remains is the construc- 
 tion of roads, plantations, and small changes of 
 the surface by grading, and the erection of sev- 
 eral buildings, all of which will be easy in com- 
 parison with the really colossal earthwork done 
 at the beginning, although considerable time and 
 
 ' I have purposely not drawn these plans in the picturesque manner 
 now so much in favor, since picturesque effects are only adequately 
 shown in pictures, while here it was a question of concise statement of 
 particulars. 
 
ii6 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 expense are still required. The great losses that 
 I suffered for years through war and other un- 
 toward circumstances have obliged me since then 
 to proceed slowly, yet I hope to see the main 
 part of the work completed within ten years, 
 with the exception of some of the buildings, 
 which I perhaps must leave for my descendants 
 to complete. Until then, therefore, I request all 
 who visit the park not to expect too much, and 
 to suspend, for the greater part, their judgment 
 on its present condition, and perhaps to rely more 
 upon my book than on my achievements; since 
 they might take for completed what is only pro- 
 visional, and much would seem a failure to the 
 expert which is only permitted to remain because 
 more important matters necessarily precede its 
 definite removal.^ 
 
 It is hardly possible to lay out a park with suc- 
 cess in sections ; that is, to complete entirely one 
 part before beginning with the next. On the con- 
 trary, for the artistic interests of the whole, as 
 well as for economy of time and money, every- 
 thing must, so far as it is feasible, progress in 
 unison ; almost, one may say, as good strategy 
 will unite troops from various positions for the 
 decisive battle, so here the goal will be reached 
 by converging from all sides, not piecemeal. 
 
 ' Thus, I was recently blamed by a very capable expert for planting 
 too many kinds of trees together and for laying out too few groves. He 
 was right, but had not considered that only the plants which are happi- 
 est in their growth are destined to remain; the others will be removed; 
 and that groves should be constructed where the growth has reached its 
 best period, and that until then the trees have been properly treated. 
 
The Park in Muskau 117 
 
 When all is finished, the greater, nay, the 
 greatest, part of the real merit of the work will 
 remain unnoticed by the casual stranger, and the 
 more that this is true, the better it is. But this is 
 just the intelligent man's endeavor and triumph 
 to make one believe that everything which he 
 sees must be exactly so and not otherwise, and 
 that from all time it has not been very different. 
 It would grieve me much if, for instance, at the 
 sight of the luxuriant meadows in my park, any 
 one should now trouble himself with the idea 
 that formerly here the thistle scarcely grew, 
 or, when he comfortably rolls by on the level 
 drive amidst abundant foliage he should be sud- 
 denly brought up by the reflection, that formerly 
 in this place a bottomless morass hardly afforded 
 an approach to grazing cattle. The perfection of 
 landscape art is reached only in the region where 
 it again appears to be untrammeled Nature, but 
 in her noblest manifestation. We find here a cu- 
 rious affinity between the art of the landscape 
 maker and that of the actor, since these are the 
 only two among all the arts that take Nature 
 herself for material and at the same time for the 
 representation of the theme, the actor endeavor- 
 ing to portray in his own person ideal man and 
 the landscape maker welding together the mate- 
 rial as he finds it in the rough and creating ideal 
 landscape. Unfortunately the similarity can be 
 carried still further, for the creations of both art- 
 ists are fleeting, although the landscape maker 
 still has some advantages over the actor. 
 
ii8 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 Even so one might compare a higher garden 
 art with music and, at least as fitly as architecture 
 has been called "frozen music," to call garden 
 art " growing music." It, too, has its symphonies, 
 adagios, and allegros, which stir the senses with 
 vague but powerful emotions. Further, as Nature 
 offers her features to the landscape gardener for 
 use and choice, so does she offer to music her fun- 
 damental tones; beautiful like the human voice, 
 the song of birds, the thunder of the tempest, the 
 roaring of the hurricane, the bodeful wailing of 
 branches — ugly sounds like howling, bellowing, 
 clattering, and squeaking. Yet the instruments 
 bring all these out and work, according to cir- 
 cumstances, ear-splitting sounds in the hands of 
 the incompetent, entrancing when arranged by 
 the artist in an orderly whole. The genial Na- 
 ture painter does the same. He studies the mani- 
 fold material given him by Nature and by his art 
 works the scattered parts into a beautiful whole, 
 whose melody flatters the senses, but unfolds its 
 highest powers and yields the greatest enjoyment 
 only when harmony has breathed true soul into 
 the work. 
 
 But I wander too far from my theme. I shall 
 be asked, perhaps, after this enumeration of all 
 my difficulties, why I undertook such a work at 
 all? The grounds for doing so are the follow- 
 ing:— 
 
 When I conceived the plan of such a large 
 undertaking, my first reflection was this, that it 
 does not become a man, who has succeeded to 
 
The Park in Muskau 119 
 
 estates owned by his forefathers for centuries, to 
 turn his back on them and to seek his occupa- 
 tion or pleasure in life in a foreign country as long 
 as want or honor do not drive him to emigrate. 
 The property which I took over was very con- 
 siderable. A free lordship, endowed with sub- 
 ordinate sovereign rights and including the de- 
 pendent vassal property covering an area of ten 
 to eleven miles square, contains all that such 
 a situation demands, and consequently simplifies 
 the task for making further improvements. In 
 short, it might be regarded as an attractive place 
 to sojourn in itself. But, on the other hand, I 
 found this property carelessly left to its poverty 
 and lack of charm ; some luxury, it is true, but 
 nothing which showed the cult of the beautiful 
 was to be seen. Under these circumstances the 
 field for embellishment before me was a large one, 
 and I therefore held it to be my duty to be useful 
 here, all the more because I am of the opinion 
 that a large landowner, who directs his energies 
 continually to improve as well as to embellish his 
 property, to civilize the inhabitants given over to 
 his care, to increase their welfare and thereby 
 make the burdens of the land easier to them — 
 that man, I say, has at least earned as much grati- 
 tude from the State and is as much a true if vol- 
 untary and unpaid servant of the State as an official 
 who for a high salary sits for a few hours at a 
 desk, or a diplomat, for whom sometimes a post 
 almost amounting to a sinecure must be paid for 
 with many thousands, — a truth which many of 
 
I20 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 our rulers still seem to ignore, not exactly to the 
 profit of their country. 
 
 Even if I felt free to take the view that I did, 
 it was still a question whether, all things con- 
 sidered, I could have expected, with so few diffi- 
 culties, such great advantages as I found here. 
 
 The drawbacks were : — 
 
 ( 1 ) A generally sandy region covered for the 
 greater part with pine forests. 
 
 (2) A large area of poor soil in the territory 
 destined for the park. 
 
 (3) The necessity for tremendous preliminary 
 work before I could be in a position even to be- 
 gin the new grounds. 
 
 (4) The necessary acquisition of more than 
 two thousand acres of land that I did not own. 
 
 The advantages were as follows : — 
 
 ( 1 ) A picturesque " lie " of the ground every- 
 where, and a great variety of mountain and valley 
 and the prospect of the Silesian and Oberlausitz 
 Mountains. 
 
 (2) The presence of a considerable stream 
 which flows through the land which is to form 
 the park and makes, for some distance from the 
 banks, a rich, though narrow, pasture ground. 
 
 (3) Many hundreds of the most beautiful old 
 trees, which were already scattered throughout 
 this territory. 
 
 (4) The ease with which — as soon as the 
 enclosure of the above-mentioned two thousand 
 acres of land, recently purchased, had been com- 
 pleted — I could extend operations as far as re- 
 
The Park in Muskau 121 
 
 quired on my own soil and land, while in this 
 region the consequent loss of farm acreage was 
 not a very great consideration. 
 
 (5) The general cheapness of land labor and 
 cartage. 
 
 (6) All building material of my own produc- 
 tion, coming from brick kilns, iron foundries, 
 and glassworks, also wood of every kind in pro- 
 fusion, also abundance of field stones, large and 
 small, mostly of granite, rich marl quarries, etc. 
 
 (7) Lastly, the various means furnished by 
 such a large estate and by the disposition of so 
 many clerks and dependents whereby, on a large 
 scale, development is secured. 
 
 It will be seen that drawback (i) is nullified 
 by the advantages mentioned in advantage (i), 
 and it is almost a moot point whether such an 
 oasis, surrounded with woods, like an island by 
 the sea, cannot be, perhaps, the most favorable 
 spot for grounds of this kind.' 
 
 Moreover, forests of dark pine woods, melan- 
 choly when seen near at hand, at a distance 
 make a background and horizon against whose 
 dark masses the young green of deciduous foli- 
 age near by appears twice as gay, and colored 
 clouds of heaven afford a more brilliant con- 
 trast. 
 
 Drawback (2): The soil which was partly 
 
 ' Passing as one must a whole tract of somewhat barren country 
 before reaching Muskau, when all expectations are abandoned, a luxurious 
 landscape, summoned as if by magic, strikes with twice the force, just 
 as (if the comparison does not appear trivial) a rich meal is best en- 
 joyed by a hungry stomach. 
 
122 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 bad might be improved by a pasture, and this 
 was done later on; and drawback (3) was solved 
 in greater part by advantage (4). But here came 
 a still more important consideration. The hard- 
 ships caused by war were nothing less than un- 
 bearable for the poor peasants ; the burdens and 
 state imposts had become exorbitant. Without 
 an exceptional opportunity to earn wages, I may 
 say, as acknowledged by all the people around, 
 a proportion of the inhabitants here would have 
 starved or been forced to emigration of the most 
 helpless kind. 
 
 Nearly two hundred people whom I employed 
 for many years almost daily, partly in my fac- 
 tories, which at that time were my only source 
 of income, partly in the grounds, owe their ex- 
 istence to this alone, and so it was a precious 
 boon to me that I could in such an easy man- 
 ner combine my duty with my pleasure. How 
 seldom is this the lot of poor mankind ! 
 
 Nevertheless, I encountered much opposition ; 
 and when I began to demolish the road and to 
 use the material to fill the moat, several persons 
 were even doubtful whether I was still in my 
 right mind, and many capitalists who had put 
 money into my property gave me notice at once 
 and withdrew it, only to lose it later in stock 
 speculations. Others asserted that it was impos- 
 sible^ even for a man ten times as rich as I, to 
 realize such projects. But he who lets himself 
 be frightened by this word has but little experi- 
 ence; nineteen times out of twenty a firm will 
 
The Park in Muskau 123 
 
 and patience make the so-called " impossible " 
 quite easily possible. 
 
 In my own case faith has literally removed 
 more than one mountain, and erected as many, 
 and when people saw that things were going, 
 they began to put more faith in my plans ; and 
 I thankfully acknowledge that I afterwards found 
 friendly support where I expected only resist- 
 ance. Even my Wendish peasants, constituting 
 the chief part of the population, and standing 
 on a level of culture not exactly of the highest 
 kind, have acquired some sense of the beautiful, 
 so that they have since decorated their villages 
 with trees. If they at times stole wood in my 
 park, yet they only cut the stakes to which trees 
 were tied, without doing the slightest injury to 
 the young trees themselves, a piece of delicate 
 consideration which in the case of Wends de- 
 serves ample recognition. 
 
 I mention this only to encourage others not 
 to give in too soon when " impossibility " is set 
 up against the realization of their dearest hopes. 
 Thus, I allowed every one, without consideration 
 of persons, access to my grounds, although many 
 landowners assured me that this was likewise 
 " impossible," since the rough, often drunken, 
 people would cut down all the young trees and 
 pluck all the flowers. It is true that some ex- 
 cesses occurred at first. They were sharply pun- 
 ished when the culprits could be identified, and 
 when not, the damage was quickly and patiently 
 repaired, and the gates remained as before, open 
 
124 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 to every one. Very soon people were impressed 
 by this steady perseverance ; when often hun- 
 dreds take their pleasure in the spacious park, I 
 must admit, for the credit of the public, that 
 any serious mischief is quite exceptional. 
 
 My whole conduct in this has even obtained 
 the general approval of my former subjects,' in 
 spite of the hoards of pettifoggers and overseers 
 which have lately overrun our province, of 
 whom there are many who understand better 
 how to egg on peasants and landowners against 
 one another, emptying the pockets of both, than 
 to further harmony and culture, which is what 
 they forsooth proclaim as their aim. But since 
 then, the greatness of the evil itself, as well as 
 the true humanity of the higher magistrates, 
 have procured remedies, and in the highest man- 
 ner the graciousness of our Lord the King is 
 never to be sufficiently praised ; so I will hasten 
 from such repellent, and, God be thanked, partly 
 past, prose, and return to the innocent creations 
 of fancy. 
 
 I take this opportunity of returning once more 
 to the first chapter of this work, where I spoke 
 of the main idea which guided me in the lay- 
 ing-out of this park. I must, however, recount 
 in detail what were the preliminary steps to be 
 taken. 
 
 The region which was to serve me as a canvas 
 
 ' They are now called " Hintersassen " (vassals or copy-holders), 
 since subjects are now only held by the sovereign, and in France not 
 even by him. Assuredly the times are marching with seven-league 
 boots ! 
 
The Park in Muskau 
 
 125 
 
 consisted, as I have already remarked, of boundless 
 pine and fir woods on all sides, in whose center, in 
 a hilly region, the little country town of Muskau 
 lies. The town is especially distinguished by 
 houses which are, without exception, massive, 
 by several pretty churches and towers, and by a 
 certain general neatness, and lies picturesquely 
 on the side of a mountain, up to whose summit 
 the terrace gardens of the burghers climb. Fruit 
 gardens and little summer houses make the aspect 
 very pleasant. On the wide eastern mountain 
 plateau over the town, and in its immediate 
 neighborhood, one sees hidden, in limes and 
 oaks, the village of Berg with one of the oldest 
 church ruins in the Lausitz. Farther south, at 
 the end of the little town, the slope becomes 
 steeper and describes a half-circle, where it is 
 covered by tall beeches, oaks, and isolated ever- 
 greens, and presents many romantic ravines. Here 
 is an alum mine with large buildings, refining 
 and other works. The ridge of the chain of hills 
 here turns south again, and reaches its highest 
 point at an old vineyard where there is an exten- 
 sive view over the river Neisse and the moun- 
 tains of Silesia, Gorlitz, and Bautzen. Here the 
 hills disappear by degrees into the thick forest. 
 
 If one follows the same chain of hills from 
 the other end of the town, toward the north, 
 one arrives at the steep wooded shore of the 
 Neisse; a road runs alongside which from here 
 discloses a view of a bridge and a village crowned 
 by a forest. 
 
126 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 The reader may easily follow this description 
 on the plan (Plate XI), where the region is 
 shown as it used to be. He will further observe 
 how directly in front of the town the Neisse 
 meadows broaden out to the east, a completely 
 level valley through which the river runs for its 
 entire length. In this level place lie the old and 
 new castle, with their outbuildings, the theater, 
 stables, etc., close by the town, and a few hun- 
 dred paces farther a manor house as it used to 
 be and other buildings, now merely an old- 
 fashioned mill, the farmhouse, and some out- 
 buildings to which formerly a street of the town 
 near the castle used to lead. 
 
 The castle itself was surrounded on the other 
 side of the moats and fortifications by French 
 and kitchen gardens, later by a few of the novel 
 pseudo-English gardens, misunderstood in the 
 usual way that I have described as typical of the 
 Fatherland, but also by some remarkably fine 
 and wide linden avenues, which a foolish gar- 
 dener had partly decapitated, to protect a badly 
 placed orange house from the probable fall of 
 such large trees. The same absurdity was re- 
 peated farther on, where a pheasantry was placed 
 between meadows and deciduous forests. Several 
 giant firs have been either destroyed entirely, or 
 at least deprived of their crowns, under the pre- 
 text that an old, half-blind pheasant keeper could 
 not, it was presumed, shoot the birds of prey 
 which were wont to settle on the tops of the 
 trees. The remaining portion of the level space 
 
The Park in Muskau 127 
 
 was occupied by desolate, bare fields, most of 
 which belonged to the townsmen. Yet the 
 shores of the stream were enlivened everywhere 
 by a quantity of the finest oaks and other tall 
 trees. 
 
 On the other side of the stream, continuing 
 toward the east, not far from its shores, there 
 rises another low ridge which forms the second 
 plateau of the park ; this at some distance is bor- 
 dered again by a chain of hills, on the summit 
 of which there stretches a third still larger pla- 
 teau that slopes, on the farther side very gradu- 
 ally, toward the forest. On the edge of these 
 woods lies the village of Braunsdorf with a farm- 
 house, to which a badly kept avenue of lindens 
 led, the line of which crossing the country, did 
 not improve the aspect. I had most of them re- 
 moved later on to give more character to some 
 of the bare spots on the heights.' 
 
 From the highest point of the last-named chain 
 of hills, a very fine and wide view may be en- 
 joyed. The foreground is formed by the Neisse 
 Valley, with the township, the rising terrace 
 gardens of which are picturesquely mingled with 
 the thatched huts of the village of Berg, which 
 here seem to hang almost immediately over the 
 town. Southward in the ravines the alum works 
 
 ' As a remarkable example of the indifference of our forefathers to 
 enjoyment and decorum, I may instance that on these hills exactly op- 
 posite the castle the gallows stood for fifty years, the proximity of which, 
 every time the wind blew from the east, was evident in the most dis- 
 gusting manner. It cost me several thousands to get rid of this disagree- 
 able neighbor. 
 
128 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 and potters' ovens are smoking day and night, 
 and their pillars of fire with the approach of 
 dusk light up the whole region every evening. 
 Beyond is an expanse of fields following the 
 course of the river, dotted with old oaks and 
 other deciduous trees, and this part of the pic- 
 ture is finally framed in by forests ; only the blue 
 tops of the Landskrone, Tafelfichte, and Schnee 
 Koppe can be discerned above the sea of dark- 
 green foliage. On the right, finally, on the other 
 side of the Neisse, spread wide meadows, shaded 
 by tall trees, over which rises the fir-covered 
 mountain of the glassworks of Wolfshayn, the es- 
 tate of the famous jurist and philosopher Gravell. 
 Turning around, one sees only the wavy lines of 
 the dense black forest, dwindling to the farthest 
 horizon, unbroken save here and there by the 
 gleaming tips of a few distant church spires. 
 
 On this spot now stands a ruined pavilion, and 
 in ancient times stood, according to the legend, 
 a castle or watch-tower, of which there are still 
 some remains of ruined walls and cellars, such as 
 may be found in the neighboring fir woods of 
 Keula. A rather remarkable occurrence during 
 the war threw a new light on -this town, which, 
 however, like an ignis fatuus^ disappeared as 
 quickly as it came. One day a Russian staff offi- 
 cer appeared at the house of the Burgermaster 
 of the town, and springing from his foaming 
 Cossack steed, asked for some man who knew 
 the neighborhood well, to conduct him in a 
 search which was of great importance to him 
 
The Park in Muskau 129 
 
 and for which he had but little time to spare. 
 Under the peculiar circumstances of that time, 
 his request could hardly be refused, but, being 
 rather uneasy about the unknown intentions of 
 the stranger, a reliable person was sought out and 
 directed to make an exact report of whatever 
 happened. This individual afterwards made the 
 following report: The strange officer began by 
 interrogating his guide at great length concern- 
 ing all the conditions of this place, and at length 
 disclosed, but with strict injunctions of the great- 
 est secrecy, that he was here with the intention 
 of discovering a considerable treasure, of whose 
 existence and probable situation he possessed the 
 fullest particulars. He had been born in Moscow 
 and his Slav forefathers had in former times pos- 
 sessed the town of Muskau, whose name for- 
 merly was pronounced in the same manner and 
 had the same Slav origin as Moscow.^ Their cas- 
 tle used to stand in the forest, and a watch-tower 
 stood on the high hill already mentioned. 
 
 Upon this he showed the man a mouldy but 
 yet decipherable plan of the main features of the 
 region, and by pacing off in accordance with the 
 indications thereon, he really discovered the hith- 
 erto quite unknown remains of a cellar, and, about 
 forty paces farther on, those of a filled-up well, 
 where they began at once to dig, but could dis- 
 cover nothing but a few small coins which were 
 
 » It is rather striking that the attribution of a Slav origin is fairly cor- 
 roborated by an old manuscript chronicle of the town, in which it is 
 written as Moska. On the land charts it is also named in the same way. 
 
130 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 covered with green mould, and whose inscrip- 
 tion had been quite obUterated. As after contin- 
 uous toil nothing further came to light, the strange 
 treasure-seeker sent his assistant back, with the 
 announcement that on the morrow he would 
 bring more men with him. But the following 
 day he did not turn up, and when on the third 
 day the guide once more found himself alone on 
 the spot, he discovered that the earth had been 
 rummaged deeper still so that there was no doubt 
 that a fresh search had been made. The results 
 of it, as well as the mysterious officer, remained 
 unknown, and all the digging which some years 
 later I undertook from curiosity, when I learned 
 the events on my return from the campaign, also 
 remained fruitless. 
 
 These data are not entirely unconnected with 
 the following development of my plans. 
 
 After I had acquainted myself with the local- 
 ity I have depicted, and the possibility of carry- 
 ing out my plans, I decided to lay out as a park, 
 with the exception of the gardens already exist- 
 ing, the whole river domain with its bordering 
 plateaus and hill chains, pheasantry, field, manor, 
 mill, alum works, etc., from the last ravines of 
 the hill descending to the south to the villages 
 of Kobeln and Braunsdorf on the north (alto- 
 gether nearly four thousand acres of land), and 
 by taking in the slope behind the town, and a 
 portion of the village of Berg situated thereon, 
 to surround the town itself in such a way that it 
 would become merely a part of the park. 
 
The Park in Muskau 131 
 
 As it is a town which was formerly subject to 
 me and is still dependent upon me, its inclusion 
 in the project had an historical significance ; for 
 the main idea which formed the foundation of 
 the whole conception was nothing less than to 
 present a sensible picture of the life of our fam- 
 ily, or of the aristocracy of our country, in such 
 a way that the idea should, as it were, become 
 of itself apparent to the beholder. For this pur- 
 pose it was only necessary to utilize what was 
 already there, to elevate and enrich in the same 
 spirit, but not to violate its locality and history. 
 Many ultra-liberals will perhaps smile at such a 
 thought, but every form of human development 
 is worthy of honor, and just because that of which 
 I speak is perhaps nearing its end, it assumes a 
 universal, poetic, and romantic interest, which 
 so far cannot be extracted from factories, ma- 
 chines, or even constitutions, suum cuique. Yours 
 is now money and power — leave to the poor, 
 worn-out nobility its poetry, the sole thing which 
 is left to it. Honor the weak old age, ye Spar- 
 tans ! 
 
 I selected, therefore, as the central point, the 
 mountain dominating the region, as the ruins of 
 walls and the old legends sufficiently indicated 
 that it had once been the site of a feudal castle, 
 and it was decided to erect a building in the 
 simple style which was predominant in the Mid- 
 dle Ages for buildings of this kind, much like 
 some of the oldest castles on the Rhine in a 
 fairly good state of preservation. It was essential 
 
132 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 that art should give this castle the appearance of 
 real antiquity, but it was to be no useless ruin, 
 such as when newly constructed too much re- 
 sembles a mere plaything and must miss a decep- 
 tive effect because too much is left to the imagi- 
 nation. It should be merely an old castle, which, 
 in course of time, served other purposes; in short, 
 a partially reconstructed, often repaired, and con- 
 tinually used complete structure, of which there 
 are many such examples in our province. By 
 virtue of its location, it could therefore be very 
 appropriately used as the main building for farm 
 purposes and stables, since from the valley it ap- 
 pears to stand on steep heights on the border of 
 the forest, but on the other side its proximity to 
 the widest plateau makes it accessible from the 
 more level ground. The so-called inner "Burg," 
 with the solitary high watch-tower, from which 
 in these days, of course, no misshaped dwarf is 
 on the lookout for strange foes, was to serve as 
 a dwelling for the master and the tower as a fire- 
 watch, which, with the frequent forest fires of our 
 region, is only too necessary. Besides, if it were 
 thought more in keeping and more romantic, a 
 modern Seni' might employ himself with as- 
 trology in undisturbed solitude, or an alchemist, 
 for instance (as they are by no means extinct), 
 nay, even the baying of hounds, which was so 
 obligatory in all knightly tales, would not be 
 lacking, as the trainer for the hounds was lodged 
 there. 
 
 ' The name of the astrologer in Schiller's Wallenstein. 
 
Photographs by Thomas W. Sears 
 Two \'iews of the Castle and Moat at Muskau 
 
The Park in Muskau 133 
 
 But, joking apart, there is no lack of real tra- 
 dition among the people to give fiction an his- 
 torical basis. Besides the incidents I have related, 
 the old chronicle of the town records the follow^- 
 ing, which I translate into modern German with 
 only a few remarks of my own : — 
 
 Muskau or Mosca, otherwise called Muzakow, that 
 is " Town of men," was in the time of the Sorbs a re- 
 nowned holy place, where four of their temples stood 
 in oak groves. Here the holy image of old times, the 
 god of gods Swantewit, "the holy spirit, the holy fire," 
 was worshiped. The oracles of the horse dedicated to 
 him were promulgated by the priests, and the places 
 of sacrifice — ^one quite close to the baths — ^are easily 
 distinguishable. A large cemetery on the other side of 
 the town, full of urns which are still sometimes ex- 
 humed, indicates a place either largely populated, or at 
 least inhabited from time immemorial. At the conver- 
 sion of the Sorbs by Louis the Pious and to the time 
 of Hildewardt III, Bishop of Meissen, in 1060, the 
 worshipers of the old gods took refuge in these formerly 
 almost impenetrable forests, and their religious rites 
 were conducted for several centuries there with stealth 
 and seclusion. The statue of the god Zeutiber was said 
 to be still preserved here even at a much later date, 
 although in a damaged condition.' 
 
 The first "Graf" at Muskau was Theorious, whose 
 daughter Juliane was given as wife to Wittekind's son 
 of the same name. The Graf was said to be in great 
 demand, and the renown of his name has descended to 
 our times. 
 
 ' Compare the funeral monuments in the Troad and on the Euro- 
 pean peninsula of the whole Hellespont as far as Ganochoro and Hera- 
 clea, where the last examples are to be found. So in the Neisse Valley 
 here, and especially near Buchwalde and Werdeck, there are high green 
 hills covered with primeval oaks, called " Kraalsroo," or Kings' Graves, 
 by the Sorbs and Wends to this day. 
 
134 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 The Hungarians, after their great battle, were for 
 the first time entirely dispersed on their retreat in this 
 valley, which was then all forest, by the brave hero, 
 Graf Siegfried von Ringelhain, with the help of Graf 
 Bruno von Askanien.' 
 
 Markgraf Johann, son of Siegfried, built with his 
 portion of the booty the strong and well-protected 
 castle at Muskau as a land or frontier fortress, which 
 even the Emperors Henry III and IV, in 1109, be- 
 sieged in vain; afterwards the Markgraves had ceded 
 it to Herzog Vladislaus of Poland, from whom it was 
 acquired by Herzog Boleslaus of Bohemia. It was here 
 that Vladislaus lived three years of love and bliss with 
 the Herzog of Bohemia's daughter Michildam, after 
 having eloped with the beautiful maid from the Hrad- 
 schin, for whom her father had other intentions and 
 indeed had refused to give her to him as his bride. 
 There Boleslaus laid siege, beleaguered and stormed 
 the castle of Muskau, and took it. But the father's 
 anger had to yield to pity and mercy when he saw at 
 his feet his daughter a prisoner with her lovely little 
 boy. He forthwith forgave her, and Vladislaus, this 
 young prince, was afterward Herzog in Bohemia, and 
 showed, as Abraham Horsmann tells in his chronicle, 
 much affection for his birthplace of Muskau. The 
 town, which since that time had much grown, was laid 
 waste by the Tartars in the fearful battle of 12,41, so 
 important in its results. At that time also the old castle 
 was destroyed, of whose mighty towers no trace is left, 
 and of their site very little. The town was rebuilt on 
 its old site, but the new castle was now placed close up 
 to it. Knightly jousts and so-called "Torniamina" of 
 nobles and other gatherings of important people often- 
 
 ' The great Burgundy Chronicle, Dr. Hegemuller's book of heraldry, 
 printed in Munich, and Dr. Sekden's coat of arms, give certain things 
 of this matter, in folio 133. An official letter for Muskau from the Em- 
 peror Henry I. 
 
The Park in Muskau 135 
 
 times took place here. Before the Reformation Muskau 
 had a provost. This region from the time of the battle 
 with the Tartars until the last war of liberty continu- 
 ally experienced the horrors brought on by devasta- 
 tion. 
 
 First the Hussites pillaged it terribly. In the Thirty 
 Years' War Tiefenbach burned all the villages round 
 Muskau. The Croats plundered the town and castle. 
 Wallenstein lay in 1633 several days in this region with 
 the Imperial army. Soon after the forest was set on 
 fire ; it burned for six weeks, and by neglect of the 
 Swedes the new castle was also burned down ; it was 
 afterwards rebuilt, improved, and enlarged. The town 
 also was several times on fire, and, especially in the 
 year 1766, was totally laid in ashes, but, thanks to this 
 disaster, has a finer and more tasteful exterior than any 
 other country town of the same size. 
 
 So much for the documentary history of the 
 town, of which one may say, without improba- 
 bility, that on this same spot Vladislaus's beauti- 
 ful daughter lived sweetly fearful days in love 
 and terror. But as the poets often begin their 
 labor at the end of their works and finish the 
 beginning at the last, I have postponed the build- 
 ing of this town until the last. 
 
 In continuation of the chain of hills crowned 
 with forest and at a short distance from the town, 
 the cemetery chapel of the family will be found 
 situated, approached by a bridge with a sharp 
 curve. This chapel or church, the building of 
 which would have been the first duty of our pious 
 forefathers, is therefore probably copied from a 
 like ancient source and, with due regard to its 
 purpose, built in Byzantine, or, better still, in 
 
136 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 Roman, style. Farther on may be seen, at about 
 the same distance on the same declivity, a roughly 
 walled prominence on which an old lime tree has 
 grown, where, in a niche of this wall, a Holy 
 Virgin is placed after the old Catholic custom,' 
 and a resting-place offered, and the prospect of 
 the other world is allegorically represented by 
 one of the finest views on earth looking toward 
 the evanescent hills melting in pale blue distance. 
 
 On the plateau behind these various town build- 
 ings and as though belonging to them, the race- 
 course is situated, to which I shall return later. 
 
 This whole long chain of hills, as I have 
 already said, presents analogous conditions and 
 constitutes the only view toward the west from 
 the old as well as the new and now inhabited 
 castle. 
 
 After the little town had been built on the 
 river, under the protection of the feudal owners, 
 the times, as they became more peaceable and 
 easy, permitted the stern lords on the heights to 
 leave the comfortless castle and settle in more 
 companionable surroundings ; at least, the so- 
 called old castle was as a fact built in the fourteenth 
 century in the valley, and now serves as a court- 
 house for the magistrates. Its characteristics have 
 been carefully preserved, only its gables and old 
 armor have been restored and the statue of the 
 ancestor of our family, famous in the "Nibel- 
 
 * This figure of the Virgin is a very remarkable statue, found not 
 long ago, carved in petrified wood. It is attributed to the thirteenth or 
 fourteenth century. 
 
The Park in Muskau 
 
 137 
 
 ungenlied," Rudigen von Bechlarn, has been 
 added.' 
 
 As the open space before this building serves 
 as 2i point de vue for a street of the town and the 
 chief way to the park is at this entrance, the 
 equestrian statue of the old Magyar will be found 
 here, the best site for it. 
 
 At a later epoch my ancestors built, only a hun- 
 dred paces from the first castle, another one with 
 a much more agreeable exterior, connected with 
 the first by fortifications and moats suitable to 
 their enlarged property and more exalted rank 
 (they had just been elevated to the rank of 
 "Reichsgrafen"). An Italian architect built it 
 as well as a so-called "garden palace" at the 
 same distance on the other side, which was used 
 later on as a theater, and made half as large again 
 but deformed in the most tasteless manner in the 
 process. 
 
 One can see from the plan how 1 converted 
 
 ' It is true, I may say in passing, that in some genealogical works 
 doubt has been thrown on this genealogy of our family, but although it 
 has not been proved historically correct, it has been made highly prob- 
 able by some attested copies from ancient original documents, which 
 latter were unfortunately lost in a great fire at Schedlau in the beginning ' 
 of the sixteenth century, as well as by the identity of the name (as our 
 family name was written "Pechlarn " as late as the fifteenth century), 
 and lastly, by the similarity of the arms, as is proved by the monument 
 of Pellegrin, Bishop of Passau, a descendant of Budiger in the ninth cen- 
 tury, where the separate limbs of an eagle in four fields (quarterings) 
 are to be seen as in our arms of the present day. The formerly direct 
 branch of my family, the Grafen Piickler Limpurg auf Farrenbach, are 
 said to possess interesting information on the subject, which I hereby 
 invite them to disclose; for who can blame us for setting at a high value 
 the imperishable heroic stories of Germany, even if we only have prob- 
 ability on our side ? 
 
138 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 the old moats into a lake and stream by a canal 
 leading from the river Neisse, the latter sur- 
 rounding three sides of the new castle and divid- 
 ing it from the older quarter and from the theater. 
 According to my plans, to which my talented 
 friend Schinkel has certainly given the most de- 
 lightful form, the old castle in future will be con- 
 nected with the new by a high arched bridge, the 
 theater on the other side by a gallery, crossing 
 the water in a higher arch, the whole improve- 
 ment making a worthier residence in a further 
 extension of more than five hundred paces. 
 
 When we turn back for a moment to contem- 
 plate past centuries, we retrace the growing 
 development of industry and culture, which no 
 longer permitted the nobleman to be now a 
 pleasure-seeker and then, when the chance came, 
 a robber, but summoned him as well to engage 
 himself in industrial life. In consequence there 
 arose on the river buildings devoted to economic 
 purposes, — mills, breweries, distilleries, etc., — 
 which still show the old-fashioned, irregular style 
 with gables, projecting stories, and small win- 
 dows. Later the ground itself was explored, and 
 the alum works founded, which showed in the 
 architecture a less old-fashioned, more industrial 
 character. A vineyard closes the category of these 
 older ventures, whose product, however, is not to 
 be recommended. It seems either that our an- 
 cestors were satisfied with their poor wine, or that 
 the climate was warmer than at the present time, 
 for who would think at this date that the neigh- 
 
The Park in Muskau 139 
 
 borhood of Berlin, which in regard to beverages 
 can only boast of Weiss beer, formerly was a wine 
 country as is proved by the Berlin calendar? 
 
 In recent times, finally, when all the different 
 interests of the people have been more and more 
 amalgamated by the spread of education, — this 
 period marks the beginning of my modest work, 
 — a feeling for art and beauty at last began to 
 awaken in these regions, formerly overlooked 
 in the general march of culture. The leading 
 thought was to reflect the past in one congruous 
 picture, whereby everything which was still in 
 existence should be again emphasized, improved 
 as far as its purposes allowed, and embellished 
 and combined anew in a well-arranged whole. A 
 new source of income was found in the long 
 known, but never exploited, mineral waters which 
 rise near the mines, as well as the strong sulphur 
 springs in most productive meadows in neighbor- 
 ing valleys, which had been doubtless running 
 for centuries past and wasted in the dust of de- 
 cayed forests. By means of a hydropathic estab- 
 lishment, well furnished with all requisites, it was 
 sought to benefit also the suflTering of humanity. 
 
 Other undertakings were started, some with- 
 in the precincts of the castle, some elsewhere ; 
 namely, a wax bleachery, a fisherman's cottage, 
 and some colonies of cottages in the vicinity of 
 the village of Kobeln, near the alum works, and on 
 the Braunsdorf plain, each grouped as a whole and 
 arranged throughout as free dwellings for garden 
 hands, miners, and the needy ; further, an observ- 
 
140 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 atory and extensive cottage ornee, called " the Eng- 
 lish House," which serves as a Sunday recreation 
 ground for the town and suburbs. As a coping- 
 stone to the whole, as a monument of a work 
 which contended with such innumerable difficul- 
 ties, I have projected the erection of a temple on 
 an isolated hill in the center of a park and on the 
 shore of a stream, dedicated to " Perseverance," 
 for further mention of which I refer the reader 
 to the "First Carriage Drive." 
 
 This, then, was in the main the task which I 
 had set myself. How I carried it out, in so far as 
 it is carried out and in so far as this book has ex- 
 plained the remainder, I must leave to the judg- 
 ment of experts ; at least the attempt has been 
 harmless, well intentioned, and not without some 
 artistic endeavor. 
 
 The park of Muskau may now be described 
 by districts, as follows, which at the same time 
 enumerate the various epochs with some ac- 
 curacy. 
 
 I. The " Burg" domain on the farther shore of 
 the Neisse to which belong: — 
 
 A. The "Burg" itself with its surroundings. 
 
 B. The cemetery chapel. 
 
 C. The race-course. 
 
 D. The stud. 
 
 E. The manor house with the sheep farm. 
 II. The town and its precincts. 
 
 III. The castle domain : — 
 
 A. The old castle, mill, farmhouses, etc. 
 
 B. The new castle with its "pleasure-ground." 
 
 C. The orangeries and gardens. 
 
The Park in Muskau 141 
 
 D. The inn. 
 
 E. The pheasantry. 
 
 F. The fisherman's hut with its surroundings. 
 
 G. The temple. 
 IV. The vineyard. 
 
 V. The mine with its colonies. 
 VI. The baths. 
 VII. The observatory. 
 VIII. The village, to which belong: — 
 
 A. The English house. 
 
 B. The Gobelin colony. 
 
 In order to proceed to the more detailed de- 
 scription of these districts, the most practical 
 way will be to follow the same course as would 
 be taken by a stranger in his visits, and therefore 
 I beg the reader to consult the plan in Plate B. 
 
 I must first remark, however, that besides the 
 classification which I have just completed and 
 which I would call the "aesthetic" part, another 
 more general classification would be advisable, 
 for the sake of locality, convenience, and review 
 of the whole. Accordingly the whole would fall 
 under three heads only, in which each would be 
 dealt with as it is limited by situation ; namely, 
 the castle park, the park of the baths, and the 
 outer park. Each of these presents space and 
 room enough for a walk. The first is bounded 
 partly by a high wood fence, which is nowhere 
 visible, with broad plantations, partly by the 
 Neisse ; the second is also bounded partly by a 
 similar fence toward the town, and partly by deep 
 ditches and broad blackthorn thickets. The third 
 is bounded throughout by dikes with acacia 
 
142 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 thorn and gleditschia thickets, twelve feet broad, 
 totally impenetrable to man or beast, and con- 
 tented with the poorest soil. The hares, which 
 are very plentiful in our part of the world, dam- 
 age them considerably during hard winters, but 
 as they must be partly cut down every three years 
 to renew their density, the damage is seldom of 
 great proportions. 
 
 I will assume that one has started from the 
 castle and is taking a walk to the flower gardens 
 and a part of the " pleasure-ground," to which 
 leads no drive. Following the arrow that starts 
 from the wide steps of the court of the castle 
 [a J on the ground-plan C and B)' is an arrange- 
 ment for orangery and flowers with light arcades, 
 and above it, rising from large vases, drooping 
 passion flowers. Between the arches are hanging 
 bars, on which many-colored parrots swing, with- 
 out being able to incommode one by their too 
 great proximity. The orangery makes a shady 
 and fragrant walk on the terrace, extends around 
 the court, and is surrounded with flower stands 
 in which niches are placed, serving as an occa- 
 sional salon and affording views of the park. 
 The terraces are connected with the drawing- 
 rooms by glass doors. 
 
 On the opposite side of these rooms, toward 
 the south, a conservatory is thrown out, running 
 along the wing of the castle, the windows of 
 
 ' I have had copied, for the better comprehension of the reader, a 
 part of the gardens on a larger scale, as far as the footpaths go, and 
 marked them with the same letters. (See Plate C. ) 
 
The Park in Muskau 143 
 
 which are taken out in summer, which at all 
 times of the year makes a flower walk. The 
 rooms have a lookout on this promenade 
 through gilded lattices, immediately under the 
 windows, and two steps at the sides give access 
 to it. 
 
 The first flower garden starts in front of this 
 conservatory and is bounded by the lake Lucie, 
 with the hills beyond. 
 
 It surrounds the whole square of the castle 
 and has a communication under the castle terrace 
 by a tunnel, walled with golden-colored sulphur 
 pyrites and blue slags. 
 
 In the laying-out of these gardens I have al- 
 lowed my fancy free play and have combined 
 regularity with irregularity fearlessly, but I hope, 
 nevertheless, not to have disturbed the harmony 
 of the whole. On the ground-plan, no doubt, 
 there may be a singular appearance in the fan- 
 shape ; the " H " set in a star ; the square shaped 
 like the breastplate of the Jewish high priest; 
 the cornucopia ; the colossal flower made up of 
 various plants ; an " S " of roses and forget-me- 
 nots ; the peacocks' feathers, etc. As a matter of 
 fact, the effect is rather rich and original, and 
 not more heterogeneous than the bazaar effect 
 is usually in the room of an elegant lady. The 
 sketch in Plate XII gives a part of the appear- 
 ance presented by these features seen from the 
 balcony of the tower. Two busts can be seen 
 there in front of a flower stand. They are those 
 of two women, who of all those I have met 
 
144 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 on my life's journey seemed to me the most 
 lovely/ 
 
 The slightly higher ground under three old 
 limes [c)y surrounded by the greatest wealth of 
 flowers, is also the central point of the flower 
 gardens, whence a view opens on the lake, the 
 adjoining " pleasure-ground," and the terrace gar- 
 dens of the town opposite, with the village of 
 Berg above. The water laps the foot of the steep 
 stone wall, on which there is room for a fairly 
 large company. In the evening this Platz is 
 lighted by bright-colored lanterns. 
 
 Farther on is the rosary, a rosette made up of 
 monthly roses and box and surrounded by pome- 
 granate trees. The rosary is joined to the con- 
 servatory just mentioned, in which a roomy niche 
 surrounded by flower stands can be used as an- 
 other place for company. Here the shrubbery 
 which surrounds it on all sides allows a view of 
 the water only, under the shelter of large-leaved 
 planes. (See Plate XIH.) On one side of this 
 feature lies the tulip room in the shade of which 
 are planted carnations. A stone step leads from 
 here down to the water to some light gondolas, 
 in which the votaries of rowing, the favorite 
 pastime in these days, may disport themselves, 
 without fear of storm and shipwreck. 
 
 Continuing on our path we come to an open 
 platform at the tower. A bower of jessamine and 
 
 ' As recognition of beauty is not offensive, and rank and wealth are 
 as nothing in its realm, I will name them for the enlightenment of the 
 curious: the one is the Grafin Alopaus; the other the Grafin Rossi. 
 
The Park in Muskau 145 
 
 roses leans against the tower under the upper bal- 
 cony. From this one has a view of the lake in a 
 new direction and in its greatest length, where 
 two bridges and a waterfall serve as an excellent 
 point de vue. From this point the walk continues 
 through the shrubbery for a time, after which 
 one comes to an ornamental plot with the letter 
 " S," an aviary, farther a flower parterre, imitat- 
 ing a bundle of colossal peacocks' feathers, then 
 a flower stand with hothouse plants, till the tun- 
 nel mentioned above [d) is reached. A fountain 
 here makes a spot which is always cool and re- 
 freshing in hot summer days, peaceful and soli- 
 tary, where one may, as the saying goes, give 
 audience to one's thoughts, or, in more prosaic 
 phrase, enjoy a siesta, to which a soft couch of 
 moss and never broken twilight invite one. 
 
 I may be allowed to make a digression here 
 and take the opportunity to lay down some rules 
 for flower plantations and the like. 
 
 I have unfortunately to contend with an un- 
 favorable climate in the Neisse Valley, and can 
 only rely on half-hardy shrubs with the help of 
 careful covering to prevent freezing, such as some 
 of the cytisus, calicanthus, cercis, amygdalus, 
 hibiscus, hydrangea, rhododendron, comptonia, 
 etc., while the still more delicate ones, like liq- 
 uidamber, magnolia, azalea, etc., and even the 
 Prunus lusitanicdy so hardy in England, Pyrus 
 japonicdy arbutus, viburnum, ilex varieties and 
 some of the andromedas, etc., must be protected 
 every winter in portable houses. I therefore give 
 
146 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 the hardier kinds, although they are more com- 
 mon, the preference, since one should refrain as 
 far as possible from trying to force Nature too 
 much or too often; for even a quite common 
 red thorn, for instance, if it is in vigorous bloom, 
 or a bush honeysuckle, etc., has a better appear- 
 ance than a suffering exotic growth, which in a 
 more suitable climate might possibly have un- 
 folded in its fullest splendor. In general the 
 chief decoration is made by potted plants, which 
 are so arranged in permanent stands that they do 
 not injure the lawn nor let the pots and tubs 
 show in an unsightly manner. For instance, the 
 oleanders surrounding a semicircular bank were 
 placed in long semicircular boxes and lowered 
 into a trench of masonry work built behind 
 the bank, and as the branches reach down to the 
 ground they appear to be growing out of it. 
 Single pomegranate and other trees are enclosed 
 in pretty stands made to fit them exactly, and 
 surrounded with flower pots in such a way that 
 the tub containing the tree is not to be seen and 
 only its crown rises from the midst. Should 
 one desire, however, that an isolated stem remain 
 visible, then the tub as well may be inserted in 
 a walled funnel and the top covered with pots 
 with low flowers set in green moss. If these 
 half-hardy plants have to be removed in late 
 autumn, then they must be replaced by hardier 
 kinds, or by baskets with potted flowers which 
 are not afraid of a little frost, like asters, etc. 
 The walled openings in the earth must be wide 
 
The Park in Muskau 147 
 
 enough to allow plenty of air to reach the tubs, 
 and the tubs too must be set only halfway in 
 the earth. 
 
 I have already said that on the whole masses 
 of congenial colors are to be preferred to the 
 mixture of many kinds. But so far as concerns 
 the sequence of the flowers, not to be too dis- 
 cursive, I will only give the example of the way 
 I have treated the specimens I have mentioned, 
 the fan (e), the star with the "H" (/), the 
 quadruple square (^), in the blue flower garden, 
 and the cornucopia (/6). 
 
 The fan (e) comes first into bloom with yel- 
 low crocus. Then it is planted with gillyflower 
 so that they make rings of various colors all over 
 it, with a dark point in the middle, from which 
 the shadings are graduated to the circumfer- 
 ence. 
 
 The same device is lastly devoted to Aster 
 chinensis^ which blossoms right into autumn, 
 when our stay in the country is at an end as a 
 rule. Generally only lovers of hunting are left 
 behind, who demand no flowers ; only the hares. 
 The two round baskets next the fan are planted 
 first with dark double golden wallflowers and 
 later with Lobelia cardinalis. 
 
 The star opposite the fan begins with double 
 tulips ; after these come bright red pelagoniums 
 planted from pots, which also last till autumn. 
 Four baskets surround this device also, which 
 begins with bright-colored mixed single tulips, 
 but for second flowering have two with £//- 
 
148 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 chrysiim bracteatum surrounded by Verbenia auble- 
 tiay and two with Heliotropium peruvianum. The 
 square g (in the blue flower garden) begins with 
 double hyacinths, which are arranged in the 
 four compartments shaded in four colors and 
 planted as close as possible. Then follow, but 
 in a different arrangement, Gomphrena globosa in 
 three colors; h^ the cornucopia has a yellow 
 tip, which is made up throughout the year with 
 flowers of Miinulus guttatus, which must be put 
 in at various times in order to last till late au- 
 tumn. Its other sections are variegated in color 
 by Silene bipartita, Viola grandiflora, and Lobelia 
 ericoides. But the mouth where the cornucopia 
 pours out a great mass of flowers is filled through- 
 out the summer with all sorts of bright flowers 
 in pots embedded in moss and some pumpkins 
 placed among them, to make the contours of the 
 outpour as indistinguishable as possible. 
 
 All figures of this complicated kind are as a 
 rule bordered with boxwood outlining their 
 form more clearly and firmly, which flower bor- 
 ders can never do with such precision. But 
 with single beds of regular, simple shape, such 
 as circles, ovals, squares, unless wicker edging is 
 preferred, I make use of any of the low flowers 
 which serve the purpose of bordering. Such a 
 border, however, must never be used around 
 shrubs irregular in contour, which would thus 
 give a stiff appearance. 
 
 For climbing plants various trellises are made 
 of strong wire, which in themselves are quite 
 
The Park in Muskau 149 
 
 pretty things, and which allow the plants to 
 cling freely on all sides. In England one can find 
 them ready-made and of neat workmanship, 
 whether as gates, arches, overhead trellis, broken 
 pillars, or little obelisks; here, however, they 
 must be made by capable smiths from drawings. 
 
 Among other effects a very pretty one is 
 Glycine sinensis trained on an overhead shelter 
 like an umbrella, when its thick blue clusters 
 of flowers show through the wire interstices. 
 (See Plate XIV, i ; and the arch 2, for an orna- 
 mental entrance planted with Cobea scandens; 
 and 3, the gilt aureole glory (Vergoldeten Glorie), 
 on which various kinds of clematis are climbing; 
 or 4, the blue basket with gilt tips crowned with 
 red Bignonia radicans; 5 is a flower basket whose 
 edge is made of leaves made of tiles.) The 
 leaves are furnished underneath with long spikes 
 which fix them in the earth, and so can with 
 little trouble be put in and taken out one by 
 one. It is a cheap, durable, and at the same time 
 very ornate, border. 
 
 We now return, with the reader's permission 
 (whose patience I hope I have not exhausted), 
 to our promenade, and we ascend the steps (/) 
 which lead to the great castle landing where we 
 must linger awhile. One can see on the plan 
 that a flight of steps forty feet wide starts from 
 the landing, and leads by fifteen steps of granite 
 to the lawn of the bowling green before the 
 castle. In front of the steps are four flower beds, 
 and a little farther on a resting-place at a colos- 
 
150 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 sal Ariadne lying on her pedestal, surrounded by 
 rose trees supported by gilt stakes. Beyond this 
 ornamental foreground may be seen the moun- 
 tains in the distance, with the "Burg" pre- 
 cincts. The river cannot be seen from this spot, 
 as it is hidden by the dams, nor was a water 
 view desirable here, since it may be had on three 
 other sides of the castle. The middle distance 
 thus unfolds merely a wide green flat extending 
 from the castle to the iron fence which divides 
 the " pleasure-ground " from the park. This 
 fence is adorned with blooming shrubs and some 
 masses of flowers. After this only meadows 
 grazed by sheep and cows are to be seen, and 
 also groups of tall trees, under whose foliage the 
 mountains and buildings crowning them seem 
 to retreat to a greater distance than is really the 
 case. The second middle distance is formed by 
 the row of hills on the other side of the river, 
 with its plateau and large clumps of bushes scat- 
 tered over them. This view, which was formerly 
 entirely hidden by an avenue of tall limes that 
 I opened out, is already familiar to the reader 
 from Plate II. The cutting of the avenue was 
 undertaken by me with such precaution that I 
 invited the younger Repton from England merely 
 for the purpose of consulting him on this im- 
 portant point. Mr. Aday Repton is, however, 
 more of an architect than a landscape artist, and 
 apart from the fact that he confirmed me in my 
 plan by his authority, I must confess that (partly 
 on the grounds I have given on page 16) he 
 
The Park in Muskau 151 
 
 could be of little service. But I must accord 
 him all praise for the readiness, I may say the 
 heartiness, with which he, contrary to English 
 habits, bestrode my hobby-horse with me. A 
 very well-recommended English gardener, whom 
 I had also written for, showed himself very serv- 
 iceable in technical matters, but in matters of 
 taste too much a slave of custom, as soon as one 
 left him, if only for a moment, to his own de- 
 vices. Among other things I could not make him 
 understand that groups need not always be planted 
 more or less en quinquonce. He maintained that 
 in England this shape is considered the best 
 (wherein no doubt he was right), and there he 
 stuck. Besides this, the fact that they lack ade- 
 quate knowledge of our language always remains 
 with such people a great hindrance ; therefore, I 
 soon found myself obliged to send him back, 
 which I mention in order to keep others from 
 making the same mistake. 
 
 Much better service was rendered me by the 
 inexhaustible pains and capable adaptation of 
 my plans by my German head gardener Rehder, 
 a member of the Prussian Society of Gardeners. 
 Certainly not a little was contributed by him to 
 the conquest of many difficulties, among which 
 the unfavorable climate of North Germany stands 
 first, which, especially in our cold region, makes 
 the gardener's a truly difficult calling. I make 
 this remark because many gardeners spoil the 
 best instructions because of their self-conceit, so 
 typical of the German middle classes. The bet- 
 
152 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 ter they have been grounded in their specialty, 
 and naturally, therefore, the more competent they 
 are technically than their masters, the more are 
 they inclined to assume as well their superiority 
 in aesthetic questions, and thus spoil everything 
 by thinking to do everything better, instead of 
 energetically supporting and furthering the suc- 
 cess of the artistic ideas of others by means of 
 their technical science. An adaptable, patient, 
 and at the same time clever, practical man is not 
 at all so easy to find as one may think, and it 
 would be a good thing if particular stress were 
 laid on these requirements of education in our 
 new schools for gardeners. Young men who 
 from the beginning think too much of them- 
 selves and want to be too important are of no 
 use; and I would say, half in jest and half in 
 earnest, a gardener to my taste must have more 
 of the character of the good Wagner in him 
 than of the restless Faust, and very rarely kick 
 against the things of this world, least of all 
 against patience, and especially obedience. 
 
 The flight of steps, where we last paused, is 
 also built after Schinkel's drawing. From both 
 sides of the landing-stage extends a series of steps 
 ten feet wide alongside of the building, where 
 orange trees are set, and between these on each 
 step are iron pillars surmounted with lanterns. 
 Festoons connect these pillars and at the same 
 time give the trees the very necessary support 
 which their exposed situation requires. On fes- 
 tive occasions, moreover, they serve for stringing 
 
H 
 
 O 
 
 6 o 
 
 CQ 
 
 u 
 
 > 
 > 
 
The Park in Muskau 153 
 
 lamps upon, which make a very charming effect 
 in the foHage of the orange trees. Iron chains 
 separate the trees from the road. Plate XV gives 
 the aspect of the flight and the castle view from 
 the bowling green. 
 
 Descending the flight of steps from the left, 
 we now come into a shrubbery, where an orna- 
 mented grate leads to the second flower garden, 
 of quite a different character. To distinguish it 
 from the other it is called the " blue garden," 
 because it is enclosed with steel-blue halberds 
 and chains, and all edgings, bridges, benches, 
 etc. (made of iron throughout), are painted sky- 
 blue and white. 
 
 The newly dug arm of the Neisse flows 
 through the middle of these grounds, which are 
 terminated on one side by thick woods, on the 
 other bv a tall avenue of limes, between whose 
 branches only a few narrow views have been 
 arranged, in order not to encroach on the char- 
 acter of secrecy and seclusion, which is my chief 
 aim here. The former outlook on the " Burg " 
 precincts is altogether hidden here, but one fol- 
 lows the continuation of the same chain of hills 
 covered with a wide wood, from which the 
 salient points are a few primeval oaks on the 
 highest hilltops. 
 
 Not far from the entrance on an eminence 
 stands a bench surrounded with flowers [k) with 
 a view between the linden branches of the hill, 
 in the middle of the landscape, on which the 
 temple of Perseverance is to stand. Its summit 
 
154 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 is provisionally crowned only by a terrace and 
 pavilion. At the side under the bench mentioned 
 is a very thick and shady grove of limes near the 
 water (/), and here a small boat is stationed for 
 quicker communication with the avenue oppo- 
 site. A gleaming colored lantern of peculiar 
 construction, which forms the center of a broken 
 iron hoop, marks this point at night at a long 
 distance off. 
 
 Behind the grove, through a wire arch into 
 the third garden, called the " Herrengarten," 
 the path leads as far as the river, which serves 
 as its boundary on this side. Soon afterwards we 
 come to an airy resting-place like a kind of 
 temple [m) whose thin iron pillars serve as sup- 
 ports for various kinds of clematis. The view be- 
 tween them opens to the west and north. In the 
 first direction one can see the town and one of 
 the farms on the height; in the other, one fol- 
 lows the bend of the river in the valley, and 
 various parts of the forest on its shores, not 
 hitherto visible. (See Table XVI.) At the side 
 stands another bench among flowers on the 
 lawn, made of tree-trunks turned upside down 
 so that the roots form a crown. These inter- 
 woven roots are richly embellished with clema- 
 tis, mosses, and flowers in pots, and present an 
 original appearance, far removed from the com- 
 monplace. The last resting-place is under four 
 oaks near a waterfall [n) where the river plunges 
 over a smooth wall of broad stones in full tor- 
 rent, natural-looking and unbroken by any ob- 
 
The Park in Muskau 155 
 
 stacle. From here one returns to the castle in a 
 diagonal direction to the exit through masses of 
 shrubbery and flower beds, mingled with various 
 decorations over the grassy carpet. A visit to 
 the stables, the race-course, and the theater (0), 
 which one passes on one's return, may termi- 
 nate the walk for those who are interested in such 
 things. 
 
 So as not to become tedious, I must pass over 
 the numerous promenades in the closed *' pleas- 
 ure-ground," as well as in the open park; so I 
 offer the obliging reader a seat in the garden 
 wagon (called "Ligne," on which several per- 
 sons can be seated and look around on all sides) 
 for the 
 
 FIRST CARRIAGE DRIVE 
 
 As it begins from the castle, one cannot any 
 longer follow the historic arrangement which I 
 gave the park previously, but must choose the 
 second, which allows more freedom, and as the 
 first view has left a good idea of the estate as a 
 whole, one may now be free to enjoy a pleasant 
 change. But if one would like to proceed quite 
 systematically, he could also look over the park 
 more especially along the footpaths according to 
 the divisions suggested by the fundamental idea; 
 the park also may be visited, which carries out 
 the same main idea. 
 
 So, beginning from the castle, we will first visit 
 (following the arrow) the orange houses (p on 
 the ground-plan B ; for the whole establissement 
 
156 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 see the ground-plan D). From the salon in the 
 middle of the first orangery (i) looking beyond 
 a large bed of rhododendrons, we have a view 
 of an avenue of limes a hundred years old, about 
 a thousand paces long, and in winter, on both 
 sides of the salon, there are also two avenues of 
 orange trees to be seen, which will be termi- 
 nated by palm houses. From here one passes (2), 
 through a flower house in the form of a gallery, 
 into the hothouses. From this gallery we see on 
 the left the winter garden (3), and on the right 
 a landscape, not without charm, even in winter, 
 of which the features are the lake Lucie, the 
 town, and the mountains rising beyond. Next 
 we enter the hothouses (4), in front of which is 
 the flower nursery surrounded by trellis walls (5), 
 at the side the large kitchen garden (6), then 
 the hotbeds (7), the garden courtyard, the gar- 
 den inspector's house (8), and the second orange 
 house (9), as well as the concealed places (10 
 and 11), where everything is kept, which, al- 
 though useful and necessary, presents nothing 
 agreeable to the eye. All the sheds and out- 
 houses, etc., are collected here, and finally a large 
 space (12) at the end of the garden, near the 
 stables of the garden horses, which is used solely 
 for the compost heaps. This arrangement makes 
 it possible to keep the vegetable garden itself 
 always clean and elegant, and to use the shelter 
 of its walls for a sunny promenade. After inspec- 
 tion of these features we pass the *' pleasure- 
 ground," close behind the house, and drive 
 
^^^3t, -' ''i? /zV,*Jf«- 0^-?; 
 
 
 !S,W*^ 
 
 »C*' -^ 
 
 
 ,1! 
 
 
 A View ot the River as Arranged and Improved by Prince Piickler in his 
 
 Park at Muskau 
 
 Redrawn from an Old Print 
 
 Photograph by Thomas W. Sears 
 A Rough Stone Bridge in the Park o?" Muskau 
 
The Park in Muskau 157 
 
 through an open grove of trees on the lawn to 
 the meadow flats which lie between the castle 
 and the Neisse, and which open several views 
 toward the castle region as well as toward chains 
 of hills. The most favorable points are always 
 marked by simple stone seats on the road. 
 
 In a little time we reach a small wood near 
 the river, follow this for a time, and on passing 
 out of the wood we cross, by a rustic stone bridge 
 with a rough stone weir, over the newly chan- 
 neled arm of the Neisse not far from its junction 
 with the main stream, and then, turning back, 
 we climb the western side of the Neisse Valley. 
 
 On reaching the top (^, Plan B) we see be- 
 low, bordering on an oak grove, a lake of con- 
 siderable area with some wooded islands and a 
 magnificent forest prospect with the mountains 
 in the background. At the side down below 
 stands a fisherman's hut on a projecting tongue 
 of land, around which all kinds of nets spread 
 out and other utensils for fishing invite the vota- 
 ries of this sport to a rich harvest. Near it we 
 see, partly hidden by bushes, some wax-bleaching 
 grounds, connected with a watchman's house and 
 an ice cellar. From here, for those who like a 
 promenade on foot, there leads a narrow path 
 into thick bushes along the steep shore of the 
 Neisse to a convenient bathing-place, a resting- 
 place on the height with various picturesque 
 views toward the wooded shore of the river, and 
 then, continuing to the bridge over the Neisse 
 at Kobeln, on the border of the park (r), from 
 
158 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 whence we can return to the castle on the other 
 side of the river, passing the EngUsh house, or 
 any other favorite spot by sequestered and shady 
 footpaths. 
 
 We will follow meanwhile the drive, and 
 reach, after a short distance a side of the "pleas- 
 ure-ground " new to us, at the entrance of which 
 a gayly colored Gloriettey executed from a draw- 
 ing by Herr Geheimrath Schinkel, looks down 
 from its mound of bloom into the valley (j-). 
 This side is closed toward the road, but presents 
 toward the interior of the park four separate 
 bays, which frame in each one a separate picture. 
 The first to the left is that mentioned on pages 
 41-42, which I quote as an example of the way 
 in which unity could be combined with variety 
 (N. B. of the same kind). (See Plate XVII.) 
 The second embraces a wide stretch of meadow, 
 with groups of tall trees, the Neisse with its 
 tributaries in the middle, and hills covered with 
 foliage behind, without the break of any habita- 
 tion. (See Plate XVIII.) The third bay shows 
 in the distance, about a quarter of an hour's walk 
 from the castle, a side view of a portion of the 
 town with the German church emerging from 
 the trees, and in the farther distance on the hori- 
 zon the village of Lucknitz (/) standing out 
 against a darkly wooded hill. (See Plate XIX.) 
 Finally, the last bay frames in the ruins of the 
 old Catholic church (u) of the village of Berg, 
 flanked by two tall lime trees. 
 
 We will drive now within the " pleasure- 
 
h 
 
 > 
 
 > 
 
 X 
 
 PlH 
 
o 
 
 > 
 
 X 
 
 I— ( 
 
 X 
 
The Park in Muskau 159 
 
 ground," which is everywhere divided from the 
 park by a rail fence to keep off the grazing cat- 
 tle as well as to distinguish quite clearly the 
 limit which should divide art and nature, and 
 proceed under a grove of foreign woods and 
 bushes, and then gradually descend into the val- 
 ley, getting a near view of the castle from the 
 west, turn left to the old castle, passing the Platz 
 with the equestrian statue of the Nibelungen 
 hero, and arrive, turning sharply east, at a bridge, 
 from one side of which both castles are seen mir- 
 rored in the water, and (Plate XX) from the 
 other [v) a waterfall, made of colossal granite 
 stones, of which plenty are to be found in this 
 region. The waterfall was constructed as I have 
 indicated, so that it by no means is intended to 
 represent a bed of rock, which is not natural in 
 these parts, but rather to look as if the river in 
 some flood had rolled the stones here, and, find- 
 ing an obstruction, had merely heaped them up 
 to an unusual extent. Therefore, several blocks 
 are scattered in front and as many behind the 
 waterfall, to bring about the natural effect, but 
 the sides are clothed with overhanging bushes 
 and water plants, and herbaceous plants and pots 
 of flowers, packed in moss, are scattered between 
 the stones so that they seem to grow out of the 
 rockery and enhance the rich and natural effect 
 of the whole. A view of it has already been 
 given. 
 
 Behind the waterfall we leave the " pleasure- 
 ground " and continue on the meadow level of 
 
i6o Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 the park, along the arm of the river as far as the 
 Lock, where the branch has been led off from 
 the main stream. Here a weir has been built, to 
 keep the mass of water which is to be let into 
 the newly dug channel always under control. 
 Near the weir a bridge crosses to the opposite 
 shore. From this point the road rises gently up 
 the eastern bank on the right of the Neisse in 
 the woods, as far as the pheasantry [w)y which 
 is not yet completed. I have projected it in an 
 uncommon form, after the model of a Turkish 
 country house, for which I must thank Herr 
 Rittmeister von Moliere, who copied it during 
 the Russo-Turkish campaign. It will be roofed 
 with bright glazed tiles, and besides the neces- 
 sary dwelling-houses for the keeper and his fam- 
 ily, will be furnished with a salon, which is quite 
 separated from the rest of the building. From 
 here one steps out on to a terrace [x) where, 
 looking under a few acacias, the whole pheas- 
 antry is seen spread out, while above it, through 
 a wide gap in the foliage, one may descry the 
 river, the post-bridge on the highway toward 
 Sorau, the baths, and the alum and refining works 
 in the distance. (See Plate XXL) A walk in the 
 fenced-in pheasantry is not without interest, as 
 gold, silver, and black and white pheasants are 
 kept here, and in the green square with a pavil- 
 ion in its center one can conveniently watch the 
 feeding of the pheasants and the hundreds of 
 birds gathering in an instant at the call of the 
 keeper, and their comical excitement as they dis- 
 
oi 
 
 X 
 
The Park in Muskau i6i 
 
 pute for the grains of wheat, quite fearless of 
 human beings. 
 
 This last section, which is not visible on the 
 plate, I have tried to plant entirely with ever- 
 greens to give it a charming appearance in win- 
 ter as well as summer, and to act as a background 
 for the many colors of the birds. 
 
 Connected with the pheasantry, but outside 
 of its fence, I have built a small dairy for Swiss 
 cows which are kept here in the neighborhood 
 for the convenience of the castle. At a short dis- 
 tance a high chain bridge crosses over a deep 
 ravine eighty feet wide, and an extended view 
 over the northwest Neisse Valley opens suddenly 
 on the other side under an ancient oak. In the 
 foreground on the slope of the hill is the dairy (y) 
 arranged in English style, in which milk foods of 
 all kinds can be kept and prepared and eaten on 
 the spot in a cool and elegant house, a refresh- 
 ment which is very welcome after the long walk. 
 
 As many people, perhaps, have no exact con- 
 ception of what a "dairy" is, I will describe one 
 in a very few words: It is a simple pavilion with 
 a basin of water in the middle, in which the milk 
 pans float. All around you find tables and chairs 
 ready for use. The windows are generally pro- 
 vided with colored glass, and various milk prep- 
 arations stand in china and porcelain dishes on 
 tables, arranged with tasteful symmetry. Some 
 beds of sweet-scented but not conspicuous flow- 
 ers, like violets, mignonette, etc., surround the 
 dairy outside. 
 
i62 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 The next item to attract our attention in con- 
 tinuing our drive is the temple of Perseverance 
 (z) to which also an exceptionally /onefy path 
 leads from the dairy in thickets of beech so dense 
 that the sun has only room to gild the green 
 dome of leaves. A mountain stream trickles 
 through this wood and parts, near a rough bridge 
 of oak-trunks, in the most hidden corner of the 
 bushes, into several little waterfalls, which have 
 been managed by heaping up very large stones 
 collected for the purpose. Many of these small 
 footpaths in the park are named after ladies who 
 suggested them, and the inscription shows these 
 names on a stone at the beginning of the path, 
 which is useful at the same time for the guidance 
 of the visitor. 
 
 One can arrive at the temple by the drive or 
 the footpath ; in either case one will first be 
 aware of it only on arrival at the spot. A little 
 wood of oak conceals it until that moment, and 
 the roads are purposely laid out for this effect of 
 surprise. The moment one enters this temple the 
 view unfolds between single standing pillars of 
 Silesian marble set on a granite base, and covered 
 with a gilded iron roof, crowned by an eagle 
 with wings outspread.^ From the seat at the back 
 wall of the temple one has a wide view, which 
 is composed of the course of the stream on the 
 right, as it gradually disappears in the wood, in 
 
 ' To avoid all misunderstanding, I repeat that, in order not to break 
 the thread of my description at every moment, much which is only pro- 
 posed has to be described as though already complete. 
 
164 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 We now proceed, without any distant views in 
 the woods, first on the heights, then descending 
 under a small bridge (see Plate XXV) made of 
 oak branches with the bark left on, and continu- 
 ing toward the river, along which we go for a 
 little while, then crossing a broad meadow called 
 the " Erlwiese " (formerly a bottomless morass) 
 and dedicated to the " Erlkonig," and ascending 
 the height once more, we see at the last bend of 
 the road the English house [aa) which, in con- 
 trast with the temple scene, presents the charac- 
 teristics of gay rural social life. A " cottage " in 
 the foreground, overgrown with roses and Vir- 
 ginia creeper, contains some rooms reserved for 
 the *' Herrschaft." On the left in the shade we 
 can see between the branches a covered bowling 
 alley; a grass plot, with three arbor-like seats 
 near by for those who wish to enjoy Nature and 
 the open air. In the central arbor are placed pier 
 glasses which reproduce the most attractive points 
 of the surrounding landscape. 
 
 A second "cottage " adjacent serves as a dwell- 
 ing for the cafe keeper, and as shelter for guests 
 in unfavorable weather. On the other side is seen 
 a pavilion, which contains a small ballroom and 
 two rooms for games. Farther on a bird pole and 
 targets have been set up for marksmen, besides 
 a range for pistol shooting, the same thing seen 
 in Paris at Lepages ; also in Pyrmont and other 
 places. 
 
 On a hill opposite stands an isolated salon in 
 the bushes, built of rough logs of bark, which is 
 
The Park in Muskau 163 
 
 front of the broad side of the castle with its or- 
 namental flight of steps, and on the left the mill, 
 the dam, and the foaming, roaring waterfall. (Sec 
 Plate XXII.) 
 
 The temple is to be ^dorned with nothing but 
 a bronze bust standing in the center. I have used 
 the bust of our King Frederick William III, 
 because he is a monarch who in every respect 
 shines forth as a model of Perseverance of our 
 times, the virtue to which the temple is dedi- 
 cated. A cornucopia, hanging down from above, 
 symbolically pours its treasures over him, but in 
 the evening it will light up with a ray of glory 
 the head so dearly beloved. (See Plate XXIII.) 
 A formal flower garden protected by an iron 
 palisade ends at the steps, not without signifi- 
 cance — for perseverance in good and right pre- 
 pares for our lives a bed of flowers, even though 
 they only bloom within our souls. 
 
 We drive now over a second bridge over a 
 ravine, which I have named "Prince" bridge.' 
 
 ' The giving of this name is in token of one of the most agreeable 
 happenings in our region. I speak of the presence in Muskau of His 
 Royal Highness the Crown Prince and his Consort. When I had the 
 good fortune of escorting their Royal Highnesses, the Crown Prince, 
 a fine connoisseur, made the very judicious remark that a bridge at the 
 end of a waterless ravine which it crosses has never a good appearance, 
 and hence should be more concealed than shown. I had felt this blem- 
 ish myself, but had no facilities for altering it, as the road, for other 
 reasons, could not be changed. His Royal Highness then gave me the 
 advice to face the whole side of the wooden bridge with a trellis of 
 young oak staves in the form of an arch and to have it overgrown with 
 Virginia creeper, beneath which the ravine would be seen in the depths 
 as though under a natural grotto. This gracious advice was followed, 
 and the effect not only did away with a blemish, but substituted for it a 
 considerable improvement. (See Plate XXIV.) 
 
OQ 
 
 h 
 
 X 
 
 x: 
 
CQ 
 
The Park in Muskau 165 
 
 also reserved for the Herrschaft, and from which 
 the whole tableau of the crowd enjoying them- 
 selves below may be viewed just as one may 
 choose without coming into closer contact. The 
 village of Kobeln on the outskirts ot the park 
 spreads out behind this animated foreground, and 
 remains in harmony with the character of the 
 whole. In the middle of the village a small bell- 
 tower was erected, to announce daily the approach 
 of dusk. The lovers of the idyllic can now with 
 delight watch the shepherds driving their flocks 
 home over the plain, and the laborers, after their 
 day's work is done, hastening home with song at 
 the welcome sound of the bell. 
 
 The whole district, with a few walks in the 
 bushes, which in spring are alive with nightin- 
 gales, is fenced with a trellis of rough branches, 
 and treated as a "pleasure-ground" not so care- 
 fully laid out. (See Plate XXVI for the aspect it 
 presents, and Plate XXVII for the view from it.) 
 
 The road which we now follow leads from the 
 English house, gently ascending to the highest 
 point of the chain of hills. First there are views 
 of the Gobelin colony (bb^ and the wide flat 
 surrounding it ; later on they lose themselves in 
 the woods where only here and there a nar- 
 row glimpse is afforded of the " Riesengebirge," 
 which assumes an increasingly solemn and silent 
 character, till one reaches the eminence in the 
 "Burg" precinct, where is placed a lonely statue 
 of the Holy Virgin, this sweetest and mildest em- 
 blem of the Christian religion, and farther on the 
 
1 66 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 terrace, where the cemetery chapel is proposed 
 {dd). (See Plate XXVIII, after a drawing by 
 Schinkel.) 
 
 Eight windows from the old town church of 
 Boppart on the Rhine, which I was lucky enough 
 to obtain, and which in the opinion of experts 
 are by the same hand as the paintings in the 
 Cologne Cathedral, will adorn this church, as 
 also a crucifixion on the altar by Hemskerk. 
 
 As there are Catholic inhabitants in several of 
 my villages, and in the town itself, without any 
 church of their own, they cannot attend, as often 
 as they might wish, the nearest mass two miles 
 distant. It is my intention to arrange this chapel 
 for their worship as well, although its main pur- 
 pose is to serve as cemetery chapel for the family 
 of the owners of Muskau, a memento mori, in con- 
 stant view of the castle windows, though softened 
 and mellowed in the distance (as death generally 
 appears to us in life). 
 
 One sees on the plan the sexton's house near 
 the chapel, with its little garden, and in front 
 of it a spacious courtyard. The last is sur- 
 rounded by thick lime walks cut en berceaux, 
 which have been named after two living men, 
 well known to the public and my good friends, 
 the philosopher Gravell and the poet Leopold 
 Schefer. Religion cannot be in better company 
 than that of poetry and philosophy, and the tru- 
 est religion consists precisely of the most intimate 
 association of both. Hence it will be an appro- 
 priate adornment if, as I intend, the footpaths 
 
u 
 
 
 > 
 
 X 
 X 
 
The Park in Muskau 167 
 
 surrounding the churchyard which I have dedi- 
 cated to my friends shall be graced with statues 
 of those heavenly sisters. Poetry and Philosophy, 
 whilst the temple itself owes its existence to the 
 conjunction of both. In a place so big with mean- 
 ing as this I thought it allowable to have an in- 
 scription which should show its meaning, and 
 have chosen the following as indicating my own 
 faith and the purpose of this church : — 
 
 " In memory of loved ones 
 Here reposes only the vesture of the soul. 
 Which in those eternal regions 
 Transformed and ever progressing, 
 Ever creating, ever growing, 
 Ever shaping and ever plastic, 
 Godlike lives with God." 
 
 On entering the courtyard one observes against 
 the wall an ancient altar found here, surrounded 
 by the emblems of the steeds of Zeutiber and 
 Svantevit, which represent the dragon conquered 
 by Christian angels for the salvation of man. 
 Entering the church itself, we see at the end the 
 high altar I have just mentioned, with an altar- 
 piece carved in wood, brightly painted and gilt, 
 a beautiful and appropriate work of some old 
 master. We also see at the sides two small chap- 
 els destined for the obsequies of the family. In 
 the middle of the church on the right stands the 
 pulpit, which will be built on the following plan, 
 in imitation of an old church in Silesia : Moses 
 with the Tables of the Law, and the Jewish high 
 priest with the scapegoat decked for sacrifice, as 
 
1 68 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 the root of our religion, are sculptured in life- 
 size. Between them rises a stem surrounded by 
 a light spiral stair, which unfolds at the top in 
 the form of a gigantic lily constituting the pul- 
 pit. From the leaves of the lily appear the three 
 beatitudes. Faith, Hope, and Charity, and the 
 Angel of Judgment crowns the baldachin above, 
 with the scales of good and evil in his right hand. 
 On the pillars opposite the pulpit is the golden 
 calf in high relief, with the Israelites dancing 
 round it, as an ever-present warning against the 
 greatest lust of man — the worship of Mammon. 
 Behind the high altar a draped portal leads through 
 a short corridor into a dark temple, at the end 
 of which a niche is disclosed, where, brightly 
 lighted from above and from each side, stands 
 the Apollo Belvedere. 
 
 I hope that sensible people will not charge 
 me with blasphemy in my intention to bring into 
 such close contact the temple of Apollo and his 
 cult of joy with the Christian temple, since I 
 had in view here the illustration of the general 
 idea of religion, and therefore it seemed to me 
 appropriate to surround its most sublime flower 
 
 — the Christian church — on the one side 
 with a piece of crude heathendom, as the rudi- 
 mentary beginning, and on the other with that 
 of one of the noblest, though sensuous, cults 
 
 — that of the gods of Greece. For all relig- 
 ions have something Godlike, and God has 
 been patient with them all, is patient with so 
 many to-day. Why should we reject the mem- 
 
u 
 
 E 
 
 u 
 
 U 
 
 -T3 
 
 o 
 
 ex, 
 
 O 
 
 > 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 u 
 
 H 
 < 
 ►J 
 
The Park in Muskau 169 
 
 ory of them totally, since we now know the 
 better way ? Not as present objects of religious 
 veneration, but as indications of historic develop- 
 ments do they find their place here. 
 
 A quarter of an hour's walk from the chapel 
 we reach the "Burg" [ee) crossing, by a stone 
 bridge of five arches, a ravine one hundred and 
 twenty feet wide and forty feet deep, overgrown 
 with evergreens at the sides. The view from here 
 has already been described at the beginning of 
 this chapter. In the interim, during the construc- 
 tion of the projected buildings, a bench is placed, 
 surrounded by a mixed forest, so that one must 
 mount a step to get an open view. The arrange- 
 ment of this " Burg " plan also is due to my 
 worthy friend Schinkel, without whose inex- 
 haustible talent, and amiability no less inexhaust- 
 ible, I should perhaps never have been enabled 
 to arrive at a satisfactory execution of my ideas. 
 
 It is indeed no small advantage for us to have 
 such a man, whose beneficial activity on behalf 
 of the Fatherland is, however, hardly yet suffi- 
 ciently appreciated. How often have I wished 
 that the English, who spend such enormous sums 
 daily for artistic purposes, almost without results, 
 could obtain a talent equal to his with all their 
 good-will and their wealth. What treasures has 
 not Mr. Nash spent in such matters, and what 
 would not Schinkel have achieved with the same 
 sum ! 
 
 Yet even here in my own country are many 
 things to regret. 
 
170 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 Schinkel's name is renowned, it is true, and 
 becomes more so every day, yet to the general 
 public only his architectural achievements are 
 known, far less the extraordinary universality of 
 his genius, that native artistic force, which in 
 every branch of art is entirely at home, and 
 which can animate the rigid stone to make the 
 grandest architectural monuments, can in sculp- 
 ture find the most manifold subjects for its exer- 
 cise, and can conjure on canvas with ready hand 
 the most impressive pictures. 
 
 I feel impelled to say a few words concerning 
 one of the most marvelous compositions in the 
 latter art, pictures which in my opinion have 
 not since the time of Raphael perhaps been 
 vouchsafed to genius. And although my remarks 
 are really foreign to the matter of this book 
 (which is less ambitious in its aim), yet perhaps 
 they may not be quite unprofitable or quite un- 
 welcome to many. 
 
 I am speaking of those grandiose and profound 
 poems, destined for the wall of the museum in 
 Berlin, which have aroused the greatest attention 
 and enthusiasm of all artists in our country, and 
 whose completion for some unknown reason is 
 still postponed. Yet we may with confidence 
 hope that the magnificence of our King, to 
 whom native art already owes so much, since he 
 has provided for his people something to look at 
 for centuries to come, will not withhold forever 
 from the most intellectual section such a rich 
 mine of instruction and pleasure. A few pious 
 
The Park in Muskau 171 
 
 persons who, probably by reason of the happy 
 contrast, have selected the chief city of Frederick 
 the Great for a rubbish-heap, and whose propri- 
 ety goes so far that they would provide every 
 Cupid with a pair of breeches and every Venus 
 with underskirts before permitting them to be 
 exposed to the public eye, have immediately 
 come to the front with the dictum that the nude 
 in these pictures is in any case highly immoral, 
 but still more inappropriate in the vicinity of 
 the holy cathedral. (Even so these cheap holy 
 ones have recently protested against telegraph 
 wires on the church towers.) Yet with just as 
 much right should the whole museum be con- 
 demned, where for some years now the unutter- 
 able has occurred, and great and little have had 
 plentiful opportunity for becoming familiar with 
 the nude and " the gods of Greece." If we can 
 view these Christian pictures, countless altar- 
 pieces, edifying representations of the pains of 
 hell, etc., mingled heterogeneously with the old 
 classic art, why should the Christian cathedral 
 be unable to endure the proximity of Schinkel's 
 world-embracing and world-historic ideas per- 
 sonified in beautiful human form ? Yet St. Peter's 
 in Rome, the cathedral of Christendom, permits, 
 in the near proximity of the Vatican, profane 
 wall-paintings, nude pictures and statues of all 
 kinds; and does not, in the Capitol, the altar of 
 Ara Cceli lie, as it were, cheek by jowl with a 
 Bacchus and the Venus of Praxiteles in the bare 
 adornment of nature ? But I forget that Catho- 
 
172 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 lies are not so orthodox as Protestants, and that 
 the Pope is far too liberal for our too Puritanical 
 ones. Better that I should take my comparisons 
 from our daily life here, where in my opinion 
 the contrast is equally remarkable. For do not 
 the theater and the church here clasp hands in 
 the most amicable manner, do not opera dancers 
 every night do their honorable best to initiate 
 Catholics and Protestants, pious and impious, 
 into the mystery of the natural lines of the hu- 
 man body ? Gauze and stockings do not prevent 
 the study of the human form, but nobody ob- 
 jects. 
 
 More considerable and important than this ob- 
 stacle seems to me the desire that Schinkel's great 
 works may be completed while their creator /V still 
 alive to direct their completion^ for how quickly, 
 how suddenly, the flame of life is extinguished, 
 even in the most robust, often unforeseen by all ! 
 Schinkel, too, is not immortal, but his works will 
 be if only their free and complete development 
 is permitted, and they be not strangled or silenced 
 in their very birth. 
 
 We had stopped at the feudal castle in my 
 park. Plate XXIX shows it and its surroundings. 
 
 During the excavations in this neighborhood, 
 only a year ago, a well-preserved skeleton was 
 found in an overgrown thicket, only three feet 
 underground, apparently that of a fine young 
 man ; for it had excellent proportions, a phren- 
 ologically well-formed skull, and all the teeth 
 without a single gap. Whatever is found in the 
 
The Park in Muskau 173 
 
 park, alive or dead, should be used for the bene- 
 fit of the place ; and so I have also utilized this 
 dubious find. A grave of green grass with a sim- 
 ple stone cross has been made for this skeleton. 
 The inscription states that the bones of the un- 
 known rest under the cross, and from the bank 
 near it the eye plunges into a wide and deep 
 forest ravine. 
 
 Almost the whole of the considerable space 
 which is taken up by the feudal castle buildings 
 is used for service ; only the detached tower with 
 the so-called old castle is arranged for the use of 
 the master. Not far from the castle Platz is 
 a narrow plain about a mile round, used to make 
 a little race-course with " obstacles," in which I 
 have taken the liberty of using as my model, 
 not the domestic but the Irish style, which, even 
 for the best riders and most excellent horses, 
 present real obstacles ; as, for instance, clay banks 
 six feet high with a ditch beyond ; stone walls 
 five feet high, woodpiles and ditches twelve and 
 sixteen feet wide. The course is so small that 
 one can see all the evolutions quite distinctly 
 from the amphitheater in the middle, which is 
 to be provided with three rows of rising seats 
 which are to be dug in the sides of the hill ; and 
 during the whole race one need never lose sight 
 of the horses. 
 
 This is the utmost point of to-day's excursion, 
 from which we return to the castle by a road, 
 marked with an arrow in the plan, whose ac- 
 quaintance we have yet to make. 
 
174 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 During this drive an advantageous view is dis- 
 closed from the double bridge [ff) of the mill 
 [gg) (see Plate XXX), and at the end one may 
 in passing cast a glance at the gay colors of the 
 blue flower gardens (see Plate XXXI), with which 
 we take our farewell of all the park and garden 
 scenes. 
 
 SECOND carriage DRIVE 
 
 Although this drive, like the third which still 
 confronts the reader, covers as much ground as 
 the foregoing, I may say that, since there are 
 fewer objects to enumerate, a shorter description 
 will suffice. 
 
 We first take our route (follow the arrow) 
 directly to the guest house, an extensive estab- 
 lishment, arranged for the convenience of visitors, 
 which is not yet finished. This short piece of 
 road, which we passed yesterday, but from the 
 opposite direction, and the neighborhood with all 
 its views, appears, although seen from the same 
 point, a very different one, on account of the 
 altered direction. 
 
 We soon find ourselves in a new domain on 
 the western hills, which stretches along the town, 
 climbs the steep slope behind it, and then pro- 
 ceeds through the village of Berg, through fruit 
 gardens, until we reach the Wendish farmhouse 
 (M) called "Sorgenfrei" (Sans Souci), which is 
 built quite in the style and within the means of 
 a well-to-do farm-owner in the village. From 
 this point we can see nearly the whole park spread 
 
X 
 X 
 
 X 
 
The Park in Muskau 175 
 
 out, and immediately at our feet we can overlook, 
 as on a map, high above the roofs of the town, 
 the streets in all their detail, the castle (whose 
 towers do not rise to the level of our feet), 
 the lake Lucie, the flower gardens with the 
 "pleasure-ground," and now the sky is covered 
 with thick clouds, which only permit a glimpse 
 of the distance. A little garden of grass and fruit 
 surrounds the house, in whose precincts stands 
 the ruins of the oldest church in the Oberlausitz, 
 for the upkeep of which help was asked in Rome 
 in the last century. Although small, from an 
 architectural point of view it is not without in- 
 terest, and is very picturesquely placed in the 
 middle of the old churchyard under the shade 
 of tall limes. (See for this view Plate XXXII.) 
 Even in my grandfather's time there stood on 
 this point an old tree surrounded with benches, 
 to make the most of this pleasant spot, and 
 it often serves me, I gladly acknowledge, as a 
 double memento, first of thanks to God, who 
 gave me the sense to rejoice as a child in his 
 sublime works, and second, in recognition of 
 that simplicity which, even though by a con- 
 ceited person it is considered only momentarily, 
 is yet the condition in which peaceful happiness 
 smiles most, and from which evil cares stay far- 
 thest. The road along this whole tour was very, 
 difficult to make, as the many ravines and deep 
 bays could only be made passable by bridges. 
 Luckily wood here is cheap and superabundant, 
 as in many other places in the Fatherland. With- 
 
176 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 out this convenience the completion would per- 
 haps have been too expensive for my income. 
 The greater part of this plan just described is 
 planted with fruit trees only, an idea which I 
 have borrowed from Chief Gardener Lenne, the 
 carrying-out of which certainly gives very fine 
 results when the place selected is suitable. Here 
 between village and town, and extending between 
 the gardens of both, visible in the far distance 
 from the valley, there was no course more prac- 
 tical than further to cover with masses of fruit 
 trees the mountain which was already terraced 
 and skirted with fruit trees, so that in summer 
 the bright green of fine grass might be seen shim- 
 mering under the tree-stems. But since the shape 
 of most fruit trees is poor and ugly, I have tried 
 to amend this by the mixture of the beautiful 
 wild apple tree. 
 
 From the fruit plantation we arrive, close be- 
 hind the village, at the upper edge of a narrow 
 valley, whose steep sides are lined with old 
 beeches, and where here and there the headings 
 and shafts of the alum works are visible. The 
 road then turns again toward the plain of the 
 mountain projection and skirts a little wooded 
 lake near the village, until, in a quarter of an 
 hour, we reach (//) the vineyard, passing by sev- 
 eral nice cottages of the hill folk, where, above 
 the vineyards, a very wide prospect is opened on 
 the regions of Bautzen and Gorlitz. In the mid- 
 dle, the highest point six miles off, appearing 
 singularly isolated, divides the horizon, and is 
 
The Park in Muskau 177 
 
 surrounded by the sea of forest which covers the 
 whole region. After refreshments at the vine- 
 dresser's hut, we follow the hillside by a zigzag 
 drive which encloses the alum works, cross the 
 wooden chute by which the ore is conveyed, and 
 maybe alight once more from the vehicle, to visit 
 some of the shafts, which are illuminated on cer- 
 tain days during the bathing season, decorated 
 with colored alum crystals, and inspect the huts 
 and other works in detail, if we take an interest 
 in such things. 
 
 Nature is wild here, and although the soil is 
 sandy and for the most part covered with firs, it 
 is much interspersed with colored gravels, black 
 ore, or brown coal deposits which rise to the sur- 
 face, and many very picturesque aspects are shown 
 in the precipitous, abrupt character of the ground, 
 which seems as if it had been hurled about in 
 an earthquake. We even find in one spot a sort 
 of small volcano, yet not an artificial one, but a 
 fire in the earth, which is shown by a perpetual 
 wreath of smoke and occasional bursts of small 
 flames from the subterranean glow of a brown 
 coal deposit, causing a good deal of anxiety to 
 the miners. 
 
 In striking contrast to the chaotically torn 
 strata, directly behind the foundries are the gar- 
 dens of the baths, which come as a pleasant sur- 
 prise with their wealth of roses. 
 
 A convenient drive leads from the " Kur- 
 haus" (//) round an extensive "pleasure-ground" 
 to the mineral baths (mm), the moor baths, and 
 
178 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 the lodgings (««), and many promenades to the 
 nearer mountains. Much care has been taken to 
 get as great a contrast as possible with the views 
 of the regions visited yesterday by dwelling on 
 its varied and rugged character, as well as by 
 introducing new subjects, or at least leading to 
 them in a new direction. 
 
 The lover of free, untrammeled Nature will 
 therefore be most pleased with this region. It 
 will be easy for him to find deepest solitude in 
 dense forest and glade, where there is nothing to 
 disturb his thoughts, except at most the monot- 
 onous tap of the iron hammer, close by at Keula, 
 or a more gently hammering woodpecker, or 
 perhaps the sudden apparition of a miner's black 
 head, which appears and disappears like a ghost 
 out of the earth. 
 
 The " pleasure-ground " here is also treated 
 quite differently from that in the neighborhood 
 of the castle. Public baths, it is obvious, have 
 quite other requirements than those which are 
 suited to a private residence. Shady walks and a 
 number of comfortable and roomy resting-points 
 are here specially called for, as well as a choice 
 of plants whose flowering season is due in late 
 summer, the principal bathing season. A small 
 flower garden is on the right of the " Kurhaus," 
 and is enclosed by high and steep bluffs, which 
 are by nature so rich in odd formations that I 
 hit upon the contrivance of treating them in the 
 taste of an Oriental garden with various brightly 
 colored pavilions on the steep and sheer heights. 
 
The Park in Muskau 179 
 
 Isolated as it is, and, as'I have remarked, sug- 
 gesting, on account of its natural peculiarities, 
 an original treatment, the carrying-out of my 
 plan will I hope be quite appropriate, especially 
 as in grounds, which are intended for the gen- 
 eral public, something to suit all tastes is more 
 of a consideration than in the case of a decora- 
 tive garden, which requires a more critical ar- 
 rangement. Already and without much assistance 
 this part of the " pleasure-ground " has something 
 exotic about it. (Plate XXXIII shows this fin- 
 ished on the map ; Plate XXXIV gives a view 
 of the whole baths; Plate XXXV the view from 
 the salon of the moor baths; and Plate XXXVI, 
 the garden of the pavilion for drinking the 
 waters [oo)j a little place, closed all round, deco- 
 rated only with baskets of centifolia rose and a 
 large antique camp bench with hortensias all 
 round it.) 
 
 When we have visited all these, which will 
 occupy some hours, we get into the carriage 
 again, and follow the previous drive in a long 
 and high mountain ravine, where we meet first 
 a range for shooting at the target, and farther 
 on, in a wide basin formed by the mountains 
 around, various games and booths [pp) as well 
 as an open race-course and a jumping arrange- 
 ment for the exercise of the horses. 
 
 We then continue up the hill, pass a coal- 
 works and a railway which leads through the 
 galleries of the mine to the alum huts, and en- 
 joy from the height another wide view, of which 
 
i8o Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 the chief point is the " Wussina," a deer park, 
 distant a short mile, which I shall describe more 
 fully later on. 
 
 After this beautiful drive completely around 
 the bath and its surroundings, we go downhill 
 and leave the mining region, returning along 
 the Neisse and passing by several lodgings in 
 various styles for the bathers, and finally reach 
 the castle. Here, as one can see, only the short 
 stretch of road used yesterday is traveled : how- 
 ever, because we come from the opposite direc- 
 tion, we get different views. 
 
 THIRD CARRIAGE DRIVE 
 
 It is impossible to deal always with the same 
 material without becoming somewhat monoto- 
 nous. Nevertheless, for the exact study of the 
 plan of the grounds, a detailed guide is indispen- 
 sable to the reader. All that I can do to lighten 
 the task is to strike a middle course which, with- 
 out boring him too mercilessly, should put him 
 in a position to work out the whole in his own 
 mind with the help of the plans. 
 
 Our "trip" this time begins where the drive 
 of the first day left off (follow the arrow), and 
 after passing the inevitable short portion of the 
 road taken already, but this time in the opposite 
 direction, we reach a region which was only 
 seen in previous days at a distance and cursorily, 
 near the great Neisse bridge. We drive for some 
 time along a dam between the river and some 
 tall oaks, until we climb the Lucknitzer Hill, 
 
The Park in Muskau i8i 
 
 where a belvedere [pp) has been built. (See 
 Plate XXXVII.) The extended drive along the 
 ridge of the mountain embraces the real Neisse 
 Valley with the fields and meadows of the town 
 burghers, which lie at the foot of the high alum 
 mountains and through which the river runs in 
 sharp curves. 
 
 The six towers of the little town appear from 
 this place so high and so distant from one another 
 that a stranger might think he was entering a 
 big town. This view gradually disappears behind 
 the hills, and next we enter a young deciduous 
 woods with no distant view, which takes half an 
 hour to cross by a lonesome road, until we reach 
 the highest plateau in the park, where at a sharp 
 turn of the road the wide country and the whole 
 chain of mountains, from the snow summits to 
 the most easterly of the Bautzner Range, lies 
 before us, embracing half the horizon. The fore- 
 ground is formed of dark spruce forest and the 
 projecting pinnacles of the "Burg." Here an ob- 
 servatory has been planned. On the other side are 
 meadows gradually shelving away, and coupled 
 with other enclosures, together with the large 
 race-course intended for racing country horses 
 and the ancient buildings of the stud (rr). (See 
 Plate XXXVIII.) 
 
 The road from here leads through pasture 
 grounds, partly also through loosely connected 
 woods in which the acacia dominates, and in a 
 short time reaches the above-mentioned stud, 
 which offers no interest except to a horse-lover. 
 
1 82 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 We will, therefore, not linger any time here, but 
 lead the reader quickly to the " Burg " farm by 
 the meadow, where a model farm was not sought, 
 but only a good income. Model farms are no 
 doubt of much public benefit, yet are in them- 
 selves only sacrifices to others whereby satisfac- 
 tory results can be achieved only by means of 
 extremely costly experiments, which are then 
 imitated by one's neighbors without further test 
 expense, and hence they are the only ones to 
 profit by them. Now, since the artistic purpose 
 of my grounds occasioned quite sufficient outlay, 
 I found myself compelled to limit my endeavors 
 to the establishment of a model park, whose 
 results, of course, as I cannot deny, would not 
 bring in so much 7noney as the lessons of model 
 economy. 
 
 With these observations, dear reader, we have 
 arrived at the sheep farm [ss), whose high-bred 
 sheep I was for two years compelled to degrade 
 on account of the unfavorable wool idea of that 
 time ; that is, to make them more lucrative by 
 a coarser but richer wool crop. We come next 
 to the large race-course [it), the use of which I 
 intend shortly to offer to the " National Asso- 
 ciation for Breeding Fine Horses." It is half a 
 German mile long, one hundred and twenty feet 
 broad, with plenty of room for lookers-on, and 
 forms a large oval, the interior of which is di- 
 vided into seven separate fields, each planted with 
 different fruit trees. From the heights this pre- 
 sents the view of a colossal star. 
 
The Park in Muskau 183 
 
 From the "stands," which are erected on a 
 high point, one overlooks the whole course as 
 well as a romantic region, with some small lakes. 
 Stables for the horses "in training" and all the 
 other requisites will be furnished close by. One 
 of the above lakes will serve a purpose of a 
 peculiar character. It will be planted, including 
 its islands, with a mass of weeping willows, and 
 quarried rocks scattered about, inscribed with the 
 names of dear departed ones in silent memory 
 [uuY The race-course at one point passes close 
 by this lake of mourning, where at the same 
 moment one may look down as into a hollow at 
 the race-horse in his joyous flight and upon the 
 monuments of those who now repose so deeply 
 and whose race on this earth has forever been 
 run. The large nursery from which the greater 
 part of the park was planted might also be 
 thought worth our attention as we pass (yvY 
 The neighboring lake yields the needful water, 
 which, however, is sparely used for watering, in 
 order to harden the young plants from the be- 
 ginning, for which reason also a soil of only 
 medium quality was selected. From the race- 
 course the road leads to the Gobelin colony, a 
 collection of cottages of various shapes, which 
 we have already mentioned (^^). (See Plate 
 XXXIX.) They are mostly inhabited by the 
 garden laborers, and are scattered on a height, 
 with a few old oaks, which may, perhaps, be 
 several centuries old. Among them a few years 
 ago a small treasure was found, buried probably 
 
184 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 at the time of the Thirty Years' War, of which 
 I have kept several coins. This is the only treas- 
 ure which I can boast of having found with all 
 my rummaging in the earth ; on the other hand, 
 that treasure has not failed me which the father 
 bequeathed to his son when he urged him to 
 dig for it round his vineyard, and I therefore 
 recommend the same experiment to every land- 
 owner. 
 
 We return to the castle past the village of 
 Kobeln (ww), which also is inhabited only by 
 garden laborers, along the Neisse, by a road on 
 which, for the greater part, we have not driven 
 before. I must remark once more that we are 
 driving in the opposite direction from that part 
 of the road with which we are already familiar, 
 in order to lay stress on the fact that, with all 
 our various drives and crossings during these 
 days, we have never seen exactly the same pic- 
 ture repeated, and yet have touched at all the 
 chief points, and have omitted nothing but those 
 manifold details which require too much time, 
 those never-ending variations of the inexhaus- 
 tible music of Nature, which are only quite 
 discoverable in all their nuances by the sturdy 
 pedestrian.' 
 
 ' I need hardly point out that in the present disposition of the 
 grounds, if the three carriage drives are made entirely in the opposite 
 direction from that here described, an almost wholly new series of dif- 
 ferent views fnust be presented, although they are formed out of the 
 same materials, as also quite different views may be obtained by short 
 cuts which I have not described. If we add the footpaths as well, eight 
 days would be necessary to know the park from end to end. 
 
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 o 
 
 u 
 
 h 
 
 >< 
 X 
 X 
 
The Park in Muskau 185 
 
 Although the description of the park ends 
 here, a few words are due concerning more re- 
 mote questions which are connected with the 
 subject. As I have the great advantage of exten- 
 sive and connected territories, and as no advan- 
 tage should be neglected, I have attempted to 
 utilize it in the following manner : — 
 
 A mile southeast of Muskau, toward the Si- 
 lesian Mountains, I laid out a park for wild deer 
 with a villa and huntsman's hut; and in a south- 
 easterly direction, at a distance of two miles, a 
 larger park for stags and wild boars. The foun- 
 dation for this last was afforded by an old hunt- 
 ing and pleasure castle, where for centuries plenty 
 of game was sacrificed to the hunting nobility. 
 Both parks are connected by twin roads, going 
 to and fro, which are reserved for the owners 
 alone and never leave my land, and lead through 
 the most interesting portion of the country, con- 
 nected with the castle park, so that one may pro- 
 long the drives already described in one or other 
 of these places for the whole day, if one wishes. 
 A fifth road, besides, has been projected, for di- 
 rect connection between the two parks for wild 
 animals, which will lead unbroken for several 
 miles through the main woods, and which, as 
 the chronicles mention, borders the royal graves 
 and Swantewit's hills of sacrifice. I have at- 
 tempted to restore, in the form of sacrificial 
 altars, some grotesque stone forms found during 
 excavation. 
 
 The first grounds laid out, which I have al- 
 
1 86 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 lowed to retain the former Wendish name " Wus- 
 sina" (Wilderness), consists mostly of deciduous 
 trees, up to a very wild part covered with tall firs, 
 which has been given the name of" Wolf's Lair," 
 in honor of the huntsmen. Occasionally we make 
 the place resound at midnight with the Devil 
 music of Weber, which has a doubly gruesome 
 effect in these appropriate surroundings. A forest 
 stream flows through the Wussina, and into the 
 Neisse, which bounds two sides of the grounds. 
 The third boundary is formed by a broad road 
 and a low fence, which the deer can easily leap, 
 as they do not thrive in fenced-in grounds, for, 
 although one of the most delicate of beasts, the 
 gentle deer, it seems, can least of all endure loss 
 of freedom. The terrain is very mountainous, 
 and lonely forest ravines, with deep meadow 
 valleys at the foot and various views toward the 
 " Riesengebirge " from the higher portions, make 
 up the chief characteristics of these grounds. (See 
 Plate XL.) 
 
 A quite different character, on the other hand, 
 is shown in the large deer park, a district for- 
 merly enclosed by a high fence, which it takes 
 six to eight hours to circuit. The enclosure has re- 
 cently been pulled down by my orders and simple 
 canals substituted; partly because with such an 
 accumulation of game I lost too much from the 
 poachers, who became very bold in consequence 
 of the light punishment which was imposed when 
 they were caught ; partly because I found that 
 wild animals in a confined space degenerated very 
 
> 
 
 X 
 
The Park in Muskau 187 
 
 much, becoming smaller, leaner, and less tasty, 
 and also too tame, almost like the fallow deer 
 which in England resemble flocks of sheep. Be- 
 sides, game can be kept together in certain dis- 
 tricts without fencing, by appropriate fodder and 
 other practical means without hermetically seal- 
 ing them from other pastures, and letting them 
 pine and deteriorate in depressing captivity. An 
 experience of fifteen years has quite convinced me 
 on this point.' 
 
 It was singular that two of my most opulent 
 neighbors began to lay out fenced deer parks at 
 the very time when I had my own fences pulled 
 down. They had taken fifteen years to make up 
 their minds to imitate me. I have no doubt that 
 fifteen years later they will again follow me, for 
 every one likes to become wise by his own expe- 
 rience. 
 
 The park lies quite in the plain, and presents 
 merely an endless wooded tract with very few 
 elevations, but is remarkable for its very fine old 
 timber, mostly oaks, spruces, and pines of unusual 
 size. The latter, with their tall, smooth trunks, 
 sometimes one hundred and fifty feet high, are 
 more like the pines of Italy than our common 
 and picturesque kinds. 
 
 But what makes this wood so fresh and de- 
 
 ' To prevent the liberals from falling on me on account of this, I may 
 inform them that out of consideration for the farmers I hold only a third 
 of the game which the law permits, in proportion to the area, which 
 contains one hundred and thirty thousand acres, and that I let them 
 have wood free besides, to enable them to fence their own fields wher- 
 ever there are gaps. 
 
1 88 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 lightful, and gives it a particular charm, is the 
 almost unbroken carpet of huckleberries, cran- 
 berries, ferns, and wild rosemary which densely 
 cover the ground. The bright green and shining 
 leaf of the huckleberries, alternating continually 
 with fern, is undoubtedly preferable in a wood to 
 the finest lawn, and certainly cannot be artificially 
 created in such lusty growth ; nay, even where 
 these plants were taken away in former times for 
 litter, they have never grown again in the shade. 
 It seems that more than a man's lifetime is re- 
 quired before large stretches become richly clad 
 with them. This deer park, the castle of which 
 contains plenty of room for many hunting guests, 
 is used as head rendezvous for stag, boar, and roe 
 hunting. The most interesting hunting for many, 
 however, is heathcock shooting; growing else- 
 where rarer every year, it can still be enjoyed 
 here in great abundance. Indeed, one may hear 
 from thirty to forty birds "calling" simultane- 
 ously in the territory of the park. For this sport 
 one must rise very early, and as city folk are 
 averse to this, the following plan of mine met 
 with much appreciation: One drives from Mus- 
 kau at midnight by torchlight through the woods, 
 one of the cheapest as well as most agreeable 
 methods of illuminating, then spends the rest of 
 the time blowing the reveille at the hunting 
 castle, and immediately afterwards "beats up" 
 the heathcock, as it is called in hunting terms. 
 In this manner ladies could frequently take part, 
 and on their account I may be excused for men- 
 
Plate XLI. Spruce Tree in Muskau Park 
 
 One Hundred Feet High 
 
.S X 
 O £^ 
 
The Park in Muskau 189 
 
 tioning this detail, which is hardly pertinent to 
 the matter. 
 
 For stalking other game ten or twelve differ- 
 ent tracks have been made, which also lead to 
 the finest parts of the wood. These are divided 
 among the guests strictly as their temporary prop- 
 erty, so that each one may make use only of the 
 one designated for him, and is certain, therefore, 
 to avoid any accident on it. The huntsmen would 
 consider it a very unbecoming intrusion on the 
 rights of the others if anybody refused to abide 
 by this rule. Therefore, the possessor may be cer- 
 tain day and night of being able to follow his 
 pleasure, comme il Ventend. I owe this contrivance, 
 as practical as it is pleasant, to the kindly assist- 
 ance of Herr Oberforstmeister and Professor 
 Pfeil in Berlin, after whom one of these laby- 
 rinthine, serpentine paths is even now called the 
 " Pfeilstrasse." 
 
 Here there is such a number of splendid trees 
 that I could not deny myself the pleasure of 
 having two of them portrayed. Plate XLI rep- 
 resents a spruce tree standing alone, only one 
 hundred feet high, it is true, but from which 
 masses of needles hang down from the lowest 
 branches to the length of seven feet. I once had 
 it illuminated with paper lanterns in the form 
 of colossal fruits like a Christmas tree, such a 
 Christmas tree as perhaps has never been seen 
 elsewhere. Plate XLII shows a remarkably 
 shaped oak, eighty-five feet high, with a cir- 
 cumference of the trunk of twenty-four feet one 
 
190 Hints on Landscape Gardening 
 
 ell (yard) above the earth. The strongest branches 
 are nine feet in circumference. 
 
 The last plate, XLIV, gives a view of my cot- 
 tage in the garden of the hunting castle, a quiet, 
 secluded spot, whence I bid a hearty farewell to 
 the amiable reader, if he has held out so far with 
 this dry matter, sincerely hoping that my small 
 efforts may have been of some service to those 
 who have devoted themselves to the same hobby, 
 and also that I have drawn the attention of others 
 to an occupation which perhaps has appeared to 
 them in too subordinate a light. For when once 
 the landowner has begun to idealize his prop- 
 erty, he will soon become aware that cultivation 
 of the soil will secure for him not only pecuniary 
 advantage, but also real artistic delight, and how 
 thankful Nature is to him who dedicates his 
 powers with love. So then, if each one does his 
 best for his own tirelessly and thoroughly, and 
 the thousand facets combine easily and well to 
 form one ring, the lovable dream of the St. Si- 
 monians might become true of a universal cult 
 of our mother earth. For this purpose, however, 
 it would be well to turn aside a little from these 
 sad politics, which absorb everything and give so 
 little in return, and revert a little more to happy 
 art, whose service is in itself a reward ; since for 
 the ruling of the State we cannot all strive. But 
 to seek to improve himself and his property is 
 in the power of each one of us, and it is even a 
 question whether in such a simple manner, in 
 honest and homely endeavor, the so-much-de- 
 
u 
 
 3 
 
 u 
 
The Park in Muskau 191 
 
 sired freedom may not be attained with more 
 calm and safety than by the many experiments 
 in superficial theoretic forms of State. For he 
 only can be free who commands himself. 
 
 THE END 
 
INDEX 
 
Index 
 
 Architecture in connection with 
 
 landscape design, 32-33. 
 Ashridge, 38. 
 
 Bautzner Range, 181. 
 Blumenbach, 9. 
 Braunsdorf, 127. 
 Brown, landscape architect, 29. 
 Buckingham Palace, 70. 
 Buried treasure, 183-84. 
 Buxus (Box), 71. 
 
 Cattle in parks, 19-21, 26. 
 
 Chiswick, 71. 
 
 Claude Lorrain, 22. 
 
 Comparison of landscape art 
 with that of the actor, the 
 architect, and the musician, 
 I 17-18. 
 
 Cultivation of grass land, 55, 56, 
 
 57; 
 
 Cutting down trees, 59. 
 
 Deciduous trees, how to be used, 
 
 28-29. 
 Deer, maintenance of, 186-87. 
 Distant view, treatment of, 27, 30. 
 Drainage, 50-51. 
 
 Eaton Hall, 38. 
 
 Employment of trees around 
 
 buildings, 33-34. 
 England, 35. 
 Evergreen trees, how to be used, 
 
 28, 29, 74. 
 
 Farm, model, 182. 
 Fern, 188. 
 
 Fichte, 105. 
 
 Fir, 28. 
 
 Flower beds, 45, 73. 
 
 Flower garden, 178, 179. 
 
 French parterre, 33. 
 
 Garden, true function of, 22. 
 Garden art, true principle, 22; 
 of France, 22; 
 of Romans, 22; 
 of Switzerland, 22. 
 Gardener's Magazine, 35. 
 Gardens, design, definition of, 
 
 42, 74- 
 German landscape gardening, 
 
 criticism, of, 1-7. 
 Gobelin colony, 183. 
 Goethe, 34. 
 
 Gothic building, 33, 34, 42. 
 Grasses, 49-54; 56-5?. 
 
 Ha-ha ditch, 27, 43. 
 
 Harmony of colors of trees and 
 
 shrubs, 69. 
 Holly, 71. 
 Huckleberries, 188. 
 
 Italy of the Renaissance, 33. 
 
 Juniper, 28. 
 
 Kobeln village, 184. 
 
 Lake in St. James's Park, design 
 
 of, 91. 
 Landscape gardening, English, 
 
 criticism of, 3-7, 19-20, 126. 
 Laurel, 71. 
 
196 
 
 Index 
 
 Lawns, 43-44. 
 
 
 Pleasure-grounds, 19, 39, 178. 
 
 Lenne, landscape architect, 7, 
 
 176. 
 
 Prussia, 21. 
 
 Lilacs, 76. 
 
 
 Piickler, fitness to teach " art of 
 
 Lombard poplars, 33, 66, 79. 
 
 
 gardening," 7-9. 
 
 Malahide, 37. 
 
 
 Raphael, 170. 
 
 Memorial Lake, 184. 
 
 
 Regent's Park, 91. 
 
 Michael Angelo, 18. 
 
 
 Repton, 9, 36, 91. 
 
 Mistakes, treatment of, 14-1 
 
 6. 
 
 Rhododendron, 71. 
 
 Moss under trees, 53. 
 
 
 Roads, construction of, 86-89; 
 
 Mountains, Oberlausitz, 120; 
 
 
 design, 81-85. 
 
 Silesian, 120. 
 
 
 Rousseau, 40. 
 
 Muck or humus, 49. 
 
 
 
 Muskau, 15. 
 
 
 St. James's Park, 91. 
 
 St. Peter's at Rome, 18, 171. 
 
 Nash, Wm., 71, 72, 73, 91. 
 
 
 Shrubberies, 75. 
 
 Nature, 117. 
 
 
 Site of building, 31-35. 
 
 Neisse Valley, 127, 180. 
 
 
 Spruce, 28, 33, 187, 189. 
 Symbolic expression in landscape 
 
 Oaks, 187. 
 
 
 design, 34, 35. 
 
 Pantheon, 18. 
 
 
 Temples, 34, 42. 
 
 Park design, definition of, 
 
 13, 
 
 
 42,60. 
 
 
 Warwick Castle, 37. 
 
 Parks, English, 19. 
 
 
 Weber, 186. 
 
 Paths, 74. 
 
 
 Windsor Park, 70. 
 
 Pine, 28, 33, 120, 187. 
 
 
 Wussina, 186. 
 
 Plans, of parks and garden, 16-17. 
 
 
 Planting trees, 60-66. 
 
 
 Yew, 28. 
 
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