Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women - Wise Acres Yearbook (Ambler, PA)

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parts into a unified whole, is his most important function. As the architect has his stone and wood, the sculptor his marble and bronze, and the painter his palette of colors, so the landscape architect has certain materials with which he works out his designs. These include ground forms (hills, valleys, plains, etc.), vegetation (trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants, etc.), and structures as they relate to the landscape. With these he designs the dooryard garden, or plans for the development of an entire metropolitan region. It is evident, therefore, that the practitioners of this art have a wide scope for their powers, and their labors embrace a broad field of design. It is not quite so easy to define horticulture, as much depends on the point of view of the individual. To the person whose interest lies in adding to the total sum of knowledge of the subject, horticulture is a science, while to the one whose interest lies in the cultivation of plants for their individual usefulness or beauty, whether for pleasure or profit, horticulture becomes an industry. In either case a broad field of activity is opened, and these are only two of the many aspects which horticulture presents to persons having different tastes and training. Broadly speaking, we may say that a horticulturist is one skilled in the cultivation of all forms of plant life as the result of knowledge and practice. It is upon the common ground of their interest in plants that the landscape architect and horticulturist meet, and, far too often, separate; and this is written in the hope that, with a more sympathetic understanding of the point of view toward plants of each by the other, a continuation of the latter condition may be in some measure prevented. The difficulty seems to arise almost entirely from a difference in viewpoint. In considering plants the landscape architect approaches the matter from the point of a designer and is thus interested primarily in whether a plant will produce the effect desired in his composition. He selects plants almost entirely for their landscape value, that is, their fitness for use in the particular landscape picture which he is creating. This value is made up of three principal elements: Form (shape), texture, and color. For instance, he decides that he needs a tall round-headed tree, having small leaves of a light green color. Having made this decision he is free — within certain limits, among which are those of soil and climate, locality and situation—to select any one of a number of trees which meet his requirements. His training and experience make him value a plant for its usefulness in a composition rather than for the plant itself; its esthetic value to him is greater than its scientific or economic value. The horticulturist, on the other hand, cares little or nothing about the use of plants in pictorial composition, but by reason of his training and interest in their cultivation as specimens is inclined to value a plant for scientific or economic reasons. He values it for itself alone, its rarity, its exotic appearance, its unusual color or form, or the difficulty with which it is culti- 14

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one appreciates their aesthetic value, when, through their mere existence they are livening up the landscape, softening harsh contours, be it if natural rock formation or of houses. But aside from this purpose which they fulfill, plants are most vital to every-day existence as food to most living beings and because they are furnishing the raw material for the greatest number of industries. A visit to Bermuda in January, when the sight of active vegetation with birds and insects flying about forms a wonderful contrast to what the traveller left behind when departing from New York two days previously, is most fascinating. However, leaving Bermuda again after a short visit at that time, a longing is aroused to see the islands in the months of April and May, when there is a profusion of bloom everywhere with plants of tropical and temperate regions rivalling each other side by side. F. S. News From a Graduate Miss “LuLu” Torrens has had a busy, interesting year. She wrote that in the spring she had charge of rearranging and planning and planting several gardens, including shrubs for backgrounds and foundations plantings. During the summer she had several men working for her caring for some home grounds and gardens. One family which was away for the summer had her send them cut flowers from their garden every week. This fall she has continued with planning and planting, and enjoys her work very much. Some Aspects of the Relation Between Horticulture and Landscape Gardening To many the terms landscape architecture and horticulture are almost synonymous. This misconception is due, I think, to the quite erroneous but nevertheless widespread belief that the sole function of a landscape architect is to make flower gardens. As a matter of fact, these two great fields of human activity, while possessing certain interests in common, are fundamentally different. Landscape architecture is a fine art, closely allied to architecture, sculpture and painting, and for its successful results it is dependent upon the same principles of design as govern the other fine arts. The particular concern of the landscape architect is the arrangement of portions of the earth’s surface for human use and enjoyment. The design, or the orderly arrangement of 13

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vated, and often for its commercial value. Mute, but nonetheless forceful, testimony of the truth of these statements is given by many of the plantations made by commercial horticulturists (nurserymen). Despite this apparently irreconcilable difference in viewpoint, I believe that the landscape architect and the horticulturist may and should be mutually helpful. Both are interested in the production of healthy plants, in the introduction of new plants, in the further perfection of known plants and the use of all plants whether for economic or esthetic purposes. Here, it seems, are enough interests held in common by these two professions to bring and keep them in a close relationship provided their respective points of view are understood, each by the other. To this end the landscape architect should know the cultural and climatic requirements of the plants he intends to use, else his designs will fail. He should also be interested, and should assist wherever possible, in adding to the body of plant material, as it is upon this that he depends for one of the most important elements in his work. On the other hand, the horticulturist may broaden his field of usefulness and increase his esthetic appreciation of plants by devoting some time to the study of the principles of design, particularly design in plant materials, employed by the landscape architect. Ecology, a comparatively new science of rapidly growing importance, is the study of the relation of plants to their environment and to each other in their environment. As good design is dependent to a great extent on recognition of these laws, ecology is of equal importance to the horticulturist. Through this field of knowledge I think both professions will gain much that will be of benefit and perhaps bring about a better appreciation of each other’s work than has hitherto existed. Since our professional schools furnish us with a splendid fertile field in which to sow seeds of this “apple of accord,” I feel that we should grasp the opportunity and work wholeheartedly to cultivate and later to reap the crop of closer relationship and better co-operation between landscape architecture and horticulture. Markley Stevenson. A Tribute to One of Our Girls (Extract from a letter received at School this fall) “Last summer when I saw you in Ambler, I met a Miss Hall there. She is now at the Pennsylvania Hospital for Nervous Diseases. When there last week I saw her. “Everybody is delighted with her. She is doing splendidly, not only with her horticulture work, but I hear she has a won- 15