American homes and gardens (1911) (18131537916)

Title: American homes and gardens
Identifier: americanhomesgar81911newy (find matches)
Year: 1905 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Architecture, Domestic; Landscape gardening
Publisher: New York : Munn and Co
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library



Text Appearing Before Image:
HE life of mankind, beginning in a garden, has always been pictured as dwelling there in its happy moments. All imaginative ideals of life include a garden as their setting; all nations have embodied the dream of a gar- den in their literature and poetry, and in most minds the thought of the possession of a garden has been as the acme of all life's outer gifts—a symbol of plenty and of joy. The love of gardens and the making of them, which we find increases always as conditions become more full of leisure, is not a fad or a fashion, but a very real human desire; and, like everything else that is human and of any importance, has existed since the beginning of man's activity on earth—even earlier, if we are to accept Sir Thomas Browne's biblical inference. We remember Babylon first of all as the home of the wonderful "hanging gardens," even before the palaces and deeds of kings come to mind; Persia, China and all the East have known gardens which were not only beautiful in form and color, revelling in trees and flowers, as we understand it, but full beside of definite meanings as their art of whatever kind is—the garden itself being a symbol of the universe, and as such containing emblems of Life, Death, and Immortality. Of the English
Text Appearing After Image:
As one wanders through the luxuriantly planted borders of this garden, by broad paths of attractively arranged bricks, there is felt the sense of pleasant seclusion that a private garden should always evoke. It is a notable example of what can be done in America