Capitol Grounds.

Relating to the Capitol grounds, Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted, landscape architect, furnishes the following report accompanied with an appendix, [103]forming an index to trees about the Capitol, with advice to visitors interested in them. He says:

The principal construction works upon the Capitol Ground during the fiscal year ending July 1, 1882, have been the following:

Progress Of Construction.

(1.) The southeast entrance-way, which is now completed, except in respect to lighting arrangements.

(2.) The entrance to the southern system of wheel-ways and walks from Maryland avenue, the stone work of which is complete.

(3.) The wall and coping on the east and south border by which the inclosure of the ground is completed.

(4.) The walls, coping, stairs, and drainage arrangements of the direct approach from Maryland avenue to the west entrance of the Capitol.

(5.) Foundation work of the parapet wall bounding the platform between the base of the Capitol and the central field of turf on the west.

(6.) Twenty-four thousand square feet of plain and 10,000 square feet of “mosaic” artificial stone flagging.

The ground adjoining the several new works of masonry, heretofore temporarily prepared, has been broken up, regraded, with improved modeling of the surface, and sodded or planted.

Incomplete Work.—The Terrace.

In reviewing the present aspect of the Capitol it should be borne in mind that the area within a distance of from 100 to 150 feet of the Capitol, including the slopes beyond the high earth works, remains as it was temporarily prepared twenty years ago pending the design of a general plan for the improvement of the ground. The more nearly the improvement beyond this space is brought to realize its local intention, the more unsuitable, shabby, and disorderly must the central and more conspicuous ground appear, so that the better the work done the less satisfactory is the result as a whole. The anomaly will be more and more marked until the terrace and western stairway shall have been completed and the adjoining ground graded and finished in adaptation to them.

The present Joint Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds have reviewed the plans for these structures adopted seven years ago by Congress, on the recommendation of their predecessors, and it is understood that all its members are convinced that they should be carried out without needless delay. Until Congress adopts this conclusion the Capitol grounds must both be seen at disadvantage and produce impressions unjust to the general design incorporating them.

For the convenience of the committee a brief statement, with illustrative sketches of the plan of the terrace, was prepared last winter.

The construction of the terrace will involve no breaking up of ground [104]or roads or walks already finished, and need cause no inconvenience to the ordinary business of the Capitol.

Progress Of Plantations.

At the beginning of the year the effect of a summer of extraordinary heat and drought followed by a winter of unprecedented cold, was still marked in the condition of the plantations; with the exception of a few broad-leaved evergreens, they have since recovered and are now growing vigorously. The death of certain shrubs the present year has been traced to gas leaks, and it is to be hoped that the time is near when through the introduction of an improved economical method of electric lighting the danger attending the use of illuminating gas in planted grounds may be avoided.

The four lines of plane trees on the west of the Capitol are growing very thriftily, but are checked and given lop-sided forms by the interference of what remains of the old avenue trees they are designed to supersede.

This will be obvious on comparing the crowded trees with others of their kind not so affected. The injury is not, as yet, so great that it may not be remedied, but the final removal of the remaining old trees, nearly all of which are plainly diseased or dilapidated, should not be delayed more than another year.

The temporary loss of shade will soon be amply compensated by the overarching of the new trees.

Index To Trees.

There being trees on the ground unknown to many visitors from distant parts of the country, upon a suggestion kindly made by members of Congress, labels have been placed before a large number, giving their names, and a map, index, and references prepared for the use of strangers. To further foster, meet, and lead on to more useful fields any disposition of inquiry that might occur upon the ground in respect to sylviculture, especially with those having little knowledge of the subject, an explanatory account of the plantations has been added, with advice as to opportunities of fuller information. Copies of all are appended.

Index To Trees About The Capitol, With Advice To Visitors
Interested In Them.

The interest shown by many visitors in the young growth about the Capitol and the character of the inquiries made by them is a gratifying evidence of the growing preparation of the public mind to give economic forestry [105]its due national importance, and also of a rising disposition to study the choice of trees and methods of using them as aids to public health and comfort, and as means for the decoration of homes and the improvement of scenery.

As to citizens from all parts of the country and to visitors from abroad the Capitol is often the first and a more continuous attraction than any other in Washington, it is not surprising that its small plantations should receive more than their due share of attention relatively to other expositions of sylviculture nearby. It is for this reason desired not only that such information about them as is more commonly wanted may be made readily attainable and that misleading impressions of the purposes they are meant to serve may be guarded against, but that visitors may be advised of

The Advantages Otherwise Offered In Washington For The Study
And The Enjoyment Of Trees.

The climate of Washington is subject to great extremes of heat and cold, dampness and dryness, but, for some not clearly established reasons, it seems to admit of an unusual range of vegetation, and allows of the growth in a more or less vigorous or depressed way of numerous woody plants not known far to the northward, and of some not common to the southward, except at considerable elevations. It is hospitable, also, to a larger number of foreign trees than the climate of most other parts of the country.

The Capitol ground is not planted with the least purpose to show what is possible in either respect; the aim in the larger part of it has been to avoid exciting interest through the exhibition of strange qualities in trees, especially of such as might be suggestive of unnatural or forced conditions, or of stratagems of horticulture, nor have the trees to be found in it been given position with a view to conspicuously presenting their individual qualities; rather, for reasons that will be later given, it has been designed to obscure these.

But, as visitors to the Capitol often find trees that happen to be new to them, and about which they wish to be better informed, labels have been placed before a large number, giving names under which inquiries can be made. With these as memoranda, and such other facilities as are supplied by the maps and tables herewith, it is hoped that the Capitol ground may serve to many as an introduction to such better opportunities as are offered in the city, there being few trees within it of which more instructive, because older, examples are not to be seen nearby and better exhibited because planted with the design of exhibition.

The several government plantations in which they may be looked for are unfortunately divided, fragmentary, and, each by itself, incomprehensive and incomplete, thus marking the result of sporadic and unsustained legislative efforts, and even of efforts in some cases a little at cross purposes one with another. Yet, taken together and with the natural growths accidentally available to supplement them, these plantations promise to be of no little value with respect to the long course of patient study upon which the infant science of [106]American forestry has yet to be brought up. Young as they are, nowhere else in the country can as wide a range of trees be found equally advanced, and this is of the more national value because of the close dependence of the science of forestry upon that of meteorology and the fact that nowhere else in the country are as full, accurate, precise, and scientifically collated local meteorological records accessible as in Washington.

Of the government plantations referred to, that of the National Botanic Garden adjoins the Capitol ground on the west. Its germ was a collection made by the Wilkes Exploring Expedition in 1842, of which but one hardy tree remains alive, an invalid Jujube (Zizyphus). The site was and is unsuitable and inadequate for the purpose, and the curator has had and still has to contend with obstacles of many kinds, the deadliest being a lack of intelligent public interest in the scientific objects of a botanic garden, and an excess of interest in its adventitious and recreative incidents.

Among the exposed trees, visitors from the North may be glad to have their attention called to those named below.

The Botanic Garden is managed directly by Congress through its Library Committees.

Half a mile westward is another national collection, managed by the Agricultural Bureau of the Department of the Interior. It includes several hundred sorts of hardy trees and shrubs, most of which were planted between 1865 and 1870. The trees cannot yet, of course, begin to exhibit their mature character, but they are well grown for their age and generally of excellent promise, forming the most instructive collection in the country. As the first step toward a national forestry system it must be regretted that the bureau could not have been allowed more space and means. In twenty years, if thrifty, the trees will in many cases be crowding one another. An official list of the trees can be procured. The curator is Mr. William Saunders.

The ground between the botanic and the agricultural collections, originally planned during the administration of the elder President Adams as a public promenade, under the name of “The Mall,” but neglected, and its [107]design gradually lost sight of, is now provisionally divided into two widely different plantations. That nearest the Capitol was laid out and planted between 1872 and 1878 by Orville Babcock, colonel of military engineers. It consists of small sections of mixed forestry, with borders of shrubbery framed within formal lines of standard trees, the different sections separated in one direction by straight streets retained from the earlier design, and in the other by roads of formal curvature with decorative planting near the junctions. The surface is generally low, the soil better than that of other grounds, the trees at present well cared for, and, except a few conifers, the removal of which will be a gain, of promising appearance. They are under the office of the Commissioner of Buildings, attached to the Executive Mansion, at present Colonel A.F. Rockwell, U.S.A.

West of Colonel Babcock’s work is what has been called the Smithsonian Park, but though originating in the impulse to which the founding of the Institution of that name gave rise, and contiguous to its building, it has unfortunately never been under the same enlightened management. It should have special and reverent attention, as representing the only essay, strictly speaking, yet made under our government in landscape gardening, for though the aim of the Capitol ground planting is more than decorative, it is necessarily too prim and niggling, and is too much controlled by engineering and architectural considerations to be entitled to that full rank. This of the Smithsonian was the last and the only important public work of Downing, who was not only a master of the art, but distinctly a man of genius, of whom his country should always be proud. It was designed as a composition of natural scenery appropriate to be associated with a national seat of learning, and was regarded by him as the first step in a scheme of planting to be extended in one connected design to the White House and the Potomac. Upon Downing’s untimely death, in 1852, the larger design was suspended, gradually lost sight of, and the ground has since been in considerable part laid out under successive acts of Congress by parcels, with a variety of local motives, none of which have as yet been fully realized. As to that actually planted under Downing’s instructions, those to whom he gave them were soon dropped off; neglect and ill-usage followed; it is in parts stuffy and crowded, and in others run down and poverty-stricken, but in no other planted ground near Washington is there, or does there promise to be, any tree beauty to compare with what has been already attained in it.

Under its shades government has allowed a modest memorial of the artist to be placed by private subscription. Nowhere will a monument be found commemorating a riper fruit of the republic, more honorable aspirations, or devotion to a higher standard of patriotic duty.

Near the Agricultural ground there is an interesting collection of hardy aquatic plants in the inclosure of the Government Fish Commission, and in adjoining buildings of the Smithsonian Institution and National Museum there are collections of woods and of tree products and of fossil woods and plants.

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The public streets of Washington have been planted, mainly between 1870 and 1880, with upwards of fifty thousand (56,000) trees of twenty different sorts. A list showing where rows of each may be observed can be found in the report of the Parking Commission. Though a considerable proportion are of quick-growing kinds, to which most experts object as too straggling in mature habit, too fragile, liable to accident, and short-lived, and though the amount and quality of soil provided is seldom adequate to a long-continued vigorous growth, the work on the whole is the best and most instructive example of town-planting to be seen on the continent. If well followed up in the care of the trees, the result will give Washington a distinction among the capital towns of the world—a distinction original, representative, and historic; natural, racy of the soil, congenial with the climate, in unquestionable good taste, indisputably excellent and admirable; little of which can be claimed of the results of most outlays that have been made by government for the improvement of the city.

The work thus far has been done with even over-strained economy, under the unbroken superintendence of three professional tree-masters, William R. Smith, curator of the Botanic Garden, William Saunders, of the Agricultural Tree Collection, and John Saul, who, under Downing, thirty years ago, planted the Smithsonian Park, of either of whom information may be obtained, and to whom thanks for a service to the nation, as yet too little appreciated, may well be given.

In the woods of natural growth about Washington, many sorts of trees may be found that are not indigenous in the extreme north. Among them there is the Liquid Ambar or Sweet Gum (L. styraciflua); the Willow Oak (Quercus Phellos); the Laurel Oak (Quercus imbricaria); the Persimmon (Diospyros Virginiana); the American Holly (Ilex opaca); the Black Walnut (Juglans nigra); the Swamp Magnolia (M. glauca); the Red Birch (Betula nigra), (a strikingly rustic beauty of extreme grace, as commonly observed on water banks hereabouts); and the Catalpa (C. bignonioides).

The first two may be found in low grounds, often in association with the Tupelo or Sour Gum (Nyssa multiflora); the White Ash (Fraxinus Americana); the Scarlet Maple (Acer rubrum); the Scarlet Oak (Q. coccinea); the Sassafras (S. officinale), which, rarely seen except as a shrub in the far North, is here a stout and lofty tree, richly furnished, very sportive in its forms of foliage, and often excelling all other deciduous trees in picturesqueness; and the Dogwood (Cornus florida), growing with a dense spreading head to a height of thirty feet. These, with other cornels, several of the shrubby sumacs (Rhus), the Climbing Sumac (R. toxicodendron), Bitter Sweet (Celastrus scandens), and Virginia Creeper (Ampelopsis quinquefolia), all being remarkable for their autumnal tints, and each in a different way, form combinations novel and delightful to the northern eye. In a favorable season, near the fall of the leaf, visitors from oversea will nowhere find a more gorgeous sylvan spectacle than is thus presented within a mile of the city, and this without a stroke of intentional aid from any human hand. The effect is often augmented by lower growths than [109]any that have been named, as of huckleberries and brambles, by bright fruits and haws, and by golden and purple blooms of herbaceous plants.

Of trees to which Europeans may like to have their attention directed, in addition to those already named, there are growing wild, and of frequent occurrence, two American Elms; the Black Cherry (Prunus serotina), different examples of which vary much, but often a remarkably elegant and graceful tree, near Washington; the American Beech (Fagus ferruginea), a neater and more delicate tree than the European; the Tulip (Liriodendron tulipifera), growing to great height and in perfection; the Chestnut (Castanea vesca Americana), always, when well grown, a noble tree, but when early in June in bloom, the most glorious object of our woods; the Hickories (Carya); the Butternut (Juglans cinerea); and eighteen (indigenous) sorts of oaks, at the head of which the White Oak (Q. alba) is, under favorable conditions, fully as noble a monarch of the forest as its European brother, the Sacred Oak of the Druids (Q. pedunculata). Yet, perhaps, for broad landscape values others are of more consequence, and of these some, from their more feminine beauty, reward close observation also. The best scenery about Washington depends for its character chiefly on oaks. The Capitol ground has good examples of several (see list appended), of which the best were grown from acorns upon it or in the adjoining Botanic Garden. The largest, standing alone on the turf northeast of the Washington elm, was transplanted from a distance when eighteen inches in diameter.

A number of shrubs, known only as garden plants in the North, grow wild in profusion about Washington, the most striking and beautiful, both in leaf and flower, being the Virginia Fringe-tree (Chionanthus Virginicus). This, with the Silver Bell (Halesia tetraptera), and the Virgilia or Yellowwood (Cladrastis tinctoria), may often be seen in the form of small trees, the last two attaining a height occasionally of 30 feet or more, with graceful forms, and light and delicate spray and leafage. The Chinquapin or Dwarf Chestnut (Castanea pumila), also grows naturally about Washington.

Other small trees and bushes, all more or less planted now in Europe, but which foreigners may like to see in their native wild state, and which are common, are the Shad bush (Amelanchier Canadensis), a small tree of great refinement of aspect; the American Witch Hazel (Hamamelis Canadensis); several Viburnums and Huckleberries and the Spice bush (Lindera benzoin). Wild grapes and Trumpet-creeper (Bignonia radicans) are also common, and both often lend a charm to situations that would otherwise be the reverse of attractive.

Such situations are unfortunately common near Washington, because mainly so much of the land has been ravaged of its natural fertility by a reckless agriculture, and because, when once cleared of its primeval vegetation, it does not, as it might further north, become naturally clothed by any form of turf or other close-knitting, surface-rooting growth, and is, in consequence, subject to be kept raw and gullied by the action of frost and rains.

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Under these circumstances, whatever charm there might otherwise be in the landscapes is often wholly destroyed by foreground conditions of repulsive rawness and shabbiness. In most parts of Europe, not naturally turfy, such land would be systematically planted with trees. Here, with the relatively high market value of money for various other forms of commercial enterprise, such a use of it has not yet been proved profitable. It may be observed, also, that no plants are here indigenous like heather, gorse, or broom, such as in Europe often give a picturesque and at times exceedingly lovely aspect to sterile situations, otherwise of forbidding character. It is not certain that these plants might not be naturalized (a few plants of broom of several years happy growth may be seen in the Capitol ground). It is highly probable that the native American ally of the broom called Woadwaxen (Genista tinctoria), found in a few localities to the northward, if introduced, would serve their purpose. But at present woody vines of various sorts are chiefly of value in this respect, and of this value an admirable illustration may be observed in Mr. Saul’s nursery, where a large extent of caving banks on the border of a small stream, occasionally becoming a torrent, have been made within a few years the most agreeable feature of the local scenery, the few plants of Japanese (sub-evergreen) honeysuckle (Lonicera brachipoda), originally set, having spread with the greatest profusion, so that in June there are acres of ground over which the air is loaded with the delicious perfume of their bloom. A characteristic exhibition of the same plant may be seen south of the summer-house on the Capitol ground, and near it a variety of plants adapted to dress rough ground unfit for turf. Among the best of these is the Saint John’s wort (Hypericum), of which several species are native to the region.

The Red Cedar (Juniperus Virginiana), near Washington, generally assumes a form so different from that common in many parts of the north that it may pass unrecognized and an effect, distantly recalling one much beloved by Turner and seen in most of his landscapes of southern Europe, sometimes occurs (on the hills north of the reform school on the eastern road to Bladensburg Spa, for example), the horizontal strata of the Italian Stone Pine being represented by the Yellow Pine (Pinus mitis), and the fastigiate Cypress by the form referred to of the Red Cedar.

Two short excursions may be recommended to the visitor wishing to cursorily observe the general character of the natural forest. One through the romantic woods of Rock Creek, best made on foot or in the saddle, taking by the way the government property of the Soldiers’ Home, which contains many introduced coniferous trees of about thirty years’ growth. The other by rowing on the Potomac, above West Washington, where boats for the purpose can be had. This offers a pleasing illustration of closely-wooded American river-side scenery, large in general outline and mass, with considerable picturesqueness of detail under the shadow of moderately well-grown forest trees. It is much resorted to and somewhat misused and damaged by boating and picnic parties. It is hard that in the interest of posterity these two sylvan treasures of the capital, [111]the wooded declivities of the Upper Potomac and the wilds of Rock Creek, cannot in some way be protected against the destructiveness which the hope of the smallest private pecuniary profit is liable at any moment to bring upon them. Samples may be already found of the hateful desert which may be thus quickly substituted.

The scope of the foregoing advice has been limited to trees and woody plants. Those who wish to have a more extended list of what may be looked for, as well as all interested, whether as botanists or as lovers of nature in local, annual, perennial plants, will find the best of aid in a government publication prepared by Mr. Lester F. Ward, of the Smithsonian Institution (Guide to the Flora of Washington—Bulletin No. 22, of the National Museum).

Of the banks of the Potomac above referred to, Mr. Ward says: “The beauty of their natural flower-gardens in the months of April and May is un-equaled in my experience.” Elsewhere he states that fifty several sorts of plants may usually be found in flower before the 1st of April (p. 31), that is to say, before, in the latitude of Albany, the ground may be unlocked from ice.

Historical Notes Of The Capitol Ground.

The intelligent visitor, reflecting that it is nearly ninety years since the site of the Capitol was determined, and more than eighty since Congress first held its sessions upon it, will need some explanation of its present sylvan juvenility.

Since building work first began upon it several efforts for the improvement of the ground have been made before the present, but no plan for the purpose has long been adhered to, and little of the work done has been adapted to secure lastingly satisfactory results. There is, mainly in consequence of a wavering policy and make-shift temporizing operations, but one tree on the ground that yet approaches a condition of tree majesty, and beside it probably not one of fifty years’ growth from the seed—not a dozen of ten years’ healthy, thrifty, and unmutilated growth. It may be added that many hundred trees are known to have been planted in the streets of the city early in the century, of which not one remains alive, nor is it probable that one was ever allowed a full development of its proper beauty. Yet, to show what easily might have been, if due judgment and painstaking had been used, it is enough that one planted tree of even an earlier date may be pointed to, which is yet in the full vigor of its growth. (The “Washington elm” on the Capital ground, originally a street side tree.)

The following notes, chiefly upon the past misfortunes of the nation in its Capitol ground, have been largely based on conversations with the late venerable Dr. J. B. Blake, sometime Commissioner of Public Grounds.

When government, near the close of the last century, took possession of the site of the Capitol, it was a sterile place, partly overgrown with “scrub oak.” The soil was described (by Oliver Wolcott) as an “exceedingly stiff clay, becoming dust in dry and mortar in rainy weather.” For a number of years [112]the ground about the Capitol was treated as a common, roads crossing it in all directions, and a map of the period indicates an intention to treat it permanently as an open public place. The year before his death, Washington built the brick house, still standing prominently, but injured by recent additions, a little to the north of the Capitol. A picture showing this house, with a young plantation of trees (none now living) between it and the Capitol, together with an autograph letter about it from Washington to his business agent, may be seen in the Lower division of the National Library. The first local improvement ordered by Congress, after occupying the rooms partially prepared for it in the incomplete Capitol, was a walk to be made between these and Georgetown (West Washington), where, there being yet no comfortable houses nearer, most of the members lodged. The Capitol and the house of Washington had both been built upon the assumption that the future city, which Washington avoided calling by his own name, continuing to use the original designation of the “Federal City,” would arise on the higher ground to the eastward. Both buildings were expected to stand as far as practicable in its outskirts, backing upon the turbid creek with swampy borders which then flowed along the base of Capitol Hill. When this stream was in freshet it was not fordable, and members of Congress were often compelled to hitch their riding horses on the further side and cross it, first, on fallen trees, afterwards on a foot-bridge. There was an alder swamp where the Botanic Garden is now, which spread also far along the site of Pennsylvania avenue. Tall woods on its border shut off the views of the ground south and west of it. This wood, said to contain many noble trees, mostly oaks, was felled for fire-wood, by permission of Congress, as a measure of economy, sometime after the war of 1812.

These circumstances may give a little clue to the habit at the outset adopted, and of which Congress has since never been wholly disembarrassed, of regarding the ground immediately to the west of the Capitol as its “back yard,” and all in connection with it as comparatively ignoble. With the city on the west, the transformation of the creek and swamp, and the opening of the magnificent view on that side, it is incomparably the nobler front.

It is a tradition, and is probable, that Washington, while building his brick house, planted some trees on the east side of the Capitol, of which the elm above referred to was one, and is the only one remaining. Another of equal age, but rotting prematurely, probably from unskillful or neglected pruning, was blown down a few years ago, and a third was removed in consequence of the enlargement of the Capitol. The last was a tree of graceful habit, and Mr. Smith, of the Botanic Garden, has distributed, through members of Congress, many rooted cuttings of it to different parts of the country. The surviving tree, having a girth of but ten feet at four feet from the ground, has been of slow growth, and been badly wounded within twenty years, three cavities showing the removal of considerable limbs by barbarous excision. On the east side a [113]strip of bark, the entire length of the trunk, has been torn off. The ground, at a little distance on three sides, having been trenched and enriched, and that nearer the trunk forked over and top-dressed, the tree has, within three years, gained greatly in health and vigor; its wounds are closing over, and it may yet outlive several generations of men.

Some years after the death of Washington a space of ground nearly half as large as the present ground was inclosed in connection with the Capitol, and a street laid out around it. The Washington elm stands near where this bounding street intersected another which formed the northern approach to the Capitol, and on the opposite side, to the north, an inn of some celebrity, long known as the “Yellow Tavern,” was built. This was the dining place for members still lodging at a distance.

Whatever improvement had been made upon the original ground before the burning of the Capitol in 1814 was probably then, or during the subsequent building operations, wholly laid waste, the three or four trees first planted alone escaping.

In 1825 another plan for laying out the grounds was devised, which was sustained in the main for nearly fifteen years, during most of which period John Foy had charge, and, as far as he was allowed, pursued the ends had in view in its adoption consistently. It was that of an enlarged form of the ordinary village-door yards of the time, flat, rectangular “grass plats,” bordered by rows of trees, flower-beds, and gravel walks, with a belt of close planting on the outside of all. So long as the trees were saplings and the turf and flowers could be kept nicely, it was pretty and becoming. But as the trees grew they robbed and dried out the flower-beds, leaving hardly anything to flourish in them but violets and periwinkle. Weeds came in, and the grass, becoming sparse and uneven, was much tracked across, and grew forlorn and untidy; appropriations were irregular and insufficient to restore it or supply proper nourishment. Foy was superseded for political reasons, and his successor had other gardening ambitions to gratify.

At this time, though even some years later, George Combe described the city as “a straggling village, reared in a drained swamp;” it had become clear that it was not to grow up on the east front of the Capitol. John Quincy Adams, on retiring from the Presidency, had, like Washington, determined to build a town house for himself in Washington, and had chosen to do so far to the west. Much other private building had followed, including one large and excellent hotel, and government had undertaken several important public buildings in the same quarter.

It was then determined to make an addition (about seven acres), and considerable improvement of the premises in the “rear” of the Capitol, and this improvement led on, without any special act of Congress, to a gradual change of motive in the management of the old ground on the east, under the management of James Maher, who is described by his friends as a jovial and [114]witty Irishman, owing his appointment to the personal friendship of General Jackson.

The soil at the foot of the hill was much better than that of the east ground; but the trees planted by Maher were chiefly silver poplars and silver maples, brittle and short-lived. After doing more or less injury to the more valuable sorts, they have all now disappeared, but there remain of the planting of this period several fine occidental planes, scarlet maples, horse-chestnuts, a pecan, and a holly.

South of the “Washington elm,” adjoining the east court of the Capitol, there are a dozen long-stemmed trees, relics of two circular plantations introduced in the midst of Foy’s largest “grass plats,” by Maher, for “barbecue groves,” one probably intended for Democratic the other for Whig jollifications. These were also largely of quick-growing trees, closely planted, poorly fed, and never properly thinned or pruned. Forty years after their planting the larger number of those remaining alive were found feeble, top heavy, and ill grown.

Foy had planted in his outer belts some garden-like trees, very suitable to his purpose, magnolias, tree-boxes, hollies, and also some conifers, mostly thuyas, it is believed, but among them there was at least one Cedar of Lebanon. With them, however, or subsequently, more rapid growing deciduous trees unfortunately were also planted, and through neglect of thinning, the effect of drip and exhaustion of the soil the choicer sorts were nearly all smothered, starved, or sickened. A few crippled hollies (Ilex opaca) only remain. The violets and periwinkle (Vinca) now on the ground are largely of direct descent from those planted by Foy.

Most other trees within the limits of the Capitol inclosure before the enlargement of the Capitol in 1857 were removed to make way for the new building operations, or in consequence of the changes required in the grade of the ground to adapt it to the new work, or, later, to the grading done by the District government of the adjoining streets. It was found that the roots of most of the old trees, after having grown out of the small pits in which they were planted, had been unable to penetrate the clay around them, but had pushed upward and outward, spreading upon its surface and within a thin stratum of looser and darker material, consisting, it is believed, almost entirely of street sweepings which had at different times been laid on as a top-dressing. Though none were half-grown, nearly all had the characteristics of old age, many were rotten at the butt, and few were wholly sound. The more thrifty and [115]manageable of them were retransplanted in 1875, and under more favorable conditions, presently to be stated, the larger part of them now appear rejuvenated. When moved they were generally from 8 to 15 inches in diameter of trunk.

Except under the “barbecue trees” the entire ground east of the Capitol, and all that newly planted in the west, has been regraded. Near the eastern boundary the old surface was eight feet higher than at present; the Capitol standing at the foot of a long slope. The revised grade having been attained, the ground was thoroughly drained with collared, cylindrical tile, and trench-plowed and subsoiled to a depth of two feet or more from the present surface. (In the outer parts where evergreen thickets under scattered deciduous trees were to be attempted, fully three feet, and here the liming was omitted.) It was then ridged up and exposed to a winter’s frost, dressed with oyster-shell lime, and with swamp muck previously treated with salt and lime, then plowed, harrowed, and rolled and plowed again. The old surface soil was laid upon this improved subsoil with a sufficient addition of the same poor soil drawn from without the ground to make the stratum one foot (loose) in depth. With this well pulverized, a compost of stable manure and prepared swamp muck was mixed. It is still found to have too much of the quality ascribed to the original by Wolcott, quickly drying very hard. It would seem, however, to be wholesome and sufficiently friable for the growth of the trees planted; the death of all the few that have failed being reasonably attributed to gas leaks, severe wounds, or to extraordinary cold, or to a severe attack of vermin before their recovery from the shock of removal. It is hoped that the more northern trees have been induced to root so deeply as to suffer less than they usually do in Washington during periods of extreme heat and drought, and that, in view of the thorough preparation and large outlay for the purpose, the methods of administration will hereafter be more continuously favorable than they had been for the longevity of the trees and their attaining the proper full stature of their families.

The Present Design.

Questions why, in the present scheme, certain trees and plants have been taken for the Capitol ground and others neglected, and why certain dispositions of trees have been made and others, offering obvious advantages in some respects, avoided, may be best answered in a general way by a relation of the leading motives of the design, some of which it is evident do not spontaneously occur to many inquirers.

The ground is in design part of the Capitol, but in all respects subsidiary to the central structure. The primary motives of its design are, therefore, that, first, of convenience of business of and with Congress and the Supreme Court, and, second, that of supporting and presenting to advantage a great national monument.

The problem of convenience to be met in the plan of the ground [116]lay in the requirement to supply ready access to the different entrances to the building from the twenty-one streets by which the boundary of the ground was to be reached from the city. The number of foot and of carriage entrances is forty-six, and, as the entire space to be crossed between these and the open court and the terrace, upon which doors of the Capitol open, is but forty-six acres in extent, it had to be cut up so much as to put ordinary landscape gardening ideals of breadth and repose of surface, applicable to a park or private residence grounds, to a great degree out of the question. The difficulty was complicated by the hillside position of the building, compelling circuitous courses to be taken as a means of avoiding oversteep grades in the carriage approaches from the west.

That the Capitol, in its several more admirable aspects, might be happily presented to view, it was necessary that the plantations should be so disposed as to leave numerous clear spaces between the central and the outer parts of the ground, and desirable that the openings or vistas should be disturbed as little as practicable by roads or other constructions. At the same time, the summer climate of Washington and the glaring whiteness of the great central mass made a general umbrageousness of character desirable in the ground, and a bare, bald, unfurnished quality to be, as much as possible, guarded against. It was then to be considered that customs are established that bring at intervals great processions and ceremonious assemblies into the ground, and that attending these, vast bodies of people, without order or discipline, surge through it in a manner that overrules all ordinary guardianship, and that, with increasing population and increasing means of communication, such throngs are likely to grow larger and more sweeping. This difficulty was increased by the long-established habit of regarding the Capitol ground as a common to be crossed or occupied in any part as suited individual convenience.

These considerations not only called for multiplied routes of passage, but for a degree of amplitude in pavements and flagging unfortunate with reference to the desired general effect of umbrageousness and verdancy. They also compelled a resort to many expedients for inoffensively restraining the movements of visitors in certain directions and leading them easily in others.

If these several more or less conflicting requirements are weighed, it will be seen that no attempt to reconcile them or compromise between them could be made that did not involve a disjointedness in the plantations unfavorable to the general aspect of dignity and composure desirable to be associated [117]with so stately a building. Hence, where it remained permissible to plant trees at all, to have selected and arranged them with a view to exhibit marked individual qualities, would, as tending to increase such disjointedness, have been an unwise policy. The better motive was to select and place trees with a view to their growing together in groups in which their individual qualities would gradually merge harmoniously; to avoid a distinct definition of these groups, to aim to draw them into broader compositions, and to secure as much effect of depth and distance as possible by obscuring minor objects, especially in the outer part of the ground.

In the undergrowth, however, a degree of variety, cheerfulness, and vivacity, to be gained by moderate contrasts of form and color, might be studied. Hence not only the amount but the range of shrubbery used has been considerable, so much so that it must be admitted that at present it holds attention too much. As beyond a certain point the landscape effect of trees increases with age many times faster than that of bushes, the general effect will soon be much quieter. The chief reason for what would otherwise be an excessive proportion of shrubs and low growth is the necessity of mitigating the effect of the large extent of dead ground in the roads, walks, and adjoining streets, otherwise to be looked down upon from the Capitol and to be conspicuous in views across the ground.

Two minor motives influencing the choice and disposition of the undergrowth may be noted.

The summer climate of Washington being unfavorable to turf in situations where, owing to the number of trees growing in them, or for other reasons, the care of the turf would be difficult, the aim has been to cover the ground with foliage of creepers and of low perennials likely to retain greenness during droughts and requiring little labor to keep tidy. These low plantings also serve the purpose of connecting and merging the higher foliage with the verdure of the lawns and of increasing apparent perspective distance.

The shrubbery has been selected from regard to its fitness in foliage qualities, form, and size, when grown, to serve general purposes in the several localities in which it is placed. Its blooming qualities have been regarded as of subordinate consequence, but simple and natural bloom has been generally preferred to the more large, striking, and showy quality of flowers resulting from the art of the florist, the design being always not to make a lounging place or hold attention to details.

No spruces or other large-growing coniferous trees have been included in the recent planting, because if placed in the central parts they would obstruct views of the building; if placed on the outer parts they would disturb the general quiet and unobtrusive foliage effects desired, and lessen the apparent depth of the local sylvan scene. A few clusters of junipers, yews, and thuyas (Chamœcyparis), of established hardiness, will be found at points where they cannot interrupt views toward the Capitol, and where they will be obscured and overlooked in views from it.

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The number of broad-leafed (laurel-like) evergreens that can be trusted to flourish in the climate of Washington is unfortunately limited. The fact that the ground is more visited in winter than in summer makes this the more regrettable. For this reason a considerable number of sorts have been introduced, the permanent success of which is not thought fully assured. All such are of low growth in this climate, and should they fail to meet expectations may be withdrawn without permanent injury to the designed summer landscape character. Should they flourish, it is hoped that others will be thinned out and the evergreens grow into moderate masses.

The Capitol ground is declared by act of Congress to be formed “to serve the quiet and dignity of the Capitol and to prevent the occurrence near it of such disturbances as are incident to the ordinary use of public streets and places.” Incidentally to this purpose, however, it is much used as a public park, especially during the hot season or when Congress is not in session. The need to provide seats in which people could rest for a moment in passing up the Capitol hill from Pennsylvania avenue, which is the point of entrance for most, and the need of a place in which children could obtain water being apparent, and as the necessary extent of accommodation in these respects would otherwise cause an unseemly obstruction of the walks or become too conspicuous a feature of the scenery, a summer-house was designed, with a view to the following advantages: It is entered by a few steps from three different lines of walk; it contains separate seats for twenty-five people, protected under all circumstances from ordinary summer showers; it allows six children to take water from the fountain at once; it is very airy, the softest breeze passing freely through it. The seats are so disposed as, though shadowed, to be well lighted, and to be each under constant inspection of the passing watchmen and the public through an opposite archway. The house is closed at nightfall and in winter. These precautions have enabled ladies to use it in large numbers, free from the annoyances which often deter them from entering sheltered resting places in parks. Standing on sloping ground, the floor is kept at the lower level and the walls and roof of brick and tile as low as practicable, so that at a short distance the eye ranges over them. That they may be more inconspicuous, the walls are banked about with natural rock, and slopes of specially-prepared soils favorable to the growth of various creepers and rock plants, by which, except to one standing opposite to the entrance arches and turning to observe them, the entire structure will be wholly lost to view. From within the walls there opens on the up-hill side a [119]cool dark runnel of water, supplied from the overflow of the fountain at the west entrance to the Capitol. The spray of this rapid rivulet, with that from the waste water of the drinking-fountain, maintains a moisture of the air favorable to the growth of ferns and mosses upon the inner rock-work. What is chiefly hoped for, however, is that under the conditions provided, a growth of ivy may have been secured, gradually reproducing the characteristic exquisite beauty of this evergreen in its native haunts. Many good examples of it, though not of its best estate, may be seen about Washington. The visitor interested is particularly advised to see those in the cemetery at West Washington (Georgetown).

The trees about the summer-house, though hardy and suited to the circumstances, will all have a somewhat quaint or exotic aspect. They include the Willow oak, the Cedrella, the Oleaster, two sorts of Aralias, and the Golden Catalpa.

The vistas or general lines of view to which all the planting and all the structures upon the ground have been fitted may be more fully stated.

Disregarding shrubbery, to be kept below the plane of sight toward the Capitol, openings are maintained, through which direct front views of the central portico and the dome will be had from the outer parts of the ground, upon opposite sides, and diagonal perspective views of the entire facades from four directions. In six other directions from the center of the structure only low-headed trees are planted, so that in each case the Capitol may be seen rising above banks of foliage from points several miles distant.

It is unnecessary to say that by the same disposition of the plantations, views outwardly from the Capitol are kept open, but attention may be called to the beauty and breadth, almost approaching grandeur, of the prospect up and down and across the valley of the Potomac, and to the design that when the present young plantations are full-grown this great advantage of the Capitol shall not be lost. The introduction of the proposed architectural terrace will indeed admit no trees to stand so near, or on ground so elevated, that they will ever obstruct the present distant view from the main or even the ground floor. The plantations in this direction, however, will in time obscure the nearer part of the city and form a continuous strong, consistent foreground to the further sylvan slopes.

From the terrace these plantations will in some degree limit the views to the northward and southward, but through the removal of the old central avenue and the broad gap left between the trees on the west an outlook is obtained between the northern and the southern divisions of the city in which a slope of unbroken turf, seen over a strongly-defined and darkly-shadowed architectural base, will be the foreground; a wooded plain, extending a mile beyond the foot of the slope, the middle distance, and the partly-overgrown, partly-cultivated hills beyond the depression of the Potomac, the background; the latter so far removed that in summer conditions of light and atmosphere it is often blue, misty, and etherial. Because, perhaps, of the influence of the [120]cool waters of the river passing between the dry hills from north to south across this field of vision, sunset effects are often to be enjoyed from the west face of the Capitol of a rare loveliness.

LIST OF TREES AND SHRUBS IN THE UNITED STATES CAPITOL GROUNDS.

	Habitat
Abelia rupestris .............................	China.
Acer campestre. English field maple.............	Europe.
Acer dasycarpum. Silver maple.................	Atlantic States.
Acer laetum ................................	Caucasus.
Acer palmatum .............................	Japan.
atropurpureum ................	Japan.
versicolor ....................	Japan.
laciniata variegata...................	Japan.
rosea marginata ...............	Japan.
reticulatum...................	Japan.
micranthum ..................	Japan.
polycristata ...................	Japan.
Æsculus glabra. Ohio Buckeye ............................	Western States.
Æsculus hippocastanum. Horse-chestnut................	Persia.
Aralia chinensis .............................	Eastern Asia.
spinosa. Hercules’ club ..............................	Atlantic States.
Amorpha fruticosa. False indigo ...........................	Atlantic States.
Aucuba Japonica ............................	Japan.
Azalea amrena ..............................	China.
mollis ..............................	Japan
nudiflora............................	Atlantic States.
Benzoin odoriferum. Spicebush ................	Atlantic States.
Berberis aquifolium. Oregon grape.......................	North Pacific States.
Fortunei ............................	China
Japonica. Japan mahonia .........................	Japan.
Thunbergii..........................	Japan.
vulgaris. Barberry ..................................	Europe.
vulgaris atropurpurea. Purple barberry ....	Hort.
Betula alba. White birch ......................	North Europe.
lenta. Black birch.....................	Atlantic States.
Buxus Japonica..............................	Japan.
sempervirens, var. Tree box........................	Europe.
Round-leaved box ..........	Hort.
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Golden variegated box...	Hort.
Narrow-leaved box.....	Hort.
Callicarpa Americana........................	South Atlantic States.
Calycanthus floridus. Sweet-scented shrub .......	South Atlantic States.
Caragana arborescens. Siberian pea.....................	Siberia.
Carpinus Caroliniana. Water beech........................	Atlantic States.
Duinensis ..........................	Caucasus.
Carya olivsformis. Pecan nut..................	Western States.
Castanea pumila. Chinquapin.................	Southern States.
vesca. Sweet chestnut .................	Europe.
Catalpa bignonoides.........................	South Atlantic States.
Catalpa bignonoides aurea. Golden catalpa .......	Hort.
Bungei, va. nana. Dwarf catalpa.......	Hort.
Cedrella sinensis ............................	Northern China.
Celastrus scandens. Bittersweet......................	Atlantic States.
Cercis Canadensis. Redbud....................	Atlantic States.
chinensis............................	Eastern Asia.
Chamæcyparis obtusa. (Retinospora)......................	Japan.
nana. (Retinospora)....................	Japan.
plumosa. (Retinospora).................	Japan.
squarrosa. (Retinospora)................	Japan.
pisifera. (Retinospora)..................	Japan.
aurea. (Retinospora)................	Japan.
Chionanthus Virginica. Fringe tree.......................	South Atlantic States.
Cladrastris tinctoria. Yellowwood.........................	Kentucky and Tennessee.
Clerodendron trichotomum...................	Japan.
Clethra alnifolia. White alder..........................	Atlantic States.
Colutea arborescens. Bladder senna......................	Europe.
Cornus florida. Flowering dogwood.......................	Atlantic States.
Mas. Cornel.........................	Europe.
variegata..........................	Hort.
paniculata...........................	North Atlantic States.
stolonifera. Red osier..................	Atlantic States.
stricta. Stiff cornel....................	Southern States.
Corylus Americanus. American hazel....................	Atlantic States.
tupulosa atropurpurea. Purple hazel.........	Europe.
Cotoneaster acuminata Simonsii...........................	Himalayas.
microphylla.......................	Siberia.
Crategus Crus-galli, var. New Castle thorn......	Atlantic States.
oxyacantha. Hawthorn.................	Europe.
var. Hawthorn .................	Europe.
Daphne cneoreum...........................	Europe.
Deutzia gracilis.............................	Japan.
scabra ..............................	Japan
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flore pleno....................	Hort.
purpurea..............	Hort.
Diervilla hortensis...........................	Japan.
alba.........................	Hort.
nivea........................	Hort.
grandiflora variegata.....................	Hort.
rosea........................	China.
amabilis.....................	Hort.
foliis variegata.................	Hort.
grandiflora, var. Van Houttei....	Hort.
Diospyros Virginiana. Persimmon.......................	Atlantic States.
Elaeagnus hortensis ..........................	Southern Europe.
Erica carnea................................	Europe.
polifolia...............................	Europe.
Euonymus Americanus. Strawberry bush................	Atlantic States.
atropurpureus. Burning bush.........	Atlantic States.
Japonicus...........................	Japan.
variegata.....................	Hort.
radicans............................	Japan.
Fagus ferruginea. American beech......................	Atlantic States.
sylvatica. European beech........................	Europe.
purpurea. Purple beech........	Europe.
incisa. Cut-leaved beech................	Europe.
Forsythia Fortunei...........................	China.
suspensa ............................	China.
viridissima...........................	China.
Fraxinus Americana. White ash........	Atlantic States.
excelsior. European ash .......................	Europe.
Gymnocladus Canadensis. Kentucky coffee-tree ...	Western States.
Halesia tetraptera. Silver bell.........................	South Atlantic States.
Hedera Helix Hibernica. Irish ivy ........	Europe.
Hibiscus Syriacus. Althea......................	Syria.
Hippophæ rhamnoides. Sea buckthorn................	Europe.
Hydrangea hortensea .........................	Japan.
paniculata grandiflora.................	Japan.
Hypericum prolificum. St. John’s wort................	Atlantic States.
Idesia polycarpa.............................	Japan.
Ilex aquifolium. English holly.........................	Europe.
angustifolium.................	Hort.
ferox. Hedgehog holly ...............	Hort.
argentea.....................	Hort.
aurea ........................	Hort.
opaca. American holly...........................	Atlantic States.
Jasminum nudiflorum. Yellow jessamine........	China.
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iperus recurva squamata....................	Nepal.
sabina. Juniper.......................	Northern Hemisphere.
nana. Prostrate juniper..................	Northern States.
tamariscifolia...........................	Europe.
Koelreuteria paniculata.......................	China.
Laburnum vulgare. Golden chain......................	Europe.
Lagerstræmia Indica rubra. Crape myrtle..............	India.
Ligustrum ovalifolium........................	Japan.
vulgare. Privet........................	Europe.
Liquidambar styraciflua. Sweet gum.......................	Atlantic States.
Liriodendron tulipifera. Tulip tree........................	Atlantic States.
Lonicera brachypoda. Honeysuckle...................	Japan.
aurea reticulata................	Japan.
fragrantissima. Bush honeysuckle..............	China.
Tartarica. Tartarian honeysuckle..............	Siberia.
Maclura aurantiaca. Osage-orange....................	Arkansas.
Magnolia acuminata. Cucumber tree..................	Atlantic States.
conspicua. Yulan.....................	China.
cordata. Yellow cucumber tree.................	South Atlantic States.
glauca. Sweet bay.....................	Atlantic States.
grandiflora. Bull bay.............................	South Atlantic States.
tripelata. Umbrella tree.......................	South Atlantic States.
purpurea. Purple magnolia...................	Japan.
Morus alba. White mulberry...................	Europe.
rubra. Red mulberry...................	Atlantic States.
Neillia opulifolia............................	Atlantic States.
aurea ........................	Hort.
Nyssa sylvatica. Sour gum.....................	Atlantic States.
Ostrya Virginica. Hop-hornbeam......................	Atlantic States.
Paulownia imperialis.........................	Japan.
Phellodendron Amurense .....................	Manchuria.
Philadelphus coronarius. Mock-orange...................	China.
grandiflora. Syringa..........	South Atlantic States.
inodorus.......................	South Atlantic States.
Pirus coronaria..............................	South Atlantic States.
Japonica. Japan quince..........................	Japan.
Planera aquatica. Water elm........................	South Atlantic States.
Platanus occidentalis. Sycamore......................	Atlantic States.
orientalis. Oriental plane.....................	Western Europe.
Podocarpus taxifolia. Japan Yew.......................	Japan.
Populus angustifolia. Willow-leaved poplar.......	Rocky Mountains.
Prunus Japonica.............................	Japan.
flore pleno....................	Japan.
Sinensis. Sand pear...................	China.
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Padus. Bird cherry....................	Europe.
serotina. Rum cherry...................	Atlantic States.
spinosa. Sloe.........................	Europe.
triloba..............................	China.
Quercus alba. White oak......................	Atlantic States.
cerris. Turkey oak.....................	Europe.
imbricaria. Shingle oak................	Europe.
macrocarpa. Bur oak..................	Atlantic States.
palustris. Pin oak.....................	Atlantic States.
phellos. Willow oak...................	South Atlantic States.
Prinus. Chestnut oak.........................	Atlantic States.
prinoides. Chinquapin oak...................	Atlantic States.
Robur. English oak....................	Europe.
concordia....................	Hort.
nigricans.....................	Hort.
pedunculata..................	Europe.
Rhamnus Caroliniana........................	South Atlantic States.
catharticus. Buckthorn.................	Europe.
Rhus Cotinus. Smokebush....................	Southern Europe.
glabra laciniata. Cut-leaved sumac.....	Pennsylvania.
Rubus leucodermis..........................	Japan.
Rosa rubiginosa. Sweet brier...................	Europe.
rugosa ..............................	Japan.
Salisburia biloba. Gingko.....................	China.
Sambucus Canadensis variegata. Variegated elder...	Atlantic States.
Sassafras officinale...........................	Atlantic States.
Shepherdia argentea. Buffaloberry.......................	Western North America.
Sophora Japonica............................	Japan.
Spirea Cantoniensis..........................	China.
chamædrifolia.......................	Siberia.
Japonica alba........................	Japan.
rubra ........................	Japan.
Lindleyana..........................	Himalayas.
Douglassii var........................	California.
prunifolia...........................	Japan.
Thunbergii..........................	Japan.
Staphylea trifolia. Bladder-nut........................	Atlantic States.
Styrax Japonicum............................	Japan.
officinale............................	Europe.
Symphoricarpus racemosus. Snowberry.......	North America.
vulgaris. Indian current.......	Northern States.
Syringa Josikrea.............................	Central Europe.
Persica. Persian lilac..............	Western Asia.

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“General Plan for the Improvement of the U. S. Capitol Grounds,” Drawn by Thomas Wisedell during the fall of 1874 and presented to Congress in early 1875.

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