International studio (45.1912)

A Park Wall of Massive Granite Rocks

material [available was an
ingenious mason who was
willing to take trouble.
The wall is about thirteen
hundred feet long, four and
a half feet high, three feet
thick at the bottom and two

at the top.
The body of it is solidi-
fied at the center by a
core of Portland cement,
but this nowhere appears
on the outside, except occa-
sionally where a lip of ce-
ment projects from a crevice
to retain the soil. It is, as
you see, a perfect fence,
“ horse-high, bull-strong and
pig-tight,” as well as a
unique wall.
There is but one opening,
the gate, and the workman-
ship of the posts and wings
is of the same primitive
character as that of the field
of the wall. The lanterns,
or rather the cages, on the
posts are of as idiomatic
and native workmanship in
their way as the stone work
in its way. They are made
of hammered iron, without


any glass at all, and the
actual lantern is hung inside
of the cage.
The planting of the in¬
terstices of the stone work has almost as much
to do with the effect as the masonry of the wall
itself. The soil filling of the joints is a rich clay
loam, mixed with well-decomposed leaf mold.
Some forty loads of it were used in the joints,
and some eight thousand rock plants, including
half a dozen varieties of sedum, or stonecrop.
Where the sun is hottest and the soil thinnest
are planted quantities of the hardy cactus or
prickly pear, and many of the rock plant called
“Hen and Chickens,” or sempervivum, also a lot
of stonecrop {sedum acre). At the base of the wall
are set ferns, irises, tall sedums, saxifrages, milk-
weed and other herbaceous plants flowering at
different seasons. On each side of the entrance

SAMUEL PARSONS
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
The most noticeable feature of the planting,
however, especially in autumn, will be the vines.
These are planted on the inside of the wall, with
the intention of having them break and hang over
the outside in cascades of leafage and bloom.
The climbers used are. chiefly the Japanese
“memorial” roses (rosa ivichuriana), with their
thick foliage and abundant summer bloom; the
trumpet creeper with its great blossoms blowing
at midsummer; clematis paniculata, with its clouds
of white flowers in August; the glossy green foliage
and rich autumn tints of the “Boston ivy”; and,
perhaps, best of all, the old-fashioned Virginia
creeper, changing from summer green to autumnal
blood-red.

EIGHT THOUSAND ROCK PLANTS
WERE USED

are masses of rhododendrons, growing against hill-
sides with a background of tall pines, a plantation
which adds greatly to the effect of the gateway.

It remains to be added that this unique and
monumental park wall cost considerably less than
the common and commonplace wall of cut stone.

XLT