To live in the new world: Adaptations for America in A. J. Downing\u27s theory of landscape gardening

Andrew Jackson Downing\u27s (1815-1852) theory of landscape gardening was set forth in his Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening, Adapted to North America (1841), its revisions of 1844 and 1849, and in the series of monthly editorials for the Horticulturist, which he edited from July 1846 until his death in July 1852. This dissertation considers the significant differences among the three editions of the Treatise, and it provides the first thorough chronological analysis of the Horticulturist, without which Downing\u27s views on landscape gardening can be only partially and imperfectly known. It is proposed that Downing achieved his reputation as the popularizer of an American landscape gardening, by placing this rural art under the light of ideas and values that many Americans could embrace. The Horticulturist editorial of January 1849--the month Downing wrote the introduction to his last revision of the Treatise--and those that followed until his death, are particularly important because they present his most mature treatment of the subject. The extensive changes in Sections I and II in the 1844 and 1849 Treatise editions, when studied in conjunction with these Horticulturist editorials, show that Downing moved toward a more realistic assessment of American capabilities and resources, and adjusted his theory accordingly. While claiming to be adapted to North America, the Treatise was a less fertile new starting ground for American landscape gardening than the Horticulturist proved to be. Downing made successive additions to the Treatise that gave it a more national interest, and its theoretical framework was modified to take advantage of the expressive potentialities in native landscape materials. Nevertheless, this work remained true to Downing\u27s early aspirations: a nation of country gentlemen with enough money, time, and taste to live amidst perfect pleasure grounds. It was the Horticulturist that ultimately accommodated an American republican rural art. In familiar language, Downing offered a message of moderation and simplicity to men and women who could rest content with a little cottage and a few fine trees--with an economy of time and expense, and the efficient, yet artful, use of America\u27s natural resources