for JANUARY, 1929

How Landscaping HELPS ENHANCE THE BEAUTY OF UNIVERSITY BUILDINGSThe fine arts building and the grouping of shrubbery around it is only one of the many instances in which nature's

charms have been utilized to make man-made structures more beautiful .

HE transformation, in an al-most magical fashion, of duckponds, wild prairie and corn-fields into the beaut.fully plan

ned campus of the University of Ok-lahoma, has been the inspiring work ofJ. H . Craven, director of landscapegardening.A depressing outlook confronted Mr .

Craven when he came to the univer-sity fifteen years ago. At the time ofhis arrival the administration, scienceand education buildings were the onlyones completed and work was beingdone on the law building. At the rearof the administration building stretch-ed a cornfield-today that space is oc-cupied by a new $500,000 library build-ing and tall, beautiful trees. The south-ern part of the campus was a cluckpond-now the ground is covered withgroups of large hackberry trees . Theoval of beautiful trees and flowers ofthe present day was then a jumble ofbroken trees and tangled prairie grass.The problem of transformation was

left entirely in the hands of Mr. Craven .Besides facing one of the hardest oflandscape projects possible, he washindered by a lack of money and ex-perlenced workmen . It has been ne-cessary to sponsor the placing of eachplant and at present Mr. Craven alwaysgoes about with his helpers to super-vise every bit of planting.

Especially perplexing was the plan-

Making the Campus BeautifulThat Is James H. Craven's Job as a Landscape Artist

By Zona Moore. '30ning of the northern end of the oval,so they began there first. The locust andelm trees planted by President DavidR. Boyd were a great help and as

JAMES /I. CRAVEN

Who is responsible for the beautifulappearance of the University of Okla-homa campus . Not only is he an expertlandscape artist, but he is one of theforemost leaders in. the southwest inconserving trees . Many on old yet beau-tiful tree has been moved by him toprevent its destruction.

many as possible of these trees wereleft in their places, and new ones add-ed . Depressions and mud puddles werefilled in and good soil added to theold . A road which ran through thecenter of the oval was removed andbermuda replaced the prairies grass .Until the present, during fourteen yearsof removal and transplanting, onlyone large tree has been lost and thatone through disease many years aftetbeing moved.

Today the campus presents a col-lection of trees of surprising complete-ness in that it includes almost everytree that can be grown here . The elmsare represented by the American, Eng-lish, Chinese, cork-barked and othernumerous varieties, the pin-oak, redoak, chestnut, and bur oak are amongthe better known oaks, and Eng'ishwalnut, linden, maples, sycamores,birches and willows are represented .The length and complexity of the en-tire list portrays the skill in selectionof the landscape gardener .

Last year it became necessary tochange the trees on the oval From lo-custs to American elms, for many ofthe older trees had been killed by bor-ers and others were undesirable becauseof their tendency to sprout so widelyand rapidly. Trees on the back of thecampus, which are dying because ofthe thickness of the groves, are being

thinned out, and the more desira'deones taken to places of vantage.

In the spring, the oval, which ofcourse receives most of the gardener'sattention, will bloomint, eight vast bedsof tulips and nar-cissi . This is to bequite 2L treat since

it is the first limeand likely the last-time that they willbecause

the caredemand-ed b y the bull ,

and their expenseMen are at worknow, changing thebeds.The lmlbs arplanted on a layerof sand five inchesbelow the surfaceand are coveredwith a handful ofsand to each bulbto keep them fromrottin should thewinter be a wetone.Following t h e

early flowers willcome a diversity ofall the early flow-ering shrubs in-cluding forsythia.bridal wreath, hon-ey suckle, red buda n d hawthornewhich abounds onthe campus . Nextappear the lilacs .elder, golden glowflowers, mock or-ange a n d snowhalls .During this time

the annuals are :etout. Zinn .as, marigolds, cockscombs,gaillardia, straw flowers, sweet Wil-liam, vilicas, cornflowers, cosmos anddahlias are some of the colorful sum-mer flowers on the campus . Whilethey are getting their start, the hardyperennials begin to bloom These inelude the iris larkspur, brown-eyedSusan, peonies, columbine, goldenglow, phlox and poppy. Other widelyused flowers are the cannas, salvia,petunias, snap-dragon, geraniums andoleander .One of the newest beauty spots on

the campus is the front of the admin-istrator building, ",here numerousvarieties of juniper, evergreen andspruce were planted last year .

Shortly before this planting, Mr .Craven visited Dundee, Illinois, wherethe largest evergreen nursery in the

world is located. He brought back.two carloads of many varieties of thenorthern evergreen. Although somenurserymen sail the experiment was

"PLANTING" THE UNIVERSITY'S OVALWhen work was begun on the oval of the university, it was discovered that near

Bola street the soil was underlaid with hardhan . This -Las blasted out and richsoil put in its stead . Above are views of the excavation and blasting

impossible since the young trees couldnot grow in this climate, neverthelessthe plants lived and are now commonin Oklahoma .Those placed in front of the

admin-istration building are the dwarf north-ern evergreens and blue and

black-hill 11 spruce. T hey aregroupedsoasnot to obstruct the light from theclassrooms . Some of the junipers willnever grow more than twelve incheshigh, and some of the pines will notreach the height of eighteen inches ."Ever since my arrival here, I have

been considering how to cheer up thedreary aspect of the front of the ad-ministration building, and at last Ibelieve I have solved the problem," Mr .Craven said . "These northern plantsneed just such a location and thebuilding needs the bright and dark

THE SOONER MAGAZINE

greens of these plants . From now on,every winter, the students will have atreat in snow covered spruce and pine .underlaid by a carpet of blue grass."

The evergreensaround the en-trance arches willg . ow quite tall .Their interestinggroupings and at-tract.v e shape; -some

o f

themspread

o u t

likevines across theground-show" thethoroughness ofMr. Craven's stu-dy of his bobby,evergreen group-ing. He intendsf om time to time,to add new groupsto the campus . Twoof the next willprobably lie aroundthe new union andlibrary buildings .

\1r. (raven hasintroduced o t h e rrare plants, too,and probably doesmore initiating of

new species es thantiny other personin Oklahoma . He

explains that heweighs what hecan give the plants

in so-1, water andclimate a g a i n s twhat they use nat-urally and if theodds are not toogreat, with theproper care, thenew plants usual-ly live . Some years

ago be made a trip through the northand through southern Texas in an ef-fort to procure new types and as aresult, with careful selection, he hascaused plants to flourish here whichhave been designated as those whichcould not possibly live in this part ofthe country. Mr . Craven places thenorthern plants in the shady, coolplaces, and the southern varieties onthe south sides on buildings wherethey will receive the most warmthand sunshine and the least cold wind .The native shrubs are placed whereneeded in the open, because of the .rhardiness.Mr . Craven bas had an interesting

background of apprenticeship to well-known gardeners on large easternestates . He was born in En ;landand after coming to America, began

for JANUARY, 1929

his career as a landscape gardenerthirty-three years ago. In those daysthere were no landscape gardeningschools so he worked under expertson large estates . Mr. Craven ex-plains his choice of his life work bysaying that he has always admiredthe beautiful, and felt this the bestway to be closest to beauty.The new greenhouse built last year

is interesting in its complexity anddiversity . The main building, or con-servatory, is of brick and behind itare the glass houses where the plants

"BEFORE AND AFTER" ON ELM AVENUESeveral years ago, Elm avenue (now known as Fraternity Row) was a lane running through farm land . Realizing the

possiti Nes of the avenue, Mr. Craven began landscaping the road, by planting trees and roses. The it upper view shows theunpaved road and the young trees. The lower view shows the avenue today. At the left is Hester hall, a dormitory forwomen . On the right are two fraternity houses, the one partly visible being the home of Phi Kappa Psi, while the English-style house is that of Delta Gamma .

are kept . Each of the several largecompartments has its own peculiar use--one is used for the cutting of plants(buds ready to grow into new plantswhen transplanted into the warmmoist sand i n t h e greenhouse),another room is for the growing ofthese cuttings or slips, another forlarge plants which are kept in theopen in summer and protected inwinter, and another for the mixing ofthe soil . Another of the departmentsis given over to experimentation bythe university botany department .

The new building has been a greathelp to the landscape department andhas excited admiration by its beauti-ful conservatory filled with hibiscus,palms, ferns, oleanders and chrysan-themums.

NE of Mr . Craven's problemshere has been the presence ofsodium water. The water,although healthful . i s injurious

to plants, and as a result the methodknown as dry farming is employed .

(Tuna to page 730, please)

for JANUARY, 1929

Hazing AbolishedHazing in all its forms at the Uni-

versity of Oklahoma was ordered abol-ished by the board of regents at itsmeeting in Norman, November 9.1 his order

makes mandatory andcompletes the progressive work beguna year ago by Dr. W. B. Bizzell, pres-ident of the university, to eliminategradually this undesirable survival ofwhat Edith Johnson of the Daily Ok-lahonran calls the "cow town" days .1 he

text of

the

board's regulationfollows :

"Whereas, the practice of hazing inuniversit.e s and colleges has in manyinstances resulted in serious physicalinjury, and frequently fatalities and;"Whereas, it does not serve in any

form the purposes of such institutions,and;"Whereas, it has been condemned by

school authorities, parents of students,and the public;"Now therefore, be it resolved by the

board of regents of the University ofOklahoma, that all forms of hazing atsaid institut .on, on or off the campus,including the practices of fraternitiesduring so-called 'hell week,' public in-itiations of var.ous organizations, theenforcements of rules and regulationsby vigilance committees, or individuals,are hereby abolished ."'he president of the University of

Oklahoma is hereby instructed totransmit this action by the board ofregents to the student body, and tothe national officers of fraternitieshaving chapters at this institution .

"Passed by the board of regents ofthe Universitv of Oklahoma on No-vember 9, 1928 ."

n

Beautifying the Campus(Continued from page 119)

The need for better water became sogreat that deep wells were dug on thecampus . but these had even greaterpercentage of soda in the water. Evennow, the plants are given very littlewater except during times of drought.Just lately after a dry period of sixand one-half weeks, it became neces-sary to use the water sparingly untila rain could bring color and fresh lifeback to the plants . Many of theflowers you miss on the campus arethose which cannot stand sodiumwater.Other interesting things are being

planned for the campus . At presentMr. Craven is experimenting withwater plants in the lily pond in frontof the women's resident halls and at

his country home, "Cravendale."Some day he hopes to build a ratherlarge lake just back of the halls, andfill it with lilies and all kind of south-ern water plants and fish . The waterto fill it will be drained from thecampus buildings, and since it willnot be sodium water, will be used forwatering plants .Another project is the building of

the new oval, which will be an exactduplicate of the old one. 1 twill tacothe south with the new library at itshead just as the old one is captionedby the administration building. Although the building and pavementwill not be entirely completed formany years, the landscape departmentwill begin soon to set out trees sothat there will be the basis for futurelandscaping.

First Drama Tournament(Continued from page 114)U'IURE projects considered bythe conference include collec-tive bargaining in the matterof royalties, and an elevated

standard of ethics toward the royaltyproblem, especially regarding the en-forcement of royalty payment where itis due. A better standard of materialfor presentation will be proposed . Anattempt will be made to blacklist trashymaterial for high school use, just ascertain books are censored for highschool reading lists. The disseminationof material regarding choice of plays,high school stagecraft, and stage equip-ment will be discussed. Another im-portant measure to be considered is

The OklahomaSchool Equipment Coo

"EVE

207 South Compress

Oklahoma City, olds.est of Katy Dept

OOLS"YTHING FO

137

the certification of high school dra-matic art teachers . There is consider-able need of separation of the sheepfrom goats in the matter of distinguish-ing between play coaches whose in-terest is in entertainment, and directorsof dramatic art whose interest is ineducation in an art with a great heri-tage .The establishment of a strong dra-

matic art section of the State Teachers'association will be suggested at thenext meeting of the conference. Thefostering and development of nativeplaywriting will be undertaken as an-other problem of importance and valuein the dramatic field. The conferencewill also encourage the extension ofaid to Little theaters in the process offormation.To tabulate the results of a confer-

ence such as the one held in Novemberwould be difficult. To suggest whatmay come of the banding together ofthose who are vitally interested in thegrowth of dramatic art in Oklahoma,is almost a prophecy since the resultsare far-reaching . However, in the im-mediate future projects such as theones just named may well result fromthe meeting held this year .Telegrams and letters wishing the

conference success and expressing re-grets at their absence were receivedjust before the opening of the Novem-ber conference, from Dean Frances Da-vis, Oklahoma College for Women,Miss Isabel Ronan, Tulsa Central highschool, Mrs. Josephine Layman Story,Childrens' theater, Tulsa, and Profes-sor Wayne Campbell, Oklahoma Cityuniversity .