THE PLANT WORLD 



219 



The site having been selected, little more can be accomplished except 

 in draining and grading, until after the completion of the house. It is 

 useless to set out plants until proper attention can be given to the soil ; 

 and the accumulation of scraps and rubbish of all sorts, refuse from sand 

 and mortar beds, etc., usually renders it impossible to do work of this 

 kind. The top soil should always be removed from the area on which 

 the house is to be built, and carefully carted to one side; every pound of 

 it will be needed later. 



Figure 2. 



After the house is practically completed and the ground cleared of 

 all litter, consideration should be given to the necessary walks and drive- 

 ways. In a small place these should be limited to what are absolutely 

 necessary to reach the house from the street ; and the principle laid down 

 in most works on landscape gardening, that the walk should follow the 

 most direct course from street to house is a sound one. Nothing makes 

 a place look more grotesque than a series of tortuous footpaths extending 

 in every direction. 



In a rectangular piece of ground, where the house occupies the center 



