Annuai, P'lowers, 



297 



paint 



40. — A doih of color. 



gar- 



page) is worth a dozen similar plants in the center of the lawn. 

 Fig. 38 shows a cozy back yard in which shrubs and trees are 

 the main features and bright flowers are the incidents. Too 

 many flowers make a place over-gaudy. Too much 

 may spoil the effect of a good building. The deco- 

 ration of a yard, as of a house, should be dainty. 



The open-centered yard may be a picture : the 

 promiscuously planted yard may be a nursery 

 or a forest. A little color scattered in here 

 and there puts the finish to the picture. A 

 dash of color gives spirit and character to the 

 brook or pond, to the ledge of rocks, to the old 

 stump, or to the pile of rubbish. 



A flower garden. — But the person may want a flower 

 den. Very well ; that is a different matter. It is not primarily 

 a question of decoration of the yard but of growing flowers for 

 flowers' sake. It is not the furnishing of a house, but the 

 collecting of interesting and beautiful furniture. The flower 



garden, therefore, should be 

 at one side of the residence 

 or at the rear ; for it is not 

 allowable to spoil a good 

 lawn even with flowers- 

 The size of the garden and 

 the things to be grown in it 

 must be determined by the 

 likes of the person and the 

 amount of time and land at 

 his disposal : but a good 

 small garden is much 

 more satisfactorv than a 

 poor large garden. Prepare the land thoroughly, fertilize it 

 resolve to take care of it, select the kind of plants you like ; then 

 go ahead. 



Plants for screens. — Many annual plants make effective screens, 

 and covers for unsightly places. Wild cucumber (or echinocystis) , 

 cobea, and sweet peas may be used to decorate the tennis screen or 

 the chicken-yard fence. The alley fence, the smoke-house, the 



41. — A dainty edging of flowers. 



