INSTITUTE PAPERS. 1 51 



as a protection for the flower and vegetable gardens which 

 should lie in front of it. A line of shrubs extending from the 

 rear of the house should conceal the barn and out-buildings. 

 Flowers may be planted in broken spaces in front of the shrubs. 



Mass planting of shrubs may be used effectively, whether as 

 screens or outlines. The tall grown varieties should be planted 

 in the extreme rear in front of which the lower growing kinds 

 should prevail ; not too much crowded for grace and in front 

 of these, plant the hardy perennial bulbs and plants selected for 

 successive blooming. Almost any style of veranda may be 

 greatly improved by the planting of climbers. These should 

 never be attached to the building but to wire trellises, sufficient- 

 ly removed to provide for the proper circulation of air which 

 will enhance the growth of the plant, and will not menace the 

 building with decay. They can be laid upon the ground while 

 painting is going on. The name of the home as well as of the 

 owner is a matter of keenest interest to travellers, and it ought 

 to have a place on the mail box. 



The name of villages and cities should be indicated by white 

 cobble-stones set against a hill or terrace of green or by some 

 other equally picturesque and simple method. Riverhead on 

 Long Island and Wilmington, Delaware, have so constructei 

 their water towers that they constitute their most decorative 

 features. What an improvement over the unsightly tower that 

 usually offends the eye. 



God has certainly taken pains for beautiful Maine. You 

 may see the careful tracing of His finger in her beautiful mir- 

 ror-like lakes where magic lights and shadows entrance and 

 mystify the beholder; in the picturesque rocks that present a 

 stolid face to the maddened waves that beat them only to ht 

 dashed and broken in their demented fury; in the wonderful 

 streams that here wind like silver ribbons for a few short 

 miles between green meadows carpeted with velvet turf and 

 gemmed with flowers, and there rush on regardless of wheels 

 that would hold them in durance vile ; in the sylvan solitude of 

 her forest, vibratory with the song of birds, where the spruce 

 and pine seem like sentinels standing respectfully aside to per- 

 mit the passing of humanity, while the timid birches sly out 

 from the shadows, crowding to the very public highway that 

 their smooth, white limbs and delicate tresses may be admire i. 



