Buildings and Yards. 



48r 



It is a good rule to set out no plant until you are sure that' it is 

 needed as a part of the total effect that you are trying to produce. Alerely 

 because a plant is " pretty " is no reason for planting it. There should 

 be some general scheme, and all the planting should fall in with the 

 scheme. What shall this scheme be? This question cannot be answered 

 off-hand, for every place is a problem by itself; yet a few general rules 

 or suggestions can be given : 



I. Lay out or plan the place. Plan the walks and drives and fences 

 (if any must be had) so that they will best serve the purpose for which 



Fig. 297. — A semi-formal flower garden, in its 2-jth year. It is interesting, if one 

 has time to devote to it. It formerly contained more beds with narrow earth ivalks 

 between, but, as years advanced, the woman zvho made it found the task of keeping 

 weeds in check to be too great, and therefore she turned the walks into lawn. ]\Iost 

 persons will prefer simpler flower gardens, with m,ore flowers. 



they are needed. It is always a help to make a map of the area, drawn to 

 a scale, locating on it all existing permanent objects, as trees and buildings. 



2. Plan for an open center, in front of the house. This should be 

 sward or lawn. If the area is small, it can be mown with a lawn mower ; 

 if large, the greater part of it, at some distance away from the house, can 

 be mown three or four times a summer with a field mower. 



3. Plant part of the sides of the place. The rear, in particular, should 

 be planted. Note how homelike and cosy a farm house looks if there is 

 an orchard behind it ; and how bare and bleak if it stands out alone against 

 the sky. These plantings may be trees or bushes, or both. 



