388 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



HOME PLANTING FOR ORNAMENT. 



F. E. PEASE^ DES MOINES, lA. 



Man posessses an inherent love of nature. To most of us it is 

 not so much nature in its most frankly natural guise that appeals as 

 nature humanized and made intimate to our lives. 



One does not care to lose one's self in nature, but rather to im- 

 press upon it one's own personality. In order to do this it is essen- 

 tial that one become a land owner. The more populous the terri- 

 tory the greater the restrictions upon individual freedom ; hence, in 

 a country home, if anywhere, a man should be able to be himself. 

 The complexity of city life necessarily restricts the individual by 

 many conventions which has led to a reaction in favor of suburban 

 and country homes. These are being built in all parts of the country 

 and more and more with the intention that they shall be veritable 

 homes. As a result, the laying out and planting of home grounds 

 is a subject of very present interest. 



There are two distinct methods, viz. : the English, or formal, 

 and the landscape, or natural. Adherents of the formal method re- 

 gard the garden as an integral part of the house, while the object 

 of the landscapist is to suggest that the garden is a part of the 

 landscape. 



The formal method has much to commend it, and there is a de- 

 cided reaction towards the formal garden. The landscapist con- 

 tends that we should take our cue from nature, eliminate all straight 

 lines and produce an ordered disorder, as it were, by disguising, so 

 much as possible, the artificial work of man. To most of us the 

 evidence of an ancient occupation, recent explorations or the pres- 

 ent care of man in no wise lessens our interest in nature but often 

 adds the humanizing touch necessary to make it seem at all intimate. 



The making of paths and roads is the work of man and animals ; 

 nature does not make them, but they are necessities to us. A build- 

 ing is an excrescence upon nature, in sharp contrast to its sur- 

 roundings. Left in complete contrast to its surroundings, it pre- 

 sents a strangely incongruous appearance; group near it, however, 

 a stable, gardener's cottage, flower and kitchen gardens, walks, etc., 

 and it immediately begins to take on a human living interest, which 

 finally enables it to hold its own in the contrast with nature. There- 

 fore, if the house, which is the chief artificial feature, needs some 

 subsidary ones, which are mutually related, then surely that rela- 

 tionship should be frankly admitted by embracing all the subsidary 

 features with some degree of formality in their arrangement. 



The formal entrance to the grounds marks the transition from 

 outside, and it should be of a style in harmony with the general 



