STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 231 



around the subiirl)an lioines of Boston, New York, Washington, Chicago ami other 

 cities speak not alone of the abilities ©f the teacher, but shew also that the students 

 have been quick to learn and protit by his teachings. 



To the careful observer it must be at once apparant that the art of rural adorn- 

 ment is only in its infancy. The work of the park commissioners in the city of 

 Minneapolis during the past year has taught the people of the city, as a whole, more 

 in this subject than they had learned before (luring; om- thirty odd years of existence 

 as a city. 



Rural adornment is a Kindergarten school where object lessons are being taught 

 day by day that are remembered and acted upon, the restless ambition of the aver- 

 age American citizen to out-do his neighbor will constantly develop new ideas 

 in this as in other things; some of these ideas will be crude and inappropriate at 

 first but another and more skillful mind takes off a little here or adds a little there, 

 until it develops into a thing of beauty and pleasure. To foster and encourage 

 these ideas and to cultivate a taste for the true and the beautiful in the adorn- 

 ment of our rural homes is certainly within the province of this Society. Very 

 few perhaps have the ability to lay out and suitably arrange even a small garden 

 pl©t yet nearly every one can recognize the difference between the place where 

 walks, trees, vines and buildings are tastefully arranged, even where there has been 

 lack of laste displayed. Beauty of outline, harmony of shape and color, are pleasing 

 to the eye and till one with feelings of pleasure. 



I do not understand why the press of the western cities do not pay more attention 

 to a subject of such general interest, although every year shows marked improve- 

 ment; still there is a vast amount of time, money and good material wasted on 

 account of ignorance in regard to even the flrst principles of rural adornments. It 

 will be my aim in this essay to point out some of these principles, as I understand 

 them. I write for the climate of IMinnesota and with the experience of twenty se- 

 vere winters, as many summer droughts, and many exasperating failures. 



THE GHODND 



To be adorned is of most vital importance. My ideal is an undulating surface, sim- 

 ilar to that on the shores of Minnetonka. Where it is possible, let your grounds 

 embrace a bit of water; if naturally, so much the better; if not, have it artificially 

 if you can. Don't make the too common mistake of clearing away the timber and 

 leveling the ground; this seems to be a sort of mania with some people. No sooner 

 do they acquire a bit of ground than they proceed to level it. The work Nature 

 has done, — the graceful, sweeping curves, the rounded slopes, — are all squared and 

 leveled; then they are ready to improve. As a rule you cannot improve upon the 

 slopes and curves of nature; a little touching up here and there is all that will be 

 necessary. 



Rural adornment is to be accomplished with an artistic arrangement of grass, 

 trees, vines, shrubs and tlowers. The arrangement of your grounds should be such 

 as to give a place for each of these, so that while they have each a chai-acter and 

 individuality of their own, they will together form a perfect whole that will be har- 

 monious and beautiful. The rear, or blind side of the house, stables and kitchen 

 garden, should be concealed from view by trees and shrubbery or grape trellises, 

 the outlines of which should always be rounded; the stable yard should be reached 

 by a curved drive; the wood yard for drying clothes, and everything that could in 



