280 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
The insidiousness of this danger is well shown by an incident sc- 
curring inan Kastern state. A gentleman of wealth purchased a 
location for a seaside cottage where it was literally founded upona 
rock, the cellar was excavated in the solid granite and so was the 
cesspool, and at a considerable distance a well was sunk through 
the solid ledge until an abundant supply of cold sweet water was 
reached which was the boast of the place. After the house had been 
occupied for some time,a sudden and very fatal epidemic of typhoid 
fever broke out, not only in the family -but among those who had 
been their guests, and raged to such an extent as to attract the at- 
tention of the state board of health, who instituted a thorough in- 
vestigation, and at last it was discovered that a minute open seam 
in the granite intersected both the cesspool and the well, and the 
drinking water, while still clear and sweet to sight and taste, had 
become in reality a deadly poison. 
One other point in regard to the location of the house, I wish to 
touch upon, and that is the prevailing notion that it is necessary for 
everything to stand “square with the world” as the saying is, and 
that sectional and other government survey lines are ordained to be 
the ruling factors in the location of roads, buildings and other im- 
provements; to be sure there is no reason to disregard them un- 
necessarily, but if some advantage is to be gained, as the introuduc- 
-ing of some particularly pleasant outlook from a veranda or living 
room window into our scheme of improvement, or getting the health 
giving sunlight into all our rooms, or the utilizing of some advan- 
tageous line of approach for the drive, let us not hesitate to ignore 
the north star and the compass needle. 
The important points above mentioned having been fixed upon, 
we are ready to begin the more strictly ornamental part of our work; 
and it is well to insist that to obtain satisfactory results this work 
should be based upon a well considered plan in which the com- 
pleted task has been pictured out in the designer’s mind; and while 
it may not be drawn out upon paper, still even a rough pencil sketch 
will be of great assistance and, perhaps, may call the operator’s at- 
tention to some important point which had been entirely over- 
looked. 
As the skeleton of our design, we first must consider the drives 
and paths, although every place may present special problems 
of its own. There are certain maxims which may be observed in 
nearly every case, although none of them are like the “laws of the 
Medes and Persians, which altereth not.” 
Drives and paths are a source of expense both in construction and 
maintenance, and also have an intrusive appearance wherever they 
encroach upon the lawn, so, at the beginning, we will agree to intro- 
duce only those which are absolutely neccessary; the same reasons 
will also lead us to avoid bringing them across the lawn in front of 
the house or to make a carriage turn opposite the door, unless 
special reasons, as topography of ground or a considerable amount 
of calling on the part of those who come with carriages, exist. 
The curved line of beauty is the ideal of most every one, yet very 
few appreciate the narrow margin which exists between a straight 
line and one which in practice will appear abruptly curved and dis- 
