160 LANDSCAPE GARDENIXG 



either a better use of the imencumbered space 

 about the home and along the street or a more in- 

 tensive landscape development. The city-dweller 

 should strive to attain more the healthfulness and 

 charm of the country than the average home- 

 seeker can possibly secure in the average city at 

 the present date, and he has a right to much more 

 healthful and congenial surroundings (Fig. 38). 



One of the solutions of the problem of civic bet- 

 terment has been the building of garden cities. 

 These cities are generally laid out and owned by a 

 corporation, and all its inhabitants accept the 

 houses and grounds just as they have been de- 

 signed b}^ the corporation architects. The result 

 is of course a much more harmonious scheme than 

 could have been attained in any other way. There 

 are many successful conununities of this sort in 

 England. The scheme has made better headway 

 in Europe than in America, however, for the ob- 

 jection of the average American to the garden city 

 is that it is too paternalistic and proprietary. 

 What the American people demand in any cooper- 

 ative scheme for the improving of the surround- 

 ings of their homes is, first, that their own individ- 

 ual ideas regarding the main features of the 

 proposed scheme be given careful consideration. 



