The Livable House 



tion can be met by skillful planting and grading. If the road 

 surface be sunk slightly below the surrounding lawn, or, to put 

 it another way, if the lawn be crowned toward the centre, the ex- 

 tent of the road will be minimized, and one side made almost, if 

 not quite, invisible from the other. This, with planting in one 

 or both of the curves, will reduce the effect of a drive which leads 

 into a place only to lead out again. 



The third sort of road, that which ends in a yard or court, goes 

 about solving the drive difficulty in a different way from either 

 of the other two. Instead of trying to minimize the extent of 

 road necessary by a stretch of green in the centre, it sets aside a 

 certain space for turning, surfaces it all over like the drive, and 

 then walls it in, or fences it off, or plants it out. On a big place 

 such a drive oftenest takes the form of a forecourt, and pre- 

 supposes a more or less formal arrangement of buildings. On a 

 small place a forecourt is seldom used, for the reason that it 

 means sacrificing too much space in front of the house. But there 

 is no reason why such a scheme could not be made verv delightful, 

 given a tvpe of house adaptable to this treatment; a house which 

 would take kindly to walls and fences and a paved English court. 

 I am free to admit that I have never seen such a plan carried out 

 in connection with the small house, but it is, I think, very well 

 worth trying. The plan on page 17 illustrates the scheme, and 

 embodies all sorts of ideas which do not appear on the sur- 

 face, tall sunflowers and larkspur against a whitewashed wall, and 

 a weathered bench under a twisted old tree, as well as the flag- 

 stones (which might be brick) laid in a pattern. A picture of one 



[16] 



