THE ESrATE 265 



cealed behind it and so kept from appearing incongruous in the general 

 design. The greenhouse should be accessible from a service drive 

 and from the gardens. The potting shed, or the main entrance to the 

 greenhouse, may well be accessible from the house through some 

 decorative part of the grounds, without forcing the pleasure traffic to 

 cross any service area or service drive. 



The outdoor service arrangements pertaining to the upkeep of the Reserve and 

 grounds usually comprise the reserve garden and gardener's yard, the 

 hotbeds and cold frames, and compost yard. These things, not being 

 primarily decorative, are often put into the least conspicuous place 

 available, consistent with their use. The reserve garden and the vege- 

 table garden, however, may be used as decorative features in the design 

 almost as the main flower garden might be used. There are a good many 

 vegetables which are in themselves decorative. For instance, chives 

 make an excellent border along a path, and an interesting tropical effect 

 can be produced with rhubarb. An arrangement which is often de- 

 sirable is to continue, from the flower garden through the vegetable^and 

 reserve gardens, a path or a series of paths, possibly treated with rose 

 arches, at any rate bordered with flowers which are used for decoration 

 in the house afterwards, or which perhaps are moved into the main 

 flower garden to replace some other plants which have gone out of 

 bloom. These flower borders may be backed with hedges which 

 segregate the walk from the less attractive parts of the vegetable gar- 

 den, into which you can go through gates or arches or gaps in the 

 hedges at certain places. Or the paths need not be so segregated at all ; 

 the vegetable garden may simply be cut up into pleasant and useful 

 areas by these paths. The paths themselves may be decorative, as 

 we have said, and the vegetable garden, if it be well kept up so that 

 there is a neat arrangement of growing plants in well-kept ground, 

 will be to a considerable extent a beautiful thing in itself without any 

 further decoration. 



The reserve garden should be close to the flower garden and should 

 be closely related to the greenhouse and the compost yard. The hot- 

 beds and cold frames would commonly be in the reserve garden. Of 

 course, all the outdoor accessories tributary to the garden might be 

 in one area, called a reserve garden, but it is commonly better to have 



