24 HOME GROUNDS 



that can only be had in perfection ripened on the spot where they 

 are to be eaten. All market fruit-growers are obliged to pick fruit 

 before it is ripe, in order to have it bear transportation and keep 

 well. We cannot, therefore, get luscious ripe fruit except by grow- 

 ing it; and we advise business men of small means and small 

 grounds to patronize the market for vegetables, but to grow their 

 own strawberries, raspberries, peaches, and pears ; at least so far 

 as they may without making the beauty of their grounds subordi- 

 nate to the pleasures of the palate. The eye is a constant feeder, 

 that never sates with beauty, and is ever refining the mind by the 

 influence of its hunger ; but even luscious fruits give but a momen- 

 tary pleasure, and that not seldom unalloyed by excess and cloying 

 satiety. Nature is more lavish of her luxuries for the eye than of 

 those for the stomach, and, in an economic point of view, it will be 

 wise to take advantage of her generosity. To this end, it may be 

 profitably borne in mind that pleasing distant or near views of 

 country or city, of trees or houses, of sea or stream, which cost 

 nothing to preserve or keep in order, are the best picture invest- 

 ments that can be made ; and to make charming verdant frames 

 for these pictures as well as little " cabinet pieces " of your own 

 for your neighbors to look in upon, will call into play the best skill 

 in gardenesque designing. 



To make the most of common and inexpensive materials re- 

 quires the same culture of the eye and the mind, as the manipulation 

 of the rarest. To produce an effective picture with a single color 

 requires the same talent that would produce only more brilliant 

 effects with all the colors of the palette. The most needed advice 

 to novices in suburban home-making is this : if you can afford to 

 spend but little on your grounds, study with the greater care what 

 beauty outside of them can be made a part of the outlook from 

 them ; do not introduce anything which will convey the impression 

 that you desire to have anything look more expensive than it 

 really is; dispense with walks and drives except where they are 

 required for the daily comfort of your family ; eschew rustic orna- 

 ments, unless of the most substantial and un-showy character, and 

 in shadowy locations ; avoid spotting your lawn with garish carpen- 

 try, or plaster or marble images of any kind, or those lilliputian 



