NEIGHBORING IMPROVEMENTS. 63 



filled, in old village style, with big cherry trees, maples, lilacs, 

 spruce trees, roses, and annuals ; and C.'s grounds may have a 

 growth of noble old trees, which had invited a house to make its 

 home there. Between the two is Mr. B.'s bare lot, on which he 

 builds a " modern house," which is, of course, the envy of the older 

 places. But Mr. B. and his family sigh for the old forest trees on 

 the right, and the flowers, and verdure, and fruit trees on the left. 

 Not having them to begin with, we advise him to make a virtue of 

 necessity, and cause his neighbors to envy him the superior open- 

 ness and polish of his own grounds. A. has a yard cluttered with 

 the valuable accumulations of years ; a fine variety of trees, shrubs, 

 and flowers; yet nothing shows to advantage. The shade, the 

 multiplicity of bushes, the general intertanglement of all, make it 

 very difficult to grow a close turf, and keep it mown as a lawn. 

 Mr. B., on the other hand, can begin, as soon as his ground is 

 enriched and set to grass, to perfect it by constant cutting and 

 rolling till it is a sheet of green velvet. Cut in the lawn, here 

 and there near his walks, small beds for low and brilliant flowers 

 may sparkle with sunny gayety ; at the intersection of walks, or 

 flanking or fronting the entrances, low broad-top vases (rustic or 

 classic, as the character of the house or their position may require) 

 may be placed, filled with a variety of graceful and brilliant plants. 

 In two or three years, if Mr. B. shall thus have made the most of 

 his open ground, ten chances to one both of the neighbors will be 

 envying the superior beauty of the new place. It will, probably, 

 really be the most charming of the three ; not, however, by virtue of 

 its open lawn alone, but by the contrast which his neighbor's crowded 

 yard on one side, and the forest trees on the other, serve to produce. 

 Each of their places forms a back-ground for his lawn ; while, if the 

 three places are allowed to open together, his lawn is a charming 

 outlook from the shades of theirs. Neither one of these places would, 

 alone, make landscape beauty ; yet the three may make charming com- 

 binations from every point of view. Every home needs some fruit 

 trees, and a shadowy back-ground, or flanking, of noble forest trees, 

 which Mr. B. would desire to have started as soon as possible ; 

 but with such adjoining improvements as we have described, he 

 should preserve the distinctive elegance of his front grounds, and 



