YARD DECORATIOX. 



feet long, and lies along one side of a 

 small back yard. The soil was originally 

 a most tough and obstinate clay. 



These various pictures will fi.\ in the 

 reader's mind the importance of a simple 

 structural design for the home grounds. 

 The essential elements of this design are 

 the open centre and the well-planted 

 sides. It is particularly important that 

 the view to and from the front of the 

 dwelling house be kept open, for other- 

 wise there can be little conception of 

 pictorial effect in the composition. It 

 is a grave mistake to cover up or to 

 obscure the one central and important 

 feature of the place. This architec- 

 tural composition would have little 

 place or merit in the landscape if the 

 foreground were promiscuously planted. 



But if one has no area which he can 

 make into a lawn and upon which he 

 can plant such verdurous masses, what 

 then may he do ? Even then there may 

 be opportunity for a little neat and artis- 

 tic planting. Even if one lives in a 

 rented house, he may bring in a bush or 

 an herb from the woods and paint a 

 picture with it. Plant it in the corner 

 by the steps, in front of the porch, at the 

 corner of the house, almost anywhere 

 except in the centre of the lawn. Make 

 the ground rich, secure a strong root 

 and plant it with care ; then wait. The 

 little clump will not only have a beauty 

 and interest of its own, but will add im- 

 mensely to the furniture of the yard. 

 About its base one may plant stray 

 bulbs of growing tulips or dainty snow- 

 drops and lilies of the valley ; and these 

 may be followed with pansies and phlox 

 and other simple folk. Very soon one 

 finds himself deeply interested in these 

 random and detached pictures, and al- 

 most before he is aware he finds that he 

 has rounded off the corners of the house, 

 made snug little arbors of wild grapes 



FlfJ. 1058. — .'\ CORNKR AND DooRWAY 



Draped with Honkysccki.e. 



and clematis, covered the rear fence and 

 the outhouse with actinidia and bitter- 

 sweet, and has thrown in dashes of color 

 with hollyhocks, cannas and lilies and, 

 has tied the foundations of the buildings 

 to the greensward by low strands of 

 vines or deft bits of planting. He soon 

 comes to feel that flowers are most 

 expressive of the best emotions when 

 they are daintily dropped in here and 

 there against a back-ground of foliage. 

 Presently he rebels at the bold, harsh 

 and impudent designs of some of the 

 gardeners, and grows into a pure and 

 subdued love of plant forms and ver- 

 dure. He may still like the weeping 

 and cut-leaved and party-colored trees 

 of the horticulturist, but he sees that 

 their best effects are to be had when 

 they are planted sparingly, as flowers 

 are, as borders or promontories of the 

 structural masses. 



It all amounts to this, that the best 

 planting, like the best painting and the 

 best music, is possibly only with the 

 best and tenderest feeling and the clos- 

 est living with nature. One's place 

 grows to be a reflection of himself, 

 changing as he changes, and expressing 

 his life and sympathies to the last. 



