THE HOME SURR'OUXDINGS. 



<^ pv^HE present being a season of 

 comparative leisure, is the best 

 time for those desiring to im- 

 prove the appearance of their 

 gardens or pleasure grounds to consider 

 the subject. All planting or re-planting 

 that may be done with a view to im- 

 proved effects will prove more success- 

 ful if done with a definite object ; for 

 instance, before an experienced land- 

 scape gardener begins such a work, and 

 before any manual work is done, he 

 inspects the grounds, making a rough 

 sketch and a few notes. This visit may 

 be repeated more or less often as the 

 case may demand, but the result is that 

 he carries away to his office or workroom 

 all that is needed to enable him to con- 

 vert the waste, or vacant place, into what 

 will be in a few years at the furthest, a 

 pleasing and beautiful spot, increasing 

 in beauty from year to year as the differ- 

 ent shrubs, trees or plants employed 

 become established and develop their 

 respective beauties. In the accomplish- 

 ment of this work he will, of course, 

 remember past mistakes, and avoid their 

 repetition, always observing certain well- 

 known laws, the non-observance of 

 which would defeat his efforts. He 

 seldom treats an individual shrub or 

 tree as a specimen ; for illustration, 

 imagine in the one case a number of 

 shrubs planted either at regular or 

 irregular distances upon the lawn, in the 

 other the same shrubs or trees grouped 

 with a well defined object. The result 

 in the first case will be doubtless some 

 very pretty specimens, but no stretch of 

 lawn, nothing restful to the eye, nothing 

 that will create a pleasant and lasting 

 impression ; while in the other case the 

 impression given would be " what a 

 beautiful lawn,'' " what a delightful 

 home." It is never desirable to plant 

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shrubs in holes cut in the grass, the 

 effect is disappointing at the best. 

 " Landscape " does not necessarily im- 

 ply an expansive view, and it is well, in 

 designing the grounds that are limited 

 to the ordinary city lot, to remember 

 that grounds that are large and beauti- 

 ful would lose their beauty if the same 

 effects were attempted on a small scale. 

 Whether the work in view be on a large 

 or small scale, no workman has a larger 

 choice of material from which to make 

 his selection than the landscape gar- 

 dener. If a fence is to be hidden, there 

 are the wisteria, clematis, bignonia, 

 ampelopsis, aristolochia, akebia, celas- 

 trus, and many others. If for a wind 

 break or a blind, nothing will so per- 

 fectly answer the purpose, and at the 

 same time afford such a comfortable 

 appearance in the winter season as the 

 evergreens, among which may be men- 

 tioned Norway spruce, everyone's favor- 

 ite ; White spruce, of a finer foliage and 

 denser growth but not as well known : 

 Nordman's pine, quite hardy and of 

 great beauty; Colorado blue spruce. 

 Abies Orientalis, a beautiful variety ; 

 Abies Canadensis pendula or weeping 

 hemlock ; Abies Canadensis, our native 

 hemlock, has also much to recommend 

 it : also our native Cedar, Thuya occi- 

 dentalis. Many of the Thuyas are very 

 beautiful, and well adapted for planting 

 over a large part of Canada. Some of 

 them are of a very dwarf habit, and can 

 be planted where other conifers would 

 be too large. By no means the least 

 important factors in the decoration of 

 the grounds surrounding the home are 

 the flowering shrubs. With this often 

 badly used and not very well understood 

 class of plants, an endless change of 

 varied and beautiful effects is obtainable, 

 but no clipping, no attempts to convert 



