How to Arrange Country Places 221 



connect itself directly with the stable and other out-build- 

 ings, - - the next point of attack is the kitchen garden. 

 This is not so easily disposed of as many imagine. All 

 persons of good taste agree that however necessary, satis- 

 factory, and pleasant a thing a good kitchen garden is, it 

 is not, aesthetically, considered a beautiful thing; and it 

 never accords well with the ornamental portions of a coun- 

 try place, where the latter is large enough to have a lawn, 

 pleasure grounds, or other portions that give it an orna- 

 mental character. The fruit trees (and we include now, 

 for the sake of conciseness, kitchen and fruit garden), the 

 vegetables, and all that makes the utility of the kitchen 

 garden, never harmonize with the more graceful forms of 

 ornamental scenery. Hence the kitchen garden in a com- 

 plete country place should always form a scene by itself, 

 and should also be shut out from the lawn or ornamental 

 grounds by plantations of trees and shrubs. A good local- 

 ity as regards soil is an important point to be considered in 

 determining its site; and it will usually adjoin the space 

 given to the kitchen offices, or that near the stable or barns, 

 or perhaps lie between both so that it also is kept on the 

 blind side of the house. 



After having disposed of the useful and indispensable 

 portions of the place, by placing them in the spots at once 

 best fitted for them at least interfering with the convenience 

 and beauty of the remaining portions, let us now turn to 

 what may properly be called the ornamental portion of the 

 place. 



This may be confined to a mere bit of lawn, extending a 

 few feet in front of the parlor windows, or it may cover a 

 number of acres, according to the extent of the place and 

 the taste and means of the owner. 



Be that as it may, the groundwork of this part should, in 

 our judgment, always be lawn. There is in the country no 

 object which at all seasons and times gives the constant 

 satisfaction of the green turf of a nicely kept lawn. If your 

 place is large, so much larger and broader is the good effect 

 of the lawn, as it stretches away over gentle undulations, 



