8 



manner. A tree with low branches sweeping the lawn at each side of a house 

 may frame it better than low-growing vegetation. If the house is not in the 

 center of its lot, a tall tree on the narrow side and a lower-growing tree on the 

 garden side, either alone or grouped with small trees, may balance the planting 

 of the front and also afford an interesting background for a side-yard garden. 



There are many possible alternatives to these suggestions, and doubtless some 

 that are particularly fitting for front-yard planting schemes. But training and 

 experience in such matters, or keen observation on the part of the amateur, is 

 necessary to determine them. While it might seem unnecessary to put it in 

 words, in order that there shall be no uncertainty, let us say that in small front 

 yards, no flower beds should be cut out of the lawn and no specimen plants should be 

 planted in the center of the lawns; and probably it is unnecessary to proscribe 

 all such objects as iron dogs, deer, vases, and gaily painted old hot-water boilers 

 used as receptacles for flowers. Unfurnished yards of good grass look better than 

 those gaudy with unsuitable and poor decoration or cluttered with too much 

 planting. Frequently the best front-yard furnishing is that which is the least 

 noticeable. 



To that side of the house on which are located the living rooms should be ad- 

 joined the most private and pleasingly developed part of the yard. This area 

 should appear to be the largest division of the outdoor space. Whether it is to be 

 separated into a garden and a lawn, or left in one undivided space, or otherwise 

 arranged, always the effect of amplitude should predominate. It may be 

 possible to subdivide it into several parts, but one should be careful that such an 

 arrangement does not diminish its apparent size. These areas may be regarded 

 as outdoor rooms of the home, and in order to function similarly to rooms of the 

 house, they must afford privacy. 



Yards without any privacy receive little interest from their owners, as they 

 cannot be used. And it is in the full realization of the usefulness of this area that 

 the crux of the outdoor problem lies. One may own a house in the city and 

 necessarily live in a city block; but why live in the suburbs of a city, where out- 

 of-door space is available, and derive no advantage from the yard? The principal 

 purpose of a private yard is to afford a pleasant and restful setting for recreation 

 in the open air. Privacy is not only essential to the usefulness of the yard, but is 

 also requisite for desirable views from the adjoining rooms. The living rooms, 

 are more interesting if some views from the windows express an extension of, and 

 an appealing variation of, the living quarters of the house. It is desirable to 

 have pleasant outdoor life at home as well as at a summer resort, and many persons 

 have to make the most of what the home affords. The point for everyone to 

 realize is that the home may be made to afford more pleasure than is commonly 

 derived from it. 



As was stated in the opening chapter, there is evidence in plenty, of a wide- 

 spread interest in the betterment of yards. However, it has hitherto been cus- 

 tomary to plan a yard to be attractive only from the street and from the windows 

 of the house. The efforts to improve yards have therefore consisted, for the most 

 part, in making showy plantations. Every suburban home should have an 

 outdoor room, to look into, and to live in. The acid test of the fitness of any 

 general scheme or of any detail proposed for the private part of the grounds should 

 be the degree in which it possesses this roomlike character. If the space is 

 large enough to be divided into several features if there may be a small garden 



