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happiness. This is exemplified in the general and growing desire for attractive 

 home grounds. Practical planning, though necessarily the first consideration, 

 may not be considered apart from the attainment of beauty, both being included 

 in the purpose of landscape architecture and both being developed simultaneously 

 in a design. A generally inte 1 ligent point of view of the subject on the part of 

 everyone, both in home and in civic life, does for a certainty, seem desirable. 



The first steps in the development of any property should look to its plan, 

 and that plan should deal with the property in its entirety. Whether or not a 

 yard is to be left largely in grass, the house and yard should be regarded as one, 

 and planned as one. Either a lot should be selected suitable to a preconceived 

 house, or a house should be designed to suit a particular lot, and of the two, the 

 latter course is best. 



A house should not be planned in the abstract and then buili on any lot large 

 enough to contain it, with perhaps more or less turf about it, much as a horse is 

 pastured in any lot large enough to furnish him sufficient pasturage. Unfortunate- 

 ly, the attitude too frequently encountered is, "If the lot is too small or ill- 

 suited, well, that is too bad, but it could not be helped!" There are no rules for 

 proportions between the sizevS of houses and of the lots on which they are built. 

 Almost any proportion may be made practical and of attractive appearance if 

 the whole is carefully planned out at the start, so that the result achieved will 

 make those proportions seem to have been intentional. 



Properties with fmall yards most of all require careful planning, just as do 

 small houses, for there is no room to waste. In any home there are certain es- 

 sential features, such as the main rooms of a house. Outside, likewi c e, there are 

 similar necessary things which must be provided, as, rich or poor, we must live 

 similarly in the main essentials, and differently only in our comforts and luxuries. 

 In small yards these essentials must be provided for, and it is much to be desired 

 that some comforts may also be included. But is it evident that the amplitude 

 suitable for the indoor rooms and for the outdoor lawns and gardens of large 

 homes is entirely incompatible with small properties. It is likewise evident 

 for small residences that a variety of outdoor features similar to those seen on 

 large estates is neither possible nor appropriate. The scale of the human being 

 must limit all dimensions. For example, a door may be too small to get through, 

 and a walk may be too narrow to be practical. When the dimensions of features 

 in small yards are diminutive, the plan is impractical and the effect is merely 

 petty. A diversity of features must also be avoided in small yards. They 

 should be left as open as possible, with but few, and those only the necessary, 

 subdivisions. 



A discussion of the principles governing the planning of small residence prop- 

 erties must of necessity be subject to a considerable number of limitations. 

 Especially must this be the case if these explanations are intended for the amateur. 

 It is hardly necessary to say that planning may be done best only by one with true 

 feeling for design. In any art, composition cannot be carried out by rule. Never- 

 theless, the writer is convinced that some fundamentals of good planning may be 

 plainly expressed in words. In the last analysis, many principles in design are 

 dependent upon the needs and limitations of human beings, upon their customs 

 and their circumstances of environment. All design has emanated from us 

 from our point of view as human beings; it is indeed of us and for us. It is the 



