things is not encouraged, fostered, or preserved among the peasantry of a country, 

 or among those of limited means. Such appreciation, it would seem, would 

 make for greater contentment and thrift. Rapid advancement and increase of 

 income, however, appears to develop a taste for excitement and for extravagance 

 rather than for betterment of living conditions and for general thrift. Of course 

 the peasantry of today in this country is not the peasantry of a subsequent genera- 

 tion; and home is not regarded as home in the real sense of the word, but merely 

 as a temporary residence, not only by the laborer but by a large majority of the 

 American population as well. When, in an individual or in a class, a genuine 

 desire for beauty develops, art will result, although taste must first be cultivated 

 and standards evolved. Cottage gardens are the result of long-settled con- 

 ditions of living, of a desire for beauty, and of a love of home and of plants them- 

 selves. These gardens were not purchased with money, but were made of the 

 materials at hand, and, in this respect, are therefore genuine and popular art. 



Some villages in the vicinity of large cities have been rediscovered and re- 

 juvenated by city folk, to whom village life is attractive. But such instances 

 have frequently resulted in business and real estate booms, in the building of cheap 

 and ugly houses and the like, or in too much prosperity of an ultra-fashionable 

 kind ; .and any of these will destroy the simple character of the village. One 

 admires the city folk who prefer village life, and wishes that many old villages, 

 whose nearness to cities is proving their destruction, might instead be so settled; 

 but real village life and true rural prosperity depend upon those who spend their 

 whole lives there. If this country is ever to see again beautiful cottage homes 

 made, as of old, by country folk, it will be only by a slow development through a 

 period of years. Nevertheless the evidence of renewed interest in country life 

 and the desire of city workers for simple homes in the country should be en- 

 couraged; and surely not the style of city homes but rather those of the country 

 and of the village should dominate. It would seem that the early American 

 colonial cottage and its garden might well be the inspiration for the design of 

 simple country homes. An English cottage in America looks like a stranger in a 

 strange land. A California bungalo, the type suggested by the architecture of the 

 old Spanish Missions, is adapted to that climate and looks well only in the West 

 and Southwest, in the conditions amid which it was born. In the East, certain 

 types of building were produced by, or were, the result of, several factors, such as 

 traditions from mother countries, building materials available, climate, and other 

 conditions of environment. The architecture of the colonials was a natural 

 evolution. Likewise today the colonial style is our tradition. We need not 

 necessarily try to reproduce it, and, further, it is logical that the style of today 

 should be adapted to present-day conditions. The colonists did not reproduce 

 styles of their native countries, although they began with them as a point of 

 departure. As this inspiration grew, the colonists created a new style. It 

 should be noted, however, that they did not create a new style by trying to 

 depart from their tradition. In the East we have come to associate the styles 

 prevalent just before and just after the Revolution with village and with country 

 life, and it is felt that any radical departure from these styles, or even the country 

 version of them, is therefore a false note and one detrimental to success in making 

 new small homes in the country. 



But what is a cottage garden? The simple garden of the cottager has always 



