88 City Homes on Country Lanes 



way of life, as preached in the garden homes of South- 

 ern California. The idea is not only a sure but a 

 luxurious living. Mr. Marshall V. Hartranft both 

 prophet and practitioner of the art has declared: 



"You can take the menu program for the past year 

 from twenty of the most affluent homes in Los Angeles, 

 and find nothing but what is duplicated or served 

 better in the acre-garden homes in Southern Cali- 

 fornia." 



This is a very strong statement indeed ; but is it not 

 splendid idealism the thought that the average family 

 in the United States with income ranging from $500 

 to $1,000 a year shall be assured of a table as generous, 

 even as luxurious, as the table of a millionaire? The 

 dreamer can go no further in the matter of creature 

 comforts ; but is the thing within the range of practical 

 possibility? 



Not surely by methods commonly pursued. The 

 man who steps into the corner grocery and buys a few 

 packages of seeds, plants them in ground not well pre- 

 pared, has little or no comprehension of the relation 

 between the amount of his planting and the amount 

 of his family needs, takes no thought of what he is 

 going to have for dinner a few weeks or months hence, 

 but knows only in a general way that he is fond of 

 this, that, or the other this man will not dine like the 

 millionaire. Science must be enlisted, art employed, 

 forethought used, if any such result is to be obtained. 

 That is what Mr. Hartranft meant when he said "Pro- 

 gramme, Method and Schedule are the watchwords of 

 acre efficiency." 



The first thing on the programme is a bill of fare 



