THE SURROUNDINGS OF THE HOUSE 49 



reasonable and convenient. If you must have a curved walk on a flat 

 surface you must adopt a formal style with some geometrical elements, and 

 such a design should be made by a professional landscape architect or by 

 an amateur who has carefully studied the subject. We have never yet 

 seen a formal lay-out by a tyro which was jjpt grotesque, while there are 

 thousands of places simply designed by inexperienced person's of good 

 taste which are consistently natural and beautiful. 



To make curved walks reasonable on a flat surface one must adopt a 

 set pattern of which they are a part, or he must have some barrier to 

 avoid. If there is a large tree or a natural rock-cropping in the line it is 

 rational to cusve around it, but to pile up, in a small opening, a wagon 

 load of rocks for an artificial "rockery," is irrational and generally ugly, 

 while a creation of concrete in such a place is grotesque. One can erect 

 a graven image and cause a walk to curve in worship at its feet, or he can 

 buy a cast-iron deer and amble around to escape his antlers, but the place 

 for all such garden ornaments is in the junk-shop. 



A CERTAIN DEGREE OF FORMALITY IS DESIRABLE. 



The fact is that a certain element of the formal style is desirable in 

 most designs and is admissible even in work in the natural style when 

 properly introduced or isolated. For instance, in laying out small home 

 sites in the midst of orchard areas, which economy and efficiency require 

 to be planted in straight lines, it is most congruous to take a rectangular 

 space for the buildings ; to make drives and walks straight ; to make house 

 lines straight and to surround the buildings with beds and borders with 

 parallel edges. It is also consistent to plant shrubs and herbaceous per- 

 ennials in straight lines, for there will be no great length of them and so 

 far as they go they harmonize with the straight fines of orchard trees. In 

 such a lay-out it is rational to make the driveway at one side of the open 

 space between the house and the highway; to reach the entrance-porch, 

 which is usually on one side of a small house, and to pass beyond for a 

 turning space among the buildings in the rear of the house, unless the 

 garden space is made large enough to make reasonable two entrance gates 

 and driveways, one on each side of the open space. In this case the drive- 

 way will cross from side to side in front of the house, as well as extending 

 to .the rear of it. In such a case it is desirable to plant no tall growths on 

 the sides of the open space and to make no attempt to insulate this space 

 from the surrounding orchard area. It is better to use the foliage of the 

 fruit trees for an environment and to enjoy the vistas opening between the 

 rows. Fruit land is usually high-priced and a house-grove planted for 

 ornament destroys more land than it covers. Tall trees for shade and 

 ornament should be grown between the outbuildings and enclosures in 

 the rear. 



