THE JOYOUS ART OF GARDENING 



space is uncomfortably small. The reason for its discomfort 

 is not far to seek, for the chief beauty of a lawn, aside from 

 mere texture, lies in the contour of the land, the gracious curve 

 and sweep of the surface, the play of shadows which great trees 

 throw on the grass at their feet, excellences for which a lawn 

 twenty by fifty feet gives little room. 



Now, a square and substantial Colonial house, if it be well 

 built and of good architecture, is not a cottage to "nestle," or 

 a little bungalow to play at hide-and-seek among concealing 

 shrubberies; for it is too large to nestle becomingly, and co- 

 quetry is not its line. There is no reason why such a houso 

 should not face the world boldly and unashamed, and in the 

 period to which the best of Colonial architecture belongs the 

 Georgian that is precisely what it did. On country estates 

 the approach was a stately avenue of great trees; in the city 

 or town houses, a fence, the design of which was in keeping 

 with the house, formed the boundaries, and the whole space 

 inclosed was subordinated to the house. 



If, therefore, the suburbanite indulges in a house of 1750, 

 he had better accompany it with a garden of the same period. 

 It is not necessary to search from Dan to Beersheba in nursery 

 catalogues to find the precise flowers that great-grandmother 

 used to plant, but the planting can be done on these old lines, 

 and house and grounds considered as a whole. If the house 

 fronts the street squarely, as it probably does, and is blessed 

 with a beautiful doorway, then have a broad, straight path 

 from that to the gate, as wide as is becoming to the door and 

 porch. This path may have a low edging of box or be bor- 

 dered by privet or lilac-bushes, anything one likes: the impor- 

 tant thing is the straight approach. On each side of the path 

 lies a little garden, so devised that it fits exactly into the space. 

 Its paths may be grass or gravel, the geometrical beds may 



14 



