Ill 



FITTING THE GARDEN TO THE HOUSE 



If the planting about one's house is to be to any degree 

 satisfying a rare and blessed quality it is of utmost impor- 

 tance that the house itself should be taken into consideration. 

 No woman, unless she be of unsound mind, buys a gown with- 

 out a thought of the size and complexion of the wearer, or of 

 the uses to which it is to be put; and, by the same token, no 

 gardener will plant his grounds without paying careful heed 

 to the house they are to adorn what manner of house it is, 

 what its "complexion" (in the old sense of the word) and its 

 individual needs. A scheme of planting which may be ad- 

 mirable in relation to one house may prove quite "unbecom- 

 ing " to another. The gardening about an old farmhouse, even 

 if newly bought for a country home, should not be identical 

 with that adapted to a modern suburban home, any more 

 than a variety of millinery appropriate enough for a young 

 society woman is precisely the right thing for a dear old Quaker 

 lady. Every house has some degree of individuality if it 

 hasn't it ought to have it, or it must borrow it from its owner 

 and the planting should be in keeping with it. 



All of which may seem apart from the "broad, practical 

 matters" of which we hear so much; but, more than any other 

 one cause, it is our present almost uniform custom of plant- 

 ing with a cheerful indifference to one's house and one's neigh- 

 bors which makes our American gardening, especially in the 



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