THE JOYOUS ART OF GARDENING 



restrict the plantings to shrubs and trees and vines that are 

 not likely to be trampled on. 



Before indulging in any garden fancies, however, one must 

 make provision for the common, obvious needs of the house, 

 such as that here the coal is put in; here the ash-can must 

 stand; nor should one hide one's head ostrich-like from the 

 vociferant fact that the weekly washing is no rare exotic but 

 the hardiest of perennials, which, whether the flowers bloom 

 or not, can be counted upon to appear on the lawn of a Monday 

 with a very definite degree of certainty and it is not decora- 

 tive. A drying-yard should be screened by shrubs, by a tall 

 hedge or a vine-covered lattice. It will add more to the ap- 

 pearance of a suburban place than many flower-beds. 



Same Common Mistakes in Planting Are These: 1. Trees 

 too close to the house. This causes dark and damp rooms in 

 the upper stories by excluding air and sunlight, and defeats 

 the purpose for which they were set out, since the shade is 

 cast on top of the house, not on the lawn; it also spoils the 

 effect of the tree, for the stem is so close that it gives the ef- 

 fect of a musket held against the shoulder; the foliage is too 

 near to serve as a frame. Fifty feet from the house is quite 

 near enough. In the suburbs, where the distance from house 

 to street is but slight, plant the shade-trees beside the side- 

 walk, not inside the grounds. 



2. Scattering shrubs over the lawn. The smaller the space 

 the more necessary it is not to "clutter" it. Keep an open 

 grass space and put your shrubs at the borders, taller-growing 

 shrubs at the back, and your grounds will look larger and be 

 more restful. 



3. Filling up the space under trees with shrubs. Although 

 necessary sometimes, when one must have a close screen, 

 such planting spoils the effect of a tree which does not need 



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