94 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



gardens are of mean extent or are crowded into the high- 

 way, the trouble has arisen, not tlirongh parsimony of 

 room, bnt simply through thonghtlessness of the needs 

 of the farm home. A farmhouse ought to have plenty 

 of room ; and if the grounds have already been laid out 

 so as not to leave ample space, the best thing that can 

 be done is to reconstruct them altogether, or so far as 

 may be necessary to gain a free and roomy farmyard. 



A farmhouse ought to be comparatively remote 

 from the road. The distance will vary according to the 

 hight of the house, the slope of the land, the taste of 

 the builder, and other circumstances ; but the distance 

 ought not to be less than three times the hight of the 

 house, or more if the ground slopes upward from the 

 street. If the house is put some distance back into the 

 grounds, as is sometimes very desirable, and has an 

 approach of its own, the main view of the house ought 

 still to be given at a distance something greater than 

 three times the hight of the house. 



This is not a work on architecture, but it may not 

 be out of place to make a few brief suggestions respect- 

 ing the farmhouse itself. Generally some very simple 

 plan of architecture is to be preferred. A sharp or 

 much broken roof is especially to be avoided. Porches 

 ought to be wide, and their floors not high from the 

 ground, especially if the place be level. City dwellers 

 affect high porches and second-story balconies for the 

 sake of the privacy they give ; but privac}/ is more easily 

 secured on a farm. Country houses are often painted 

 white, and sometimes the result is fairly agreeable. 

 Usually some other color w ill give a better effect, how- 

 ever, — some slaty, or grayish, or other neutral shade, — 

 for white surfaces mar the rural ity of the general effect. 



A farmyard witliout some large shade trees is a very 

 unsatisfactory affair. This needs hardly to be men- 

 tioned. The more common evil is an over-indulgence of 



