LITTLE GARDENS 



conventional design for the yard is more suitable 

 in a city than the first plan, let us see what can 

 be done with our space. Suppose we try some- 

 thing formal — no Italian garden, bless you, but 

 one that shapes itself withal to the size and form 

 of our reservation, and better, on some accounts, 

 for a front yard than a back one; only, if you 

 have flowers in the front yard, you will have 

 most of the children of the neighborhood there; 

 hence, you must add ferocious bloodhounds and 

 awful serpents to your menage. 



The scheme is simple: a central walk, end- 

 ing at a semicircular bed (4), with a small tree, 

 mound, rockery, bench, niche or conspicuous foli- 

 age plants; strips of lawn on either side of the 

 way, and parallel beds beyond the lawns (i, 2 

 and 3 ) , the first devoted to plants of low growth, 

 the second to higher, and the third to the highest, 

 with a trellis still behind and above them, if you 

 like. The exhibits are thus arranged in steps, 

 so that all are in view at once, and the show of 

 bloom can be superb. In fact, if the yard is dished 

 — that is, if it hollows a little in the center — it can 

 be terraced, the platforms ascending in rises of 

 six or eight inches; but that sort of thing is to be 

 40 



