18 



GARDEN GUIDE 



Haven't you seen many working men's houses just 

 like this — gaunt and bare, no neat hedges, no neat 

 lawns, not even a Geranium or a Canna in sight? 



some shady corner we 

 can enjoy a siesta or 

 a book in the open 

 air? 



The fact is we do 

 not make half enough 

 use of the grounds 

 about our homes; 

 they are left blank in 

 most instances. We 

 warmly urge the 

 planting of Ught 

 screen belts of trees 

 and hedges around 

 the property, which 

 need not be so dense as to prevent a neighbor or passerby from 

 enjoying glimpses of yom* garden. Kegel's Privet, Cahfornia broad- 

 leaved Privet, Golden Privet, Hemlock, Arbor Vitae, Austrian Pine, 

 White Pine, Norway Spruce, Rambler Roses, Ivy, Ampelopsis, Plane 

 trees, Berberis Thimbergii, are among the easily grown subjects that 

 are useful in such screen belts, and most of which can be increased on 

 one's own place at httle expense if the suggestions given in another 

 part of this book are carried out. 



The initial expense of planting the outer parts and main features 

 of the grounds or garden need not be large. By the exercise of a httle 

 patience one can grow-on a good many things for future develop- 

 ments. Poplars should only be used sparingly. They grow fast, it 

 is true, and for that reason are often employed, and in some places 

 are elegant and pleasant enough, but generally they are "messy," 

 losing their leaves early, and their roots often choke up drains. The 

 almost constant rustling of their leaves and other aspects of the trees 

 are disagreeable to many people. 



Make provision for a good space of lawn, and treat the lawn well. 

 Water in motion, as in fountains, is often desirable but is a secondary 

 consideration, just as the number and amount of flower beds or borders 

 is, as also the introduction of rock gardens, arbors and such like. The 

 thing of prime importance is to have the main features properly 

 planned at the outset — the garage, the barn, the poultry run, the 

 kitchen or vegetable garden, and the other parts of the place such as 

 have been already spoken of, also the grading and terracing (if any), 

 are among the first matters that require attention. Minor undulations 

 or changes of the surface can be left for a future day. It is not, we 

 repeat, necessary to have a cut and dried plan from the beginning; 



