HOW TO PLAN A SMALL GARDEN 21 



notions upon the subject of garden planning, but he has, with 

 the best intentions, put it " in order " for you, and thus, as he 

 fondly imagines, saved you trouble and expense. You survey 

 the scene and the prospect is certainly not one that pleases. It 

 consists, not improbably, of a narrow strip of land you are 

 lucky if it is more than fifty feet in length enclosed by a slender 

 wooden fence; the border, if there be one, is not more than 

 eighteen inches or two feet wide, and the chances are that it is 

 placed on the side of the garden which is supplied with least 

 sunshine ; the paths are all monotonously straight, and the 

 grass plot, if there be any, is a miserable little affair that has 

 been unevenly laid upon a foundation best calculated to kill right 

 away the turf that has been deposited upon it. 



Your gorge rises, and in an excess of zeal to put things right 

 you begin to dig. A few thrusts are made with the spade, and at 

 the third or fourth effort to loosen the soil a severe jarring of the 

 arms acquaints you of the fact that there is an obstruction in the 

 way. It is perhaps half a brick or a massive lump of cement that 

 distresses you. And so it goes on until you are sorely tempted to 

 give up the effort in disgust. 



It is only the obliging builder's little way ! Your house has 

 no doubt been erected on what was formerly a meadow. The 

 builder has removed all the turf and sold it to the nearest nursery- 

 man ; he has also taken off the top spit of precious loamy soil 

 and disposed of it to the mutual satisfaction of himself and the 

 said nurseryman, and then, in order to bring the ground back to 

 its proper level, he has filled it up with the clay and refuse that 

 have been taken out in making the foundations of the house. I 

 have no doubt many of my readers will agree that this is no fancy 

 picture or figment of the imagination, but fact as solid as the soil 

 they sometimes find in their suburban gardens. It ought to be 

 made a penal offence on the part of any builder to remove either 

 more turf than is absolutely necessary to find room for the founda- 

 tions of the house or the soil immediately beneath it, since this 

 is the loam of which the best borders are made. 



If this has been your fate, however, there is nothing to be done 



