CHAPTER XX 



THE COUNTRY BEAUTIFUL 



The country's fine art. One source of genuine happiness 

 in human life is to be able to create or appreciate some work 

 of art. We have usually thought that music, painting, litera- 

 ture, architecture, etc., were the only fine arts, and that these 

 at their best were not within reach of country people. Not 

 only are these fine arts becoming available to country people, 

 but the revived art of landscape gardening, coming with the 

 development of agriculture, makes possible the use and appre- 

 ciation of one of the finest of fine arts by the people of the 

 open country. 



Beautifying- home and sjchool grounds. There are a few 

 rules agreed upon by landscape artists which will guide begin- 

 ners to use good taste in planting home and school grounds. 

 These may be called the A, B, C's of landscape gardening. 



A. An open greensward in front of the house. 



B. Borders and backgrounds massed with trees and shrubs. 



C. Curved lines in walks, arrangement of trees, shrub 

 masses, flower groups, and the planting of foundations. 



Under A we must avoid cluttering up the green lawn with 

 flower beds, sheared shrubs, and other artificial affairs. A 

 single tree beautiful in itself is not objectionable on the 

 lawn. 



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