A TALK ON GARDENS. Ill 



the better of me and I became a trespasser. I saw a perfect 

 picture of domestic and happy life on modest means, a problem 

 which many fail to solve. The house was placed on one side of 

 the lot, thus giving all the available space that was possible for a 

 lawn, and doing away with those small and detached pieces of 

 ground which are so hard to treat harmoniously. A gracefully 

 curving path led to the front door, and between the boundary and 

 the path was a plantation of flowering shrubs. The treatment of 

 the rest of the ground was simply that of lawn framed with 

 masses of shrubs, with perennials blooming in the margin of the 

 shrub beds, while a few ornamental trees were so planted as to 

 give shade to the path, and to the most desirable portions of the 

 lawn. The house was of brick and sufficiently clothed with vines 

 to I'elieve it from that bareness so often noticed with our houses. 

 Projecting from the south side appeared a tiny conservatory with 

 open windows filled with flowers, from the midst of which a 

 canary was bidding his nightly adieu to all the world, as the sun 

 began to sink with golden splendor towards the horizon. On the 

 lawn, a man in his shirt sleeves, evidently having just finished a 

 turn with the lawn mower, was sitting down to supper with his 

 wife, two children, and a dog about him. A feeling of content- 

 ment was around the place, and was as pleasing to the mind as 

 was the fragrant bloom of the flowers to the nose and eyes. 



There is little danger of the gardens of the wealthy being 

 neglected, although their designs are not always in good taste. It 

 is, however, of great importance to the advancement of gardening 

 that art should be displayed in those that are most numerous and 

 most often seen. These are the small places, and what a lack of 

 art we show in most of these in this country I 



The oft repeated remark that " my place is too small to land- 

 scape " has some truth in it, as Landscape proper must have space 

 in which to lose its lines in the hazy distance. But no place with 

 a few feet of ground is so small but that it can be made useful, 

 attractive, and pleasure giving. 



How often we see a house standing in the centre of a lot, with 

 neither tree, vine, nor shrub anywhere about it, nor any percep- 

 tible boundary to indicate that both house and grounds do not 

 belong to the public highway. The only "ornamentation" to be 

 seen is perhaps an old iron pot, burned through at the bottom, 

 supported on three sticks, painted some brilliant color, and filled 



