MISPLACED HEDGES., WINDBREAKS,, ETC. 



the notion that there can be a purely architecturally 

 handsome house is absurd. If a house is not built 

 to the place it stands on, and for that place, as well 

 as on that place, it is a humbug. It should have its 

 windows, its balconies, its verandas, and all sorts 

 of outlooks, adjusted to what can be seen and what 

 can be heard, all around, out of doors. Outdoors 

 and indoors should equally speak to each other. A 

 professional architect seldom has the slightest con- 

 ception of this need. He thinks only of the house ; 

 and it would be the same -house if he planned it to 

 stand somewhere else. But never should two houses 

 be built exactly alike, because no two places are 

 exactly alike where houses should stand. If you are 

 going to plant hedges and other beautiful surround- 

 ings, do so in conjunction with and in relation to the 

 house. A house should grow out of its position as 

 much as the trees and the hedges do. 



Nor will I speak of hedges in another way, as 

 something that must be had, "you know," as a sort 

 of conventional necessity. They are to be, and must 

 be got in somehow. The result is a lot of green 

 walls in the way, and every one of which ought to 

 be dug out and burned. A right sort of hedge is a 

 necessity; a wrong sort of hedge is about as bad a 

 thing as a man can own. The right hedge ought to 

 be; and it ought to be right there where it is. So 

 you have first to study your place, to comprehend it, 

 to take in all its possibilities, and plant accordingly. 

 Nature generously gives you a hint here and there, 

 if you are a teachable pupil. "Do you not see/' she 

 says, "that a drive could come easily up that swale, 

 or around that knoll, and how thoroughly graceful 



