PRACTICAL BOOK OF GARDEN ARCHITECTURE 



driveways about the house; the ancient mill was suffi- 

 ciently remodelled to preserve it without marring its 

 quaint old-fashioned outlines ; the natural growth of 

 fine old trees, with stream borders of briers, water- 

 elders, and other native shrubbery, has remained' 

 undisturbed since the property came into other 

 hands except for the narrow clearing for winding 

 walks leading down to the stream. 



No attempt at artificial planting or showy bridg- 

 ing of the stream has been allowed to spoil its wild 

 beauty; only the natural wild flowers outline its 

 shore, the hardy ferns and mosses cling to its steep 

 banks, the sturdy milkweed nods its swaying bloom 

 branches above its own showy reflection, and opens 

 its brown pods to scatter its fluff- winged seeds upon 

 the waters in the autumn; while the trailing par- 

 tridge vine, with its small red berries and ever- 

 green foliage, beautifies the spot throughout the 

 winter. Eough logs support the wooden bridge, and 

 plain wooden railings outline both driveway and 

 bridge leading to the old mill and a natural bog 

 garden in the hollow beyond. 



Another section of the same stream was so shal- 

 low in dry seasons that it frequently dried away to 

 an ugly expanse of mud in midsummer, and so was? 

 deepened by the construction of a dam of ornamental 

 stone-work. A broad stone wall reaches out from 



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