SCHOOL AND HOME GROUNDS. 367 



should be a legitimate reason for a curve in a 

 drive. Sometimes there will exist naturally a 

 small hill, a clump of bushes, or a tree that will 

 afford a sufficient reason for turning aside. 

 Otherwise one can. make the curve seem natural 

 by planting shrubs or a tree. Whatever be the 

 device, it should be something permanent and 

 real; something that could not be easily de- 

 stroyed or removed. A flower bed would not 

 be a real obstruction ; it would offer no resist- 

 ance to passing wheels. Not only would it 

 be unsuitable on account of its trivial, transi- 

 tory nature, but upon grounds large enough 

 to require a road, a flower bed would be en- 

 tirely out of place in the foreground. The same 

 principle holds true in the construction of paths 

 as in the construction of drives. Paths and 

 drives are for utility, not for beauty; then with 

 that aim they should be made. 



A still more difficult problem than that of 

 \valks and drives must be met, and that is what 

 to plant and how to plant. This question ought 

 to be studied, for there are few places but what 

 could be improved by the judicious use of orna- 

 mental plants. Mrs. Van Rensselaer says: 

 " Two trees and six shrubs, a scrap of lawn, and 

 a dozen plants may form either a beautiful little 

 picture or a huddled disarray " of forms and 

 colors. Too often is found the "huddled dis- 

 array" instead of the beautiful picture. 



