14 HOW TO PLAN THE HOME GROUNDS 



nothing in this climate will screen completely except 

 evergreen conifers such as pines and hemlocks, ever- 

 green shrubs having too low and slow a growth; and 

 even they cannot be always depended on to last many 

 years before decadence and disaster are likely to occur. 

 The climate of America is not, evidently, altogether 

 favorable to evergreens. 



So far as the practical features of the house or its 

 arrangements go, there is chance for variety, but within 

 certain well-defined limits. Definite ends must be sought 

 and sure results be obtained. 



In considering the practical relations of the site of 

 the house with other features of the place, we should 

 naturally take into account the location of the stable and 

 other outbuildings. There are two ways of looking at 

 the location of the stables. They may be either within 

 fifty or one hundred feet, and it is an old English custom, 

 which is followed with good effect even in these days, 

 to build the house and stables in the same inclosure, so 

 that the roofs are continuous ; or the stable may be set 

 hundreds of feet away, screened by large trees and 

 shrubs, on the theory that many things necessarily per- 

 taining to such places would not be agreeable too near 

 the dwelling. At the same time, there is no doubt that 

 a stable can be so well kept as to be almost inoffensive 

 near the house, while, on the other hand, there are 

 many advantages in keeping the stable at a distance, 

 which can be the more readily done in these days of tel- 

 ephones, megaphones, etc. Wherever the stables are, 

 and however much we may endeavor to screen them with 

 trees and shrubs, it will be found a good plan to build 

 wire or wooden lattice-work close to the building, and to 

 cover it with vines so as to embower it more completely 



