246 IMPROVING HOME AND SCHOOL YARDS 



not lend beauty to our surroundings, and our work will 

 be entirely lost. Do not make a very complex plan. A 

 simple one, with few details, is much better. 



Natural Features Many places have some natural 

 features that aid in the work of beautifying them. A 

 clump of trees, a small hill, a stream of water, or a pond, 

 found on the place, should be used in the plan you make. 

 Do not try to get rid of such things, but lay out a plan 

 that will use them to the best advantage. 



FIG. 148. A problem in landscape gardening. 



The House the Important Part. The house should 

 usually be the most important part of the plan. It need 

 not be in the middle of the lot, but other things should be 

 so grouped about it as to set it off. So often we see a 

 house rising boldly from the center of a yard, with no 

 adornment whatever. Here we see such a house in all 

 its loneliness. It 'looks cheerless, and no amount of 

 money spent on it will make it look homelike, unless the 



