66 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



marked, as by fences, hedges or continuous lines of shrubbery, 

 tree foHage, carpentry or masonry; or they may be only sketchily 

 suggested in ways too subtle to be described in words. 



Just as it is true in a general way of the home grounds as a whole 

 that they cannot be thoroughly agreeable if they have not a certain 

 harmony and unity of character, so it is true that each of these sub- 

 di\asions should be even more closely self-consistent in character. 

 That is to say, on the practical side, it is desirable to keep con- 

 flicting vises in separate divisions; to arrange for the handling of 

 garbage, ashes and household supplies in a distinct and separate 

 compartment of the lot from the holding of garden parties. And on 

 the side of artistic and harmonious composition it is desirable that 

 all the necessary and the decorative features of the grounds should 

 reinforce each other by suggesting to the eye the same system of 

 subdi^^sion. If the shape of the ground and the arrangement of 

 the masses or lines of tall foliage suggest strongly to the eye the 

 diATsion of a given front yard into two units one lying to the west 

 and the other to the east, and if at the same time, the northerly half 

 of both spaces is used for one purpose and treated as to details of 

 decoration and maintenance in one style and the southerly half of 

 both divisions is used for another purpose and treated in another 

 style, it must be obvious that the appearance will be confused, 

 perplexing, and disorderly. Z\ow while such an extreme case 

 might be easy enough to avoid, it is evident from the examples 

 all about us that the principle here so grossly violated is in a less 

 striking but equally mischievous way very generally violated. What 

 most frequently happens is that there is so much conflict and con- 

 fusion that no recognizable units are suggested at all and the place 

 is a mere patchwork of more or less agreeable details. The sim- 

 plest way to guard against such a result is to choose deliberately the 

 main subdivisions to be recognized in the grounds, to see that their 

 boundaries are unmistakably indicated or suggested, in placing 

 every utilitarian and decorative object that does not form in effect 

 a part of one of the boundaries, and to have the question always in 

 mind "Will this thing, so placed, strengthen or weaken the unity 

 of the space in which it occurs and the character which already 

 belongs to the unit ?" 



In planting, a point frequently overlooked is that objects less 



