EDGING AND CARPETING PLANTS 279 



barberry, which is attractive the year round, and especially in 

 winter, by reason of its scarlet berries and the delicate tracery 

 of its branches. 



It would be an excess of refinement to furnish a perfect transi- 

 tion everywhere first tall bushes, then medium, and finally low 

 ones. Where every thing is delicate, we miss the robust and 

 virile. Tall trees seem taller when no bushes are allowed in front 

 of them. On the other hand, if all the lines in a landscape are 

 strong and rugged, we feel the need of a feminine touch. When 

 you go outdoors to-day, apply these principles to the front yards 

 that you see. Determine where you would sweep away the bushes 

 and where you would put them in. I believe that ordinarily you 

 will wish to put in ten shrubs for one that you pull out. The 

 showy yards of our proud cities may have a certain barbaric 

 splendour, but I think you will conclude that they usually lack 

 refinement and repose. If you can go to the country, study the 

 landscapes that seem most restful and soothing, notice the tran- 

 sitions that nature makes between wood and field the rounded, 

 billowy masses of sumach and the like. You will conclude that 

 restfulness is due to gently flowing lines and that the harsh right 

 angle between trees and grass is best hidden by shrubbery. 



EDGINGS FOR FORMAL GARDENS 



If edging plants are important on the lawn they are doubly 

 so in the garden, where we wish every foot of ground to do its best. 

 The most famous edging plant for gardens and formal flower beds 

 is box, and rightly so, because it is evergreen and breathes "the 

 fragrance of eternity." (See Chapter XV.) 



But in this case the purpose of the edging plant is not to 

 furnish a transition, for the edging is often taller than the flowers 



