CHAPTER XII 

 POSSIBILITIES OF THE FUTURE 



A" THOUGH we have, as yet, no gardens com- 

 parable to the best in England, Italy, or 

 France, and though in the matter of small 

 gardens we are also woefully behind the possibilities, 

 yet we are steadily doing better. Bacon said that 

 "men come to build stately sooner than to garden 

 finely, as if gardening were the greater perfection." 

 At the time he wrote, America was a wilderness. 

 During the centuries following, she has built stately 

 in more ways than one ; now the time approaches 

 when she should garden finely. Fortunately, signs 

 are plentiful that she has begun so to do. 



The growing tendency to live in the country, and at 

 least to spend longer and longer vacations there when 

 city life for a part of the year seems imperative, has 

 been frequently remarked upon during the past few 

 years. The automobile is supposed to be partly ac- 

 countable, making it easy for persons to spend a large 

 portion of each day in town, and the rest on their 

 country places ; and rapid transit of one sort and an- 



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