IN THE FRONT YARD. 39 



and those more dwarfish in habit are placed at the front. 

 You have now come down to your walk. You can have 

 a patch of grass if you wish. You will probably have 

 two walks. Between them you can have grass or flow- 

 ers. 'Near the road will be the grassy lawn. Let this 

 be open unless you put in a Colorado Blue Spruce or a 

 White Spruce from your northern forests. If you have 

 trees on the roadway keep them trimmed up so the view 

 will not be obstructed. 



I should have a large bed of tulips near the house to 

 give their early spring cheer and the promise of summer 

 unfolding glory. These bloom and wither, but you can 

 plant alternate rows of phloxes, which the last of June 

 will commence their work. By this arrangement you 

 can stand in your porch and receive the smiles and the 

 salutations of this field of loveliness and in the afternoon 

 your tired wife can visit with the best dressed and most 

 fashionable and aristocratic company on earth — those 

 that never gossip, that do their utmost to please her, 

 that fairly worship her as a goddess with their sweet 

 incense. This plan unfolds the whole scene at a 

 glance and enables the passerby to see it also. A man 

 does not make all this outlay for himself alone. It is 

 for his friends and neighbors and that lovely scene will 

 silently preach the evangel of beauty to all that pass by. 

 One beautiful yard in a neighborhood would be an in- 

 spiration to a whole community. The time will come 

 when the tired farmer will take a half day off and spend 

 it i^rofitably in the grounds of his progressive neighbor. 



Flowers need not be confined to the front; there can 



