HOW TO ARRANGE COUNTRY PLACES. 169 



the vegetables, and all tliat makes the utility of the kitchen garden, 

 never harmonize with the more graceful forms of ornamental scene- 

 ry. Hence, the kitchen garden, in a complete country place, should 

 always form a scene by itself, and should, also, be shut out from 

 the lawn or ornamental grounds by plantations of trees and shrubs. 

 A good locality, as regards soil, is an important point to be consi- 

 dered in determining its site ; and it will usually adjoin the space 

 given to the kitchen offices, or that near the stable or barns, or, perhaps 

 lie between both, so that it also is kept on the blind side of the house. 



After having disposed of the useful and indispensable portions 

 of the place, by placing them in the spots at once best fitted for 

 them, and least interfering with the convenience and beauty of the 

 remaining portions, let us now turn to what may properly be called 

 the ornamental portion of the place. 



This may be confined to a mere bit of lawn, extending a few 

 feet in front of the parlor windows, or it may cover a number of 

 acres, according to the extent of the place, and the taste and means 

 of the owner. 



Be that as it may, the groundwork of this part should, in our 

 judgment, always be lawn. There is in the country no object which 

 at all seasons and times gives the constant satisfaction of the green 

 turf of a nicely kept lawn. If your place is large, so much larger 

 and broader is the good effect of the lawn, as it stretches away, over 

 gentle undulations, alternately smiling and looking serious, in the 

 play of sunshine and shade that rests upon it. If it is small a 

 mere bit of green turf before your door then it forms the best and 

 most becoming setting to the small beds and masses of ever-bloom- 

 ing roses, verbenas, and gay annuals, with which you embroider it, 

 like a carpet. 



Lawn there must be, to give any refreshment to the spirit of 

 man in our country places ; for nothing is so intolerable to the eye 

 as great flower-gardens of parched earth, lying half baked in the 

 meridian sun of an American summer. And though no nation 

 under the sun may have such lawns as the British, because Britain 

 lies in the lap of the sea, with a climate always more or less humid, 

 yet green and pleasant lawns most persons may have in the Northern 

 States, who will make the soil deep and keep the grass well mown. 



