CHAPTER 41 



Beautifying home Grounds 



By A. W. Cowell 

 In charge of Landscape Gardening, The Pennsylvania State College 



How ridiculous would be the man who proceeded to build his house by 

 first buying up a lot of lumber, bricks, pipes and paint, and then going 

 ahead to put them together without first having a very definite working 

 plan! Too often that is the way the home surroundings are arranged and 

 ornamented — and don't they appear so? Whether of houses or homes, 

 which is a broader term and includes the house and all its immediate 

 surroundings, it is essential to good results to have a definite working plan 

 and stick to it. If you cannot plan it yourself, you will save time and money 

 by obtaining expert advice. 



The Survey. — To make such a plan for the grounds, first measure up 

 the boundaries of the area and note all the features contained therein, 

 including buildings, standing trees with their approximate spread, steep 

 banks, rocks, swampy places and other natural features, besides roads and 

 walks. Next, indicate the fine views and the views of undesirable character 

 that should be eliminated. This accomplished, you are ready to plan 

 changes and alterations and record your desires and ideals. Using an 

 ordinary foot ruler, adopt an eighth or a sixteenth of an inch to represent a 

 foot of your actual measurements and thus accurately draw on paper the 

 survey you have made. Draw the new scheme on the same scale. It is 

 likely that practical and ornamental considerations will be thought of 

 together in this way. This study of the place as a whole should aim at a 

 systematic arrangement, an effective appearance, and provide for conve- 

 nience and comfort. Beautification should start back in the practical first 

 arrangement of buildings, roads, paths, windbreaks and screens, and not 

 be confined to the little patch of ornamented front lawn. 



Planning for Convenience. — Speaking of the farmhouse, one located 

 upon the north side of an east and west public road will most nearly 

 approach the ideal in matters of arrangement of parts. The house should 

 stand not less than 150 nor more than 400 feet from the road, somewhere 

 near the center of the farm lands; for all operations begin and end at the 

 house, and it should, therefore, be most conveniently centered. It should 

 face the south. Behind it at a distance of about 150 feet, or less, if fire 

 hazard is minimized, may stand the barns and other service buildings 

 arranged perhaps most conveniently for work around a hollow square or 



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