May 



iSSS.] 



Garden and Forest. 



1 1 1 



in forest. These river-swamps, too, will always be pro- 

 tected from fire by the moisture of the soil. Our store of 

 liquidambar, therefore, will not be very soon extermi- 

 nated probably, and, if cut judiciously, will supply the 

 demand of furniture manufacturers for a long time to 

 come. 



Few people, probably, realize the extent of the planta- 

 tions of American Grape-vines which have been made in 

 Europe since the discovery that they have sufficient 

 vigor to survive the attacks of the Phylloxera, and there- 

 fore make the best stocks upon which to work the different 

 wine-grapes in regions affected by this pest. From a re- 

 cent issue of the Revue Horticole it appears that in the year 

 1881 about 22,000 acres were plantedin France with Ameri- 

 can Grapes, while in 1SS7 not less than 416,000 acres were 

 planted, the total acreage for these se\'en years amounting 

 to 1,200,000 acres. These figures give an idea of the im- 

 mense damage the Phylloxera has inflicted upon French 

 agriculture. 



Plan for a Small Homestead. 



Conditions and Requirements. — The site is upon the south 

 face of a bluff, the surface of which is so steep that the rectan- 

 gular street system of the city, to tlie east and south, had not 

 been extended over it. The diagonal streets, il/and N, have 

 been lately introduced and building lots laid off on them, as 

 shown in Figure i. The triangular space between L and At 

 Streets is a public property containing the graves of some of 

 the first settlers of the region. Its northern and western parts 

 are rocky and partly covered by a growth of native Thorns 

 and Junipers, east of which there are Willows and other planted 

 trees. At A there is a meeting-house and parsonage. Arabic 

 figures show elevations above city datum. 



The lot to be improved is that marked IX. The usual con- 

 veniences of a suburban cottage home are required, and it is 

 desired that it should be made more than usually easy and 

 convenient for members of the household, one of whom is a 

 chronic invalid, to sit much and be cheerfully occupied in out- 

 of-door air and sunlight. A small fruit and vegetable garden 

 is wanted and a stable for a single horse and a cow, with car- 

 riage room and lodgings for a man. Water for the house, 

 garden and stable is to be supplied by pipes. There is a sewer 

 in J/ Street. 



The problem is to meet the requirements thus stated so snugly 

 that the labor of one man will be sufficient, under ordinary 

 circumstances, to keep the place in good order and provide 

 such gratification of taste as with good gardening manage- 

 ment the circumstances will allow. 



The north-west corner of the lot is 21 feet higher than the 

 south-east corner, the slope being- steeper in the upper and 

 lower parts than in the middle. There is a small outcrop of a 

 ledge of limestone about 30 feet from the south end, and the 

 ground near it is rugged and somewhat gullied. M Street, 

 which has a rapid descent to the eastward, opposite the lot, was 

 brought to its grade by an excavation on the north side and by 

 banking out on its south side the bank being supported by a 



retaining wall. The excavation has left a raw bank two to five 

 feet high on the street face of the lot. 



Looking from the middle part of the lot over the roof of the 

 parsonage a glimpse is had of a river, beyond which, in low 

 bottom land, there is a body of timber, chiefly Cottonwood, 

 over which, miles away, low, pastured hills appear in pleasing 

 undulations. 



The narrower frontage of lot IX, its irregular outlines, its 

 steepness, its crumpled surface, the raw, caving bank of its 

 street face and its apparent rockiness and barrenness, had made 

 it slower of sale than any other on the hill streets, and it was, 

 accordingly, bought at so low a price by its present owner that 

 he is not unwilling to pay liberally for improvements that will 

 give him such accommodations upon it as he calls for. From 

 the adjoining lots and those higher up the hill to the north the 

 view which has been referred to, over the roof of the parson- 

 age, is liable to be curtained off by trees to grow, or houses to 

 be built, on the south side of them. Either this liability has 

 been overlooked or the view has been considered of little value 

 by those who have bought them. " Most people," says the 

 owner of lot IX, "find their love of Nature most gratified when 

 they have a trim lawn and a display of flowers and delicacies 

 of vegetation upon it in front of their houses. I find Nature 

 touches me most when I see it in a large way ; in a way that 

 gives me a sense of its infinitude. I like to see a natural 

 horizon against the sky, and I think that the advantage we shall 

 have here in that respect will fully compensate us for the want 

 of a fine lawn-hke front, provided the place can be made rea- 

 sonably convenient." Fortunately his wife is essentially like- 

 niincied. "I am a Western woman," she says, "and would 

 not like to live in a place that I could not see out of without 

 looking into the windows of my neighbors." 



Controlling Landscape Considerations. — The only valuable 

 landscape resource of tiie property lies in the distant view east- 

 \\'ard from it. Looking at this fronr tlie house place, it can 

 evidently be improved by placing in its foreground a bodv ot 

 vigorous, dark foliage, in contrast with which the light gray and 

 yellowish greens of the woods of the river bottom will appear 

 of a more delicate and tender quality, and the grassy hills be- 

 yond more mysteriously indistinct, far away, unsutistantial 

 and dreamy. Such a foreground can be formed within the 

 limits of lot IX, and, strictly speaking, the forming of it will be 

 the only landscape improvement that can be made on the 

 place. It is, however, to be considered, that when the middle 

 of the lot is occupied by a house but small and detached spaces 

 will remain to be furnished with verdure or foliage, and that any- 

 thing to be put upon these spaces will come under direct and 

 close scrutiny. Hence nothing should be planted in them that 

 during a severe drought or an intense winter or in any other 

 proljable contingency is likely to become more than momen- 

 tarily shabby. Further, it is to be considered, that when the 

 eye is withdrawn from a scene the charm of which lies in its 

 extent and the softness and indefiniteness, through distance, of 

 its detail, the natural beauty in which the most pleasure is 

 likely to be taken will be of a somewhat complementary or 

 antithetical character. But to secure such beauty it is not 

 necessary to provide a series of objects the interest of which 

 will lie in features and details to be seen separately, and which 

 would be most enjoyed if each was placed on a separate pedes- 

 tal, with others near it of contrasting qualities of detail, each on 

 its own separate pedestal. It may be accomplished by so bring- 

 ing together materials of varied graceful forms and pleasing- 

 tints that they will intimately mingle, and this with such intricate 

 play of light and shade, that, though the whole body of them 

 is imder close observation, the eye is not drawn to dwell upon, 

 nor the mind to Ije occupied, with details. In a small place much 

 cut up, as this must be, a comparative subordination, even to 

 obscurit)', of details, occurring as thus proposed, and not as an 

 eftect of distance, is much more conducive to a C|uiescent and 

 cheerfully musing state of mind than the presentation of ob- 

 jects of specific admiration. 



Anatomical Plan. — The important common rooms of the 

 family and the best chambers are to be on the southern side of 

 the house, in order that the view over the river, the south- 

 western breeze and the western twilight, may be enjoyed from 

 their windows. (See figure 2.) It follows that the kitchen and 

 the main entrance door to the house are to be on its north and 

 east sides. Were it not for excessive steepness, the best ap- 

 proach to the house would be on a nearly straight course be- 

 tween its east side and the nearest point on yl/Street — i. e., the 

 south-east corner of the lot ; this partly because it would be 

 least costly and most convenient, and partly because it would 

 make the smallest disturbance of the space immeiliatcly before 

 the more important windows of the house. But to get an ap- 

 proach of the least practicable steepness the place will be entered 



