TERRACES AND THEIR TREATMENT 



stones of irregular shape are used, according 

 to the style of the house. 



Our own house, built before the War of the 

 Revolution, which has only small porches at 

 the entrances, has a simple terrace laid in old 

 brick in herring-bone pattern. Circular open- 

 ings surround the bases of the locust trees 

 which grow near the house, and in these 

 spaces the earth is covered with periwinkle — 

 blue in April and May with its starry flowers, 

 and green-leaved all the year. The evergreen 

 vine, Euonymus radicans, is planted around 

 the trees, and, clinging to the beautiful rough 

 bark of the locusts, climbs far up among their 

 branches. It is entirely hardy in the severest 

 winters, and in March bravely sends forth 

 tender new leaves to herald the spring. Both 

 the lovely periwinkle and the euonymus are a 

 delight during every month of the year. 



Should the ground fall away rapidly from 

 the house, there must, of necessity, be either 

 a bank of turf or a retaining-wall of stone, 

 brick or otherwise. The bank of green turf is, 



153 



