8 YARD AND GAEDEN 



of the pursuit is not alone sufficient to account 

 for this. In addition to exercising that uni- 

 versally instinctive desire to raise things, to 

 see them grow and thrive on the care and 

 attention one bestows on them, no field of en- 

 deavor, as has already been suggested, prom- 

 ises a broader scope for the expression of an 

 individual's taste, temper and aspirations. 

 We seek to have the houses we build express 

 something of our own personality, but, were we 

 only aware of it, the yard presents a far more 

 favorable field for such effort. Who can not, 

 for instance, judge of the intellectual and moral, 

 as well as of the sanitary status of a community, 

 of a neighborhood, or of the owner of a private 

 dwelling by its external conditions ? 



Nothing can be more incongruous than the 

 littered back-yard of an imposing city resi- 

 dence. Within dwell persons who are fond of 

 comfort, if not of luxury, intelligent and edu- 

 cated, and it seems wholly impossible that they 

 would not avail themselves of the opportunity 

 to add so much enjoyment for themselves and 

 for others by improving the ground at their 

 disposal, instead of making it a place for the 

 deposit of old barrels, boxes, tin cans, and other 

 rubbish. The only possible argument against 



