Ill 



FITTING THE GARDEN TO THE HOUSE 



If the planting about one's house is to be to any degree 

 satisfying — a rare and blessed quality — ^it is of utmost impor- 

 tance that the house itself should be taken into consideration. 

 No woman, unless she be of unsound mind, buys a gown with- 

 out a thought of the size and complexion of the wearer, or of 

 the uses to which it is to be put; and, by the same token, no 

 gardener will plant his grounds without paying careful heed 

 to the house they are to adorn — ^what manner of house it is, 

 what its "complexion" (in the old sense of the word) and its 

 individual needs. A scheme of planting which may be ad- 

 mirable in relation to one house may prove quite "unbecom- 

 ing" to another. The gardening about an old farmhouse, even 

 if newly bought for a country home, should not be identical 

 with that adapted to a modern suburban home, any more 

 than a variety of milUnery appropriate enough for a young 

 society woman is precisely the right thing for a dear old Quaker 

 lady. Every house has some degree of individuality — ^if it 

 hasn't it ought to have it, or it must borrow it from its owner 

 — and the planting should be in keeping with it. 



All of which may seem apart from the "broad, practical 

 matters" of which we hear so much; but, more than any other 

 one cause, it is our present almost uniform custom of plant- 

 ing with a cheerful indifference to one's house and one's neigh- 

 bors which makes our American gardening, especially in the 



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