THE GARDEN IN TOWN 



at the ends against the fence, and a hammock swung from 

 the overhead beams. Japanese screens, drawn down a bit 

 from the top, would give complete protection. From this 

 vantage-point a very simple garden would appear charming. 

 It would be a tempting place for sewing or reading or after- 

 noon tea, for it is the lack of overhead screening that robs the 

 city garden of its privacy. And if the family cared not to 

 use it, what a boon and lure to the servant, this out-of-door 

 sitting-room ! 



The aU-summer sojourner who likes to work in his garden 

 would have his cold-frame, which is to a gardener as a 

 nursery to a mother of a family; also a tiny workshop of 

 good design at the end of a garden-path, where of a rainy 

 Sunday he might work at his potting-bench in peace and com- 

 fort. Such a one would devote his whole garden space to 

 flowers, outlining the beds in box for the sake of their winter 

 aspect. 



As for the arrangement, that is a matter of individual 

 taste; but because the garden is small, because its shape is so 

 plainly visible, it is specially necessary that the scale be right 

 and the proportions good. "Naturalistic planting," as it is 

 called, is unsafe to attempt on so small an area. It is futile 

 to attempt disguising boundaries so plainly obvious. Shrubs 

 must go against the walls and at the back, except the few that 

 may be used for the purpose of definite accent. Set elsewhere, 

 they make the garden seem inconveniently small. The out- 

 line of the beds may be as simple or as intricate as one likes. 

 The geometrical designs of the older gardening are interesting, 

 or one may keep the traditional centre of grass, and fit his 

 flower-beds about it; but the usual grass oblong is too large 

 and out of scale, unless the paths are omitted and the turf 

 stretched uninterrupted to the flower-beds, while, instead of 



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