18 ITHE LITTLE GARDEN 



flowers between the low terrace of the house and the same grass 

 oblong. This is a lesson in the beautiful use of a small piece of 

 ground. So much variety here, interest at every turn, yet such 

 charming relation of part to part and of all to the house in the 

 midst. The planting is full of good suggestion too; and concern- 

 ing this I am permitted to use some sentences of the garden's 

 mistress; these from letters of some years since, when the house 

 was new, the garden in process of planting. 



"For brevity let us say the house is exactly north, south, east 

 aaid west; that is, the street-side north, the terrace-side south, 

 etc. First, to complete the house, above the dining-room and 

 study is the living-room, seventeen by thirty feet, with eight 

 feet of balcony across the west end, and five diamond-paned 

 windows looking through the ash tree into the garden and be- 

 yond into the L and T gardens. The conception of the 



house is old English, because I think the small English cottage 

 house is the most charming of small houses. The balcony, again, 



looks into the green trees and lawns of the S estate. So, to 



start with, we have lovely vistas from the living-room, and also 

 from the south and west sides of the house. High fence and lilac 

 hedge shut off our neighbor on the east, and the bench on the 

 terrace is high at the back, that we may forget said neighbor's 

 kitchen-porch nearby. A high fence continues on the south line, 

 to make a background for our enclosed view from terrace and 

 study. What we have done so far is as follows: all the shrubs are 

 planted; the trees were there; the garden's brick walks are made; 

 but not the stepping-stones, or sundial, arches, garden-house, 

 etc. The feeling that they will not look at home until the green 

 backgrounds are a little higher has prevented our getting them. 

 As to flowers, the suggestion was made of planting iris on both 

 sides of the lawn, among lilac and spirea. One reason for this was 

 that I did not wish too much of a flower-garden that took ex- 



