THE PLAN 11 



green growth whieli shall encu:cle the lot — shall make it into 

 that garth, or enclosed spot, which gives the word garden its old 

 first meaning. " A garden is a man-made, bounded outdoor area, 

 containing plants." If your plan is formal, this line may be a 

 trinmied green hedge; if informal, a lightly overhanging one of 

 taller or lower shrubs. But a border there must be, a line of 

 enclosing green; and within that Une all garden practices will 

 thrive the better for the protection from four-foot and two-foot, 

 — the running boy, — and especially for protection from the too 

 curious eye. Be it remembered always, that the garden belongs, 

 first of all, to him or her who owns it and makes it; it is that man 

 or woman who should be first considered in thinking of all plans. 

 The owner's own taste and desires in gardens are the things that 

 matter. That taste needs to be led, it needs direction still, and 

 wiU for many years to come, untU everyone shall have secured 

 a little knowledge, at least, of the principles with which we are 

 concerned in this matter of garden design. 



Since the garden (and now we shall consider under that name 

 only that part of the lot back of the house) is, as it is constantly 

 called, an out-of-door room, we must first look upon it ia its con- 

 nection with the house. The main axis of the whole plan at the 

 back should be determined upon before anything else is thought 

 of; an important doorway or other opening at the back of the 

 house is usually the point to determine this; and upon the 

 straight line from this doorway to the far end of the property the 

 whole thing must hinge. The ways of varying such a plan are 

 countless : beautiful rectangles may be made on the very smallest 

 bit of ground; squares symmetrically arranged, and bound to- 

 gether by a central walk or little cross-walks, I have ia mind now 

 a little garden that really had no house-door from which to take 

 its cue for walks and general plan at the back; but a good window 

 gave upon the little property, which, amounting to sixty-two feet 



