6 THE LITTLE GARDEN 



against the line, a wall of green, raised as quickly as may be, is 

 my suggestion. And by a wall of green I mean, perhaps, a row of 

 slender trees like Lombardy poplars, planted, say, five feet apart, 

 their roots kept within bounds by dropping two boards on edge, 

 one above the other two feet from the trunk of the trees. I know 

 well that the Lombardy poplar has its failings as a tree. Its roots 

 are troublesome, it is not long-lived; but planted in spring, as 

 it must always be, it grows quickly, it has a splendid beauty of 

 its own, and it is the best quick-growing tall screen obtainable, 

 so far as I know; its disadvantages must be looked out for, but 

 this can be done. If the object to be got rid of is a long, low one, 

 then a hne of bush honeysuckle, Lonicera tatarica hella albida, 

 may be used; it can be clipped on the side toward the garden, 

 and at the top, too; and there are always the creepers to remem- 

 ber and use as screens — wild grape, which will climb anywhere, 

 and other quick-^growing things. It is an illustration of the value 

 and beauty of principle in gardening that such things as the 

 above, done for one purpose, — that of shutting out ugliness, — 

 at once become the needed stepping-stone to something else. In 

 this case it is the backgroimd that they imconsciously furnish. 

 It is this enchanting double use of every living thing in garden- 

 ing, its many-sided use, which bursts upon one often in moments 

 of garden discouragement, and gives one that sense of insight 

 and of hope which is one of the garden's gifts to its owner. 



Before any planting at all is considered for the small place, we 

 must consider what is there; and after objectionable objects are 

 shut away by plans for screens of f ohage, we then have that price- 

 less thing, a background of green, against which may shine forth 

 later the forms and colors of the lesser and more decorative 

 planting. 



Some years ago I owned a lot in a manufacturing district. The 

 first move made was to fence in the whole space, forty by one 



