THE SELECTION OF HOME GROUNDS 3 



peaceful buoyancy that comes only with the presence 

 around one of abundance of open space and sky and 

 air. In deference to the necessity for the presence of 

 these essential qualities of breadth and repose, ordinary 

 trees, and even parts of the house, may have to be left 

 out. Perfect scale and proportion are essential on all 

 home grounds, and low, compact trees, like the Japanese 

 maple polymorphum, and the white birch and dogwood, 

 may be associated with low shrubs like Rhodotypus ker- 

 rioides and symphoricarpus, and with vines like Rosa 

 setigera or R. wichuriana, giving the effect of a fine 

 miniature lawn picture where breadth and simplicity will 

 still reign in the open stretches of turf. The frame 

 of the picture, the softening of the angles and bare sur- 

 faces of the house with vines, may be made delightful on 

 the smallest place by the use of moderate-sized trees 

 and shrubs and herbaceous plants and vines. 



To obtain and retain simplicity and breadth, it is well 

 to use a small number of kinds of plants, and to dispose 

 them in borders with slightly curving outlines. Deep 

 bays and recesses of shrubbery, on a small place, may 

 produce an affected and sophisticated, or complicated 

 and confused result, entirely destructive of all sugges- 

 tions of simplicity. 



It is needless to point out that in considering the 

 wants of a country place, small or large, one must first 

 think whether the necessities for comfort and conve- 

 nience are properly provided for. Room of a suitable 

 character should be secured for vegetable garden, flower 

 garden, stables, chicken yard, and easy turns for wagons, 

 so that the whole establishment can be run smoothly. 

 Trees, rocks, hills, and hollows, on many tracts, group 

 themselves in such a way as to make it evident to the 



