CHAPTER VIII 
BORDERS FOR A SMALL PLACE 
FLOWER beds, that exhaust the possibilities of 
geometrical design and then wander off into all 
manner of devious paths, are well enough in their 
place. They are necessary, within decent bounds, 
to the rigid formality of the partere. And there is 
a theory, which may or may not be tenable, on the 
part of park superintendents that such plantings, 
even when turned into living signs and like freaks, 
are one of a municipality’s horticultural duties to 
the public. 
Unless there is a parterre grouping, the home is 
better off without flower beds in the accepted sense. 
Stuck—there is no other word that fits—in the 
lawn they are always out of place and very fre- 
quently are nothing short of atrocious. Then, in 
their set gaudiness, they remind one of what Bacon 
said of lawn designs of colored earth: ‘You may 
see as good Sights, many times, in Tarts.” 
Flowers for the edge of the lawn, but the stretch 
of sward itself unbroken save by suitable planting 
of trees or shrubbery, or both, is a good rule that 
does not have to be qualified other than to admit 
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