2 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND 



stiffly designed flower beds, looking for all the 

 world like a patch-quilt for keeping Nature 

 covered up. Instead, great banks of Phlox, 

 clumps of Peonies, trellises of Sweet Peas, and 

 banks of Nasturtiums hold almost riotous sway- 

 over the domain that stretches from doorstep 

 to the gate, which seems always swinging open 

 to welcome you to the wonderland it gives ac- 

 cess to. When you see the gorgeous blaze of 

 wonderful color before you, as though all the 

 gems of Aladdin's command had been strewn 

 by careless but generous hand just there, you 

 will rub your eyes to make sure you are not 

 dreaming; that this little paradise is real, after 

 all. Whatever notions you may have enter- 

 tained about stiff borders, symmetrical edges 

 and formal garden lay-outs wiU vanish utterly 

 under the spell this garden casts around one, 

 and you will find that it can teach you more in 

 an hour than many another has taught you in 

 a season. 



A few years ago — fifty if you will — ^we were 

 all imagining that we had no history; to-day 

 we realize we have made a great deal. We 

 cannot whirl through the countryside and catch 

 a gh'mpse of some old house, landmark of our 



