28 Villa Gardens 



Don't plant them too close to the house 

 walls, where the soil is invariably dried by 

 contact with the brickwork, but let their 

 stems arch out from the wall to the ground, 

 to a distance sufificient to bring their roots 

 well into the damp soil. A foot to eighteen 

 inches will usually be sufficient for the purpose. 

 It is most important with the climbing roses, 

 which will never do their best if this precaution 

 be neglected. 



In the front garden — in most cases, alas, a 

 small affair — the planting is a simple matter, 

 but it is surprising how few succeed in getting 

 even a passably good general effect. The 

 tendency is to overplant, particularly with such 

 uninteresting shrubs as laurels. 



A common mistake is to grow a high privet 

 hedge on the hither side of the paling, some- 

 times for considerations of privacy, and some- 

 times "to keep out the dust." The one motive 

 I can understand, but I consider the result 

 dearly bought at the price of so dismal an 

 expanse of monotonous leafage ; whilst, as to 

 question of dust, these hedges do undoubtedly 



