i8o OLD-FASHIONED GARDENING 



Back of this wall might lie the precise and regular 

 garden of a Dutchman, or the long simple flat lines 

 that bespoke the Quaker; or the happen-so of planting 

 which prevailed in New England. But in any event 

 there was the wall, six to nine feet high; and straight 

 around the domain it went, from house comer at one 

 side to house comer at the other, the house itself com- 

 pleting the defense. 



Looking back to-day, with our suburban acres of 

 barren open "front lawns," and our gardenless settle- 

 ments for comparison, I am impelled to the belief that 

 this wall was the chief factor in the charm of the 

 smaller old, old gardens. Not every one will agree 

 with me ; and of many who agree, few will wish to risk 

 the criticism which such innovation and implied re- 

 serve, in the midst of to-day's suburban frankness, 

 would subject them to. But for those who dare, the 

 reward within the walls is great and sure, and not long 

 deferred. 



Whether it is better to employ the old garden as 

 only a suggestion for the new, or whether it shall serve 

 as a model, to be duplicated with faithful exactness, 

 is a question into the solution of which many consider- 

 ations will enter. There is no reason against repro- 

 ducing an old design, providing every phase of it re- 

 ceives proper attention and no anachronism is per- 

 mitted. An old garden design built around a modem 



