THE MISSION OF THE VINE 



HERE is so much in modern life that con- 

 duces to ugliness in our surroundings ! If you 

 do not believe this, think of the way in which 

 we depend upon the telephone in every de- 

 partment of life. The business, the house- 

 hold, even the social machinery must use the telephone — 

 and — then — think of the poles! 



There must be stables to house the horses and the car- 

 riages of the well-to-do, yet every architect knows that it is 

 a difficult matter to place artistic and appropriate outbuild- 

 ings on the same grounds with the palatial residence and 

 not have them seem obtrusive. In the small city home the 

 back fence and the sheds of our neighbors are often a serious 

 blot on the landscape, and the sensitive eye is offended daily 

 by some bleak, bare "necessary evil" in our surroundings 

 because of somebody's convenience being dependent thereon. 

 I am often delighted to see how some simple quick-growing 

 vine is used to screen off such disagreeable objects and only 

 wonder that more home-makers do not try to cover up more 

 of the ugliness about them in this way. 



When vines are to be trained upon a house the variety 

 is sometimes an important consideration. While in the 

 Eastern States much objection may be rightly raised to vines 



[68] 



