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florists; but more artistic ability is required to plan annuals beautifully than is 

 necessary to use the hardy perennials properly, and in this country it is rarely 

 well done. Nevertheless, in a small space it is possible to use annuals with better 

 eflEect than perennials. If flower beds can be made suificiently wide, and if the 

 perennials are closely grouped, it is still possible to use a few perennials and at 

 the same time reduce the item of care. There are, in back yards, no interesting 

 assets to build upon, and one must, "out of whole cloth," create a garden. It 

 may be very Uke a room, or a very formal one, or merely a trim and orderly one. 

 It may be dressed with flowers or with apparently useful architectural features; 

 it may be made to require considerable care, or to require but grass-cutting 

 and trimming, — all entirely according to personal taste or other circumstances. 

 If the opening is too smaU for grass, it may be paved, and thus require only 

 sweeping. But, whatever the the limitations, and however it is to be used, be 

 it no more than the European peasant's garden — a vine-clad arbor — ^the smallest 

 space may be made to serve fittingly for pleasant and retired out door life. 



As has already been suggested, rather than have very narrow passages between 

 buildings, it is better to have none. If houses are made wider they can also be 

 narrower, thus allowing the otherwise useless space at the sides to be added to the 

 well-lighted yard area. If there is the possible necessity of an automobile drive, 

 either for immediate or for future use, it is worth while to sacrifice all space on one 

 side in order to allow for a drive on the other. The automobile drive may or 

 may not be combined with an entrance walk to lead to a main entrance at the 

 side of the house. (There are advantages in such a first-floor arrangement, as 

 the front is then unbroken, and may be entirely devoted to rooms needing good 

 light.) Perhaps herein is the greatest possibility for the use of narrow side space. 

 These strips of land between houses are ordinarily unused except for a walk to 

 the kitchen, and are dark and damp, with narrow pavement and much bare 

 ground. They should either serve some purpose and be prepared therefor, or 

 the space had better be covered by the house. There is considerable aversion 

 to blocks of houses; but detached houses with but five or ten feet between them 

 are no better. The semi-detached house (double house) is a very good expedient 

 by which to save from three to five feet of otherwise useless side-yard space. 

 Frequently with this arrangement, ten or fifteen feet may be obtained on one 

 side, thus affording ample opportunity for a side entrance. This feature appeals, 

 as it affords a use for the side strip of land, and insures its solution and good 

 appearance. The problem of the side-yard strips in many instances means 

 merely making these places look neat. With bare ground, they represent a 

 failure. If grass will not grow, it may be .that an evergreen "'ground cover" 

 will thrive; but if nothing will grow, gravel or pavement will have to be the 

 solution. Pavements drain well and are easily cleaned; but the gravel, though 

 requiring an occasional raking, reUeves the monotony of too much pavement. 

 Where a sidewalk passes close to a building (within one or two feet), either the 

 paving of the walk should be extended to the wall of the building, or the space 

 between should be filled in with stone. It is quite possible to make these passages 

 look well. The entrance to the house, or the entrance to the back yard may be 

 improved and decorated by a gate of good design. Some persons object to a 

 main entrance at the side if kitchen service must share its use, but this considera- 

 tion need in no way interfere. In many houses now-a-days the kitchens are on 



