106 PRACTICAL LANDSCAPE GARDENING 



SPECIMEN TREES IN TRONT OE BORDER PLANTINGS 



Specimens planted in front of border plantings should always 

 be at the salient points and not in the bays formed by the border 

 outlines. The positions of specimen conifers should not be de- 

 cided without reference to the border plants behind them. Ever- 

 greens with golden foliage should not be placed in front of shrubs 

 with yellow leaves or flowers. Evergreens with blue foliage should 

 not be placed in front of plants with silvery leaves. Strive to estab- 

 lish a contrast, but be careful to preserve good balance and harmony. 

 If an existing plantation, either on the premises or beyond, con- 

 sists of large trees, the specimens planted in the foreground should 

 have foliage that will blend. Use trees of the same variety and 

 depend for contrast on smaller trees and shrubs planted still more 

 to the front. 



AVOID ODD SHAPED BEDS IN LAWN CENTER 



The center of the lawn surface should not be broken up with 

 circular or geometrically shaped beds. They destroy the quietude 

 and harmony of the scene. 



ORNAMENTAL PLANTING ON THE FARM 



While the farm layout should be thoroughly practical, the 

 farmer who thinks that he must carry this so far that he can find no 

 time or place for anything that is pleasing and beautiful around 

 his residence, lining his highway, or even the field itself, is very 

 wide of the mark. The average farm house of the past few decades 

 and its collection of outbuildings have not been such as to inspire 

 either respect, friendly sentiment or pleasant associations. The 

 result has been that during the last fifty years our rural districts 

 ha\-e lost greatly in population, the girls and boys of the farm find- 

 ing more pleasure and enjoyment in the towns and cities. 



The farm home and its surroundings should be made attractive 

 and inspiring to the occupants, particularly to the younger genera- 

 tion, that they may see in their homes far more that is pleasant and 

 enjoyable than in the tiny cubicles which pass for homes in our 

 great cities. 



It is not to be supposed that the farmer of average means can 

 purchase line paintings and works of art, but h^ can improve his 



