Four Plans for a 75 x 150 Ft. Lot—By F. C. Leible, 
THE NINTH OF A SERIES OF ARTICLES ON 
THE 
New 
York 
“CHEAPEST GARDENS FOR THE SMALLEST 
LOTS,’’ EACH OF WHICH GIVES FOUR SOLUTIONS COSTING $25, $50, $75, AND $100, RESPECTIVELY 
| Rare 75 x 150 ft. lot is a common unit 
in America, and in my opinion it 
is about the ideal size for a family of five to 
eight having an income of about $1,200 a 
year. It is about right for a man who cannot 
afford to spend more than four or five thou- 
sand dollars on house and lot altogether. 
The area of such a lot is about one-fourth 
of an acre. If two members of a family 
can give an average of two hours a day 
during the growing season to the care 
of the outdoor features, the garden ought 
to be fully as productive and_ beautiful 
as anything of the kind in the Old World. 
Experience has shown that one-eighth of 
an acre is all that one man can care for 
in his leisure time, even in a climate that 
has a long twilight, without hiring extra 
labor. 
If you have a fourth of an acre, you can 
have a vegetable garden large enough to 
supply practically all the fresh vegetables 
needed by a family of five or six from May 
to September. You can also have enough 
room for children to play in and for the 
family to enjoy some kind of private home 
life out-of-doors. 
In each of the four plans here given, I 
have, as usual, indicated the same house 
in the same position, but in only two of them 
have I provided vegetable gardens. 
I. THE CHEAPEST SOLUTION — $25 
The only value of the first plan is that it 
shows how little you can get in the way of ' 
permanent trees and shrubs for $25. The 
magazine writers who talk airily about 
“inexpensive effects in gardening” are 
really “yellow journalists,” for the hard 
but important fact is that gardening is an’ 
expensive business. True, it is possible 
to buy three times as many trees and shrubs 
as are indicated in this plan, but in all the 
plans that have been presented in this series 
of articles I have specified only first-class 
plants of perfect form and considerable 
size. ‘There is nothing so maddening as 
to have your place look raw for several 
years simply because diminutive plants 
have been sent you and they have either 
entirely failed to grow or have cheated you 
out of a year or two in the development 
of your place. 
In other words, it is a total mistake to 
buy a lot of shrubs at bargain rates and dot 
them about a place. You will never get 
. Two tree of heaven (Ailanthus glandulosa). 
. Three golden bell (Forsythia suspensa). 
. Three weigela (Diervilla florida). 
. Fourteen Japan barberry (Berberis Thunbergit). 
. Two bush honeysuckle (Lonicera Morrowit). 
OABRWDNH 
anything but a spotted effect if you do this, 
and when you learn better there will be a 
deal of trouble and expense in shifting the 
bushes about in order to make a harmonious 
home picture. The thing to do is to have a 
plan to start with and hold right to it, buy- 
ing what you can this year and gradually 
filling in the picture. 
For example, this first plan would be much 
better if there were a continuous row of 
shrubbery on both sides of the lot and across 
the back, so as to screen the vegetable garden. 
Such a scheme would involve fifty dollars’ 
worth of planting. You could buy half 
of the plants this year and set them in the 
manner indicated in the plan, and next 
VEGETABLE 
6. Three silver bell (Halesia tetraptera). 
4. Three mock orange (Philadelphus grandiflorus). 
8. Two Weir’s cut leaved maple (Acer saccarinum, var. 
Weirit). 
9. Three elder (Sambucus Canadensis). 
to. Three Siberian red twigged dogwood (Cornus alba). 
Permanent trees and shrubs that may be planted for $25 
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. Two tulip tree (Liriodendron Tulipiiera). 
. Sixteen hollyhock (Alihea rosea). 
Twenty-four larkspur (Delphinium formosum). 
Two yellow-wood (Cladrastis tinctoria). 
Six Japan barherry (Berberis Thunbergii). 
Thirty-four hybrid tea and hybrid perpetual roses. 
. Twelve hardy hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata. var. 
grandiflora). 
. Three snowdrop tree (Malesia tetraptera). 
. Five Persian lilac (Syringa Persica). 
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1o. Three pearl bush (Exochorda grandiflora). 
11. Three kerria (Kerria Japonica). 
12. Five March blooming honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantis- 
simda), 
13. Three rose of Sharon (Hibiscus Syriacus). 
14. Sixty strawberries (30 Sharpless and 30 Gandy ). 
15. Ten red raspberries (Marlboro or Cuthbert). 
16. Eighteen blackberries (Wilson’s Early and Kittatinny). 
17. Ten yellow raspberries, Yellow Queen. 
18. Four honeysuckle (Lonicera Japonica, var. Halliana). 
A garden where shrubbery and bush fruits predominate, costing $50 
178 
year fill in so as to get a continuous shrub- 
bery border on each side of the house and 
a considerable luxuriance at the back 
corners. 
2. SHRUBBERY AND FRUIT FOR $50 
The most practical kind of fruit growing 
on a lot of this size or smaller in America 
is the cultivation of bush fruits instead of 
fruit trees, and I have therefore surrounded 
the vegetable garden in plan No. 2 with 
rows of raspberries, blackberries and 
strawberries. 
The ornamental features are particularly 
designed for a family that likes showy 
flowers lasting a long season, but requiring 
a minimum of care. For example, the 
porch vines are Hall’s honeysuckle, and the 
bushes in front of the house are hardy 
hydrangeas. ; 
The two flower beds in the front gardens, 
however, involve a good deal of personal 
care. If you are a beginner, you ought 
not to have them in such a conspicuous 
place. It would be better to move them 
