Tile yard was without interest, being cut in two by a road leading to a barn in the rear. One fancies that an acre or more lies behind the simple planting. 



The trees which here make a back piece for this garden also screen an old stable 



Artistic Home Grounds for $300— By wilhelm Miller, 



A PROPERTY WORTH ABOUT $4500 OF WHICH ABOUT SEVEN PER CENT. HAS BEEN 

 SPENT ON OUTDOOR FEATURES, OR FIVE CENTS A SQ. FT. FOR A LOT SO x 121 FT. 



New 

 York 



ONE of the most artistic little gardens 

 I have ever seen is one on Summer 

 Street, Salem, Mass., which was described 

 in Country Life in America for March i, 

 191 2, pages 39 to 42. The principles of 

 landscape gardening there employed may 

 be adapted by people of taste who have 

 only a quarter of an acre and do not care 

 to spend more than $100 a year on the 

 maintenance of outdoor features. I now 

 propose to describe a smaller garden, con- 

 nected with it, and designed by the same 

 gentleman for his daughter. The lot is 

 50x121 ft. or about one seventh of an 

 acre, and the cash outlay for maintenance 

 is about $15 a year. All the persons 

 involved are so retiring that they have 

 asked me not to publish their names. I 

 shall therefore call the owners of the 

 property here pictured "Mr. and Mrs. 

 R " 



The type of living enjoyed in this garden 

 is so much above the deadly commonplace 

 existence of most people who live in homes 

 costing S5, 000 or less, that I cannot refrain 

 from giving the essential features of it 

 without infringing upon the privacy of the 

 home life. The two lots, while fronting 

 on different streets, overlap at their ad- 

 joining ends, where a gate gives each family 

 access to the other's garden. This sort of 

 cooperation between neighbors often en- 

 ables each family practically to double 

 the size of its garden without the expense 

 of caring for the additional land. The 



R lot is especially adapted for young 



children, as it contains more playground 

 than flower beds. From May to October 

 the family go to the seashore. On their 

 return they do not find a ruined flower 

 garden, but an attractive place that has 

 practically cared for itself, because it is 



. 50 



planted with trees and shrubs. Of course, 

 a man who looks after the place comes now 

 and then to "fix up" while the family is 

 gone, but little is done in the garden 

 through the summer. The house is in the 

 centre of the ancient and celebrated city 



of Salem, yet Mr. R , who goes to 



Boston daily, can get to North Station in 

 half an hour. Servants like such a location 

 (a very important feature in these days of 

 haughty labor) because it is convenient 

 to their friends, their church, and the shops. 

 Although the house is only five minutes 

 from the Salem station the noise of trains 

 cannot be heard. Such a scheme of living 

 is practical within half an hour of Boston, 

 but would be hard to duplicate within 

 equal range of New York, Chicago or 

 Philadelphia. 



The first impulse of every beginner is to 

 fill the home grounds with flowers — to 



