In large gardens the tool house may be a sensible cottage and general "office" 

 for all-around purposes 



An ornamental treatment of the approach to the tool house can become a 

 garden feature 



Buildings in The Home Grounds 



I. Tool Shed — By Phil M. Riley 



MUCH of the fun of gardening lies in 

 the tools. I am sure of this because 

 of the supreme content of my former next- 

 door neighbor in his chosen recreation. 

 No man ever found greater happiness in the 

 hour spent every evening caring for his 

 home grounds than did that kindly old 

 Bostonian. 



"If you would enjoy gardening look to 

 your tools," he sometimes told me as I 

 struggled with a refractory lawn mower. 

 "Take good care of them and keep them 

 where they are needed." 



His was the right idea; it eliminated all 

 the drudgery, leaving only the unalloyed 

 pleasure of the thing itself. He never 

 searched for anything nor carried it a long 

 distance. Whatever implement he hap- 

 pened to want in the warfare against bugs, 

 weeds, drouth or too rapid growth of lawn 

 and hedge was to be found at a moment's 

 notice in a charming little vine-clad shed 

 in the very midst of his garden. 



"Gardening is recreation, not hod- 

 carrying," he used to say, and a recreation 

 he certainly made of it. The little tool 

 shed was handy to the lawn, the flower beds 

 and the vegetable garden. Inside, there 

 was a place for everything and each article 

 could invariably be found there. His tools 

 themselves were an inspiration, always 

 housed for protection when not in use 

 summer and winter, and free from rust 

 because of the dry little shed in which they 

 were kept and his thoughtfulness to rub 

 them over occasionally with a cloth on 

 which a little kerosene had been poured. 



Delight in gardening needs only con- 

 ditions such as these and a love of growing 



things. Too many of us leave our tools 

 about the grounds where they are unsightly, 

 or store them under a piazza or in a cellar 

 where rain or dampness rusts them. Soon 

 we must buy new ones, and there is little 

 pleasure in the use of the rusty ones while 

 they last. Another favorite way is to 

 throw tools into a corner of the shed, stable 

 or garage, where they are constantly in the 

 way, often damaged, and usually must be 

 hunted for and then carried a long distance 

 to the garden. And yet some of us some- 

 times think there is a lot of unavoidable 

 hard work connected with gardening! 



A separate tool room in the shed, stable, 

 or garage is a good idea, but better still is 

 the separate tool shed in the midst of the 

 garden. A pergola might do much worse 

 than to lead from a house to a tool shed, 

 provided, of course, that the house is suited 

 to such a treatment. A pergola should 

 always lead to something of importance, 

 although many of them do not. 



Very often in this or one of several other 

 ways a separate tool shed may prove a 

 welcome adjunct as an architectural garden 

 feature if consistently treated. The italics 

 are used advisedly, for an inordinate desire 

 for picturesqueness in our gardens has led 

 some of us to such extrerres, for instance, 

 as Japanese pagoda tool sheds and rustic 

 summer houses about our staid old New 

 England Colonial residences. Such rad- 

 ically opposed units cannot live in harmony, 

 as a house must with its outbuildings, if 

 there is to be restfulness in the home pic- 

 ture. Of course the prime requisite of 

 any structure is that it fulfil its mission; 

 but that outbuilding is best which does so 



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unobtrusively, attracting little attention 

 to itself, and playing the subordinate role 

 of accessory to the house itself, which 

 dominates every peaceful view of any small 

 estate. 



In such an outbuilding the spirit of the 

 house is reproduced in characteristic details 

 of style, materials, or both. The house is 

 the key to the design and construction of 

 its outbuildings; if it be New England 

 Colonial, that feeling is best reflected in 

 the smaller structure; if it be Italian Re- 

 naissance, a similar spirit will prove most 

 pleasing and harmonious. It is in the 

 trim, the doors and the windows, for the 

 most part, that the spirit of the house can 

 be reflected, for it is in them that the use 

 of the orders and of characteristic orna- 

 mentation is seen. The less of the latter 

 the better, however; simplicity is the charm 

 of any outbuilding. Diamond paned, lat- 

 tice windows with^ wooden shutters, a touch 

 of weathered half timbering in the gables, 

 an effect of thatch in the use of shingles 

 are details well suited to utilize in an out- 

 building to accompany a stucco house of 

 Elizabethan feeling. Sliding windows with 

 many small, square panes, doorways and 

 wood trim of the simplest Classic designs 

 are well suited for use in the neighborhood 

 of Colonial houses. Every style has its 

 typical details and motives one or two of 

 which give the appropriate impress to an 

 outbuilding. 



Always there is greater harmony when 

 every building on the grounds is of the same 

 materials, side walls and roof, whether it 

 be shingles, clapboards, siding,- brick, stone, 

 stucco, or concrete for the former, and 



