May, 1 9 13 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



151 



the edifice for the 

 site it is to occupy. 



The fitness of the 

 house to the site is 

 hardly more import- 

 ant, however, than 

 the making of both 

 house and site into a 

 home by the careful 

 and tasteful planning 

 of the grounds, which 

 must be done if real- 

 ly successful results 

 are to be attained. 

 This is even more im- 

 portant in the case of 

 a small place than of 

 a large estate, where 

 the mere extent of 

 the grounds may be 

 relied upon to afford 

 a certain interest. A 

 small place is gener- 

 ally so closely sur- Stucco house - E1 Mora - New J erse y 

 rounded by other small places that very little opportunity is 

 given for the proper expression of its individuality. More- 

 over, its neighbors are apt to represent many types wholly 

 at variance with its own, so the only possible solution, if 

 solution it may be called, of so complicated a matter, lies in 

 the studied treatment and planting of its small grounds. 



The houses at El 

 Mora of which pic- 

 tures are shown are 

 fortunate in being 

 surrounded by trees, 

 which bring houses 

 of somewhat differ- 

 ent types into a har- 

 monious grouping. 

 Where such advan- 

 tages as are afforded 

 by the presence of 

 trees do not exist, 

 much the same effect 

 may be gained by the 

 judicious planting of 

 shrubbery and par- 

 ticularly by the set- 

 ting out of hedges, 

 which may screen the 

 spaces about service 

 yards or be used in 

 other places where 

 their use seems to be 

 appropriate. The planting of hedges to define the extent 

 of small grounds when properly employed is very effective, 

 but for the very small place the hedges chosen must be 

 those which will serve merely as decorative marking bor- 

 ders. Another plan is that of treating the lawns about a 

 group of houses as a unit, using nothing to define boun- 



Two of the group of houses at El Mora, New Jersey 



