242 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



October, 1906 



'■'7Wi 



On the left within the entrance stands a large Florentine oil- or wine-jar, a single flower- 

 tree hydrangea, whose perfume is almost as sweet as the honey-locust 



Japanese iris 

 against the gray 

 stone foundation 

 of the house. Or 

 we are entranced, if 

 it is the early 

 spring, by a maze 

 of pink and white 

 magnolia - blooms, 

 such as it is a joy 

 to know can flour- 

 ish in this latitude. 

 Straight ahead is a 

 shady corner with 

 rustic seats, not 

 more than twenty 

 feet from a door 

 leading to the din- 

 ing-room — a most 

 fitting place forout- 

 of-door meals. 

 Here we are con- 

 scious of a delicious 



sense of privacy and aloofness, for who can 

 tell to what new depths the hidden paths 

 may lead? The effectiveness of salvia in 

 masses is often demonstrated, but never is 

 it more successful than when it adds its 

 dash of color among the green of the shrub- 

 bery of a small garden. Along the south- 

 ern side of this plot it vies with the Japan- 

 ese rubrum, melpomene, and album lilies, 

 which thrive in the moist spaces between 

 the bushes. A few trial specimens of hardy 

 jessamine are also gradually winning their 

 way. 



Back of the lot on which the house 

 stands are two more at right angles to it, 

 each fifty by one hundred feet. The first is 

 level lawn surrounded by green privet 

 hedges, along the right side of which is 

 continued the rose-path to the side street, 

 two hundred feet in all, affording the ice- 

 man and his confreres a most unusual en- 

 trance. These rose-bushes have the ap- 

 pearance of growing directly from the sod. 



rhe sunken garden is made on the natural level of the land. ln_these narrow beds gay flowers are 

 in bloom from early spring till frost 



as do all the little fruit-trees and flowering shrubs of this 

 grassy quadrangle. Thus the scrappy appearance of the 

 bare earth in scattered flower-beds is avoided. Close to 

 the house a small circular continuation of the hedge hides 

 the offensive refuse-cans and ash-sifter so completely that 

 no one save a curious pryer would discover their where- 

 abouts. A Japanese purple cut-leafed maple will soon, if 

 possible, offer more concealment. Here too are incon- 

 spicuous green painted clothes-poles, convenient to the 

 laundry. Against the street-hedge of this plot is a con- 

 fusion of large flowering bushes such as the syringa and 

 althea, which somewhat conceal the fact that there is the 

 end of this part of the garden. Moreover they make a per- 

 fect background for one of the first stone Japanese lanterns 

 ever used for a garden in this country. It is said of these 

 lanterns that they are set up by the roadside in Japan and 

 kept burning, like shrines in Italy, by one who has sinned 

 and wishes forgiveness. Nearby the lantern have been 

 planted four varieties of Japanese prune-trees which have 

 successfully withstood two severe winters. A small 

 Mahonia aqui folium also lends the beauty of its glossy 

 green leaves. This little shrub never fails us. In the 



snow of winter it is 

 often as brilliant 

 as autumn leaves 

 and in the spring 

 it is one of the first 

 to attract the bees 

 with yellow 

 flowers. 



Mr. Watson has 

 the natural gift of 

 collecting what is 

 rare and beautiful, 

 but did he not pos- 

 sess likewise the 

 art of knowing 

 how to place his 

 vases, fonts, and 

 sacred shrine, they 

 would b e worse 

 than useless. It 

 seems that these 

 things can be used 

 only in two ways 



A shady corner for out-of-door meals. An Italian marble font filled with ivy and a dracaena in the foreground 



