194 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
Creating a Small Country Home 
By E. P. Powell 
9 TIEN we have the right sort of common 
7 school education the boys and girls will be 
faced toward the land and land culture 
instead of away from it. The imaginative 
faculties will also be developed as surely 
as the memory and the mathematical facul- 
ties. Instead of a race of calculators and 
riches seekers we shall be likely to get a race of home build- 
ers. Everyone who undertakes to build a home will then 
be able to also plan it for the beautiful as well as the useful. 
He will foresee what he is about to make, and will be able 
to adjust himself to his surroundings. A home must, how- 
ever, always grow, and can never be made out of hand. The 
business of a landscape gardener and of an architect is to help 
others to see for themselves and do for themselves, not to 
relieve them of either do- 
ing or seeing. 
When you go into the 
country you are in search 
BEES WELL 
% 
ei Se 
of something that looks PLB & PEARS 
attractive, and which you eo a 
= 
th 
like to work at and make 1 @\ 
eee gh 8S vazvav 
through the hollows gently scooped out, or winding around 
a group of trees. Anyway she does not allow you to build, 
as most do, close by the street, and she does not allow long 
straight paths and drives, not as a rule. Those who build 
on the roadside catch all the dust and the noise, and can 
have no real privacy of their own. Such people grow up as 
parts of each other; that is, bits of Tom, Dick and Harry. 
Now, says Nature, I have fixed your land for you, and I 
have shown you where the drives come in easily; you must 
build your house for yourself. The fact is, I do not myself 
believe much in these piles of lumber and brick. My notion 
of a house is made up mostly of verandas, porches and bal- 
conies, with rooms enough inside to shelter one during 
storms. Rational human beings should live out of doors, 
where I have supplied a plenty of oxygen, ozone and sun- 
shine. However, you are 
largely artificial in your 
BOGQ92G9Q09 G9NG09N2999002 makeup— (you call it Civ- 
GAGSFE HES 
\\ if LE sacess 80.09 0000020909064 Xe Joule i lot “a 
A Sari, BERRY GARDEN. to require a costly lot of 
I would 
pa cust carpenter work. 
net get an architect if I 
your permanent home. re a! ie RG en Sle Be. were you, for he will be 
The first thing to do is to | 4§.—— —_- WR ERS Oe ee ag sure to plan for you some- 
walk about such a place = ZAWN AND 3 SHRUBS © _ Se om fe we thing that would stand 
hand in hand with Nature, a ~~ = ay 7 
== ~ SESS 
Se SHADE TREES 
: SS Sn 
HEDGE O 
and let her talk with you. 
Do not bring too many 
notions and whims of your 
own—certainly not city: 
born views. After a while 
you will find that Nature 
has foreseen you, and that 
she has done a great deal in the way of getting ready for 
you. The very first thing for you now is to find out what is 
already done, not what is to be done. Here, says Nature, 
on this high slope is the place for your house. I knew you 
were coming a thousand years ago, and I carved out this 
mound with water, and have covered it fairly well with good 
soil. It is a commanding site where you will not only be 
free from malaria, but you can see the whole landscape—at 
least you can see enough to enrich your mind and charm your 
vision. That brook which comes down from the hills was 
intended for you to use in your garden, then to be bridged 
as it courses through your shrubbery, and finally, down there 
in the hollow you see, you can make a little lakelet of it, 
with rustic seats. I advise you to let it run directly through 
your cellar; to keep your cellar moist—not damp; for run- 
ning water never causes mildew. 
Now Nature will call your attention to the fact that your 
house is going to be quite a distance from the street, and that 
she intends you to have considerable driveway, and that all 
your drives must follow the lines she has prepared; either 
ay 
FLOWERS —,% 
Ee 
its, je 
ven 
sce 
Deere wee cece. Sana ead = Sees SE ery 
Sketch plan of a suburban homestead of one or half an acre 
just as well somewhere 
else. Now there is just one 
=p house that would stand 
ye here, and if you are cute 
TTAE 
mez es enough and _ simple 
pee hearted enough you will 
find out what that house 
is. It will sort of grow 
over you and around you as you find out yourself. Stand 
right here, and look around; off there you have a superb 
valley, and you do not want a house that will not let that 
valley come in at the window. You will want that swell of 
trees, that remnant of original forest also visible. When 
you look out of your library or dining-room or chamber 
you will want all of these fine things looking in to greet you 
and inspire you and make character for you. A house that 
prevents all this is not suitable for a human being. Bal- 
conies and sun-bath windows, and such things will help to 
gather in all these fine things and make them a part of your 
indoor life. But remember this, my friend, if you get a box 
with holes in it, or an architectural display, and call it a 
house, you have made a big blunder. 
Around the house I have arranged slopes, and you will see 
they are mostly easy and graceful. I positively forbid your 
grading and terracing, and other formalities, beyond the 
mere removing of roughnesses. You cannot beat my work 
for beauty and adaptability to your needs—not if you try. 
Right over there on that second knoll is the place for your 
