100 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



March, 1908 



Planning a Country Home 



By E. P. Powell 



NE of the chief difficulties with the new reach every part of the property without too much walking, 



country home builders is that of understand- There must not be too much given up to shrubbery and 



ing and using, to its best advantage, a bit lawn, yet there must be enough not to lose the esthetic. I 



of landed property. The problem varies have set down about one-half of the land to apples, pears, 



with every locality, and according to the size 

 of property, as well as its surroundings. 

 We can lay down a few general rules, such 

 as building your house well back from the street, securing 

 excellent drainage, taking advantage of bluffs and knolls; but 

 when we are through with these general rules the city born 

 and bred person finds himself in a puzzle, with walks and 

 drives and out-buildings and gardens and orchards — all of 

 which he wants, but does not know just where to place 

 them. How can one make the best use of a single acre, or of 

 five, or of ten? Ten acres will, if brought to the highest 

 tilth, support a large family. From nine acres I have, for 

 many years, taken all of my small fruits, large fruits, vege- 

 tables, eggs, and milk. Besides home-used articles, my sur- 

 plus sold has crept up to an average of over $1,200 a year. 

 I take it that every one who moves into the country wishes 

 not only to secure more pleasant surroundings, but to increase 

 his comforts and to make his place pay its own way. 



plums, peaches and cherries — that is, to orchard fruits. 

 Of these the first to give pecuniary returns will be peaches, 

 plums and cherries. If the pears are headed low they 

 will begin to give fruit by the third year, and apples 

 headed low will give fairly good crops by the fourth 

 year. Turning to the currants and berries, you will begin 

 to get good returns by the third year, and considerably 

 more by the fourth. Always set out good, stocky two-year- 

 old currants. As for the red raspberries, be sure that they 

 are cut down to the ground when planted, or you will lose 

 not only the second year's crop, but the third also, in all 

 probability. The vegetable garden, with asparagus and pie 

 plant, should be always near the barn, getting the liquid 

 manure, as well as any thing else needed. Notes for the 

 shrubbery I have given in a previous article in American 

 Homes and Gardens. 



In the small lawn, which is all that can be provided, I 

 would plant a group of basswoods, and in the rear of these 



Perhaps we may classify the true aim of a country home would have a half dozen or more stands of bees. The bass- 



builder as, first of all, to create a beautiful home. He is not 

 to plant for market in the first place, but in the second place; 

 and when his products increase he will sell the surplus, but 

 still keep home life and home comfort as the central thought. 

 He will feel his way slowly along in the way of planting, 

 and will grow such things as the market asks for, and in just 

 that ratio. 



Now what I wish to do in this short article is to suggest 

 the best method of laying out one or two acres, with this 

 distinct understanding, that home is to come first and market 

 second; and then that the place must ultimately be made to 

 cover its own expenses, and something over. To do this the 

 owner must grow his own vegetables, his own apples and 

 pears, his cherries and plums, his currants and berries, his 



wood is the best honey maker in the United States. A home, 

 laid out as I have suggested, would feed a dozen swarms 

 abundantly. While the apples and pears are growing, and 

 before they come to a full occupancy of the soil, the ground 

 may be made to yield an annual crop of alfalfa for the cow 

 and horse. Turn it under each spring, and start a new crop 

 for the next winter's covering. This system is called grow- 

 ing cover-crops. Ample room has been assigned to flowers. 

 I would confine these at the outset to such as are most easily 

 grown — like phloxes, hardy roses, tulips, and nasturtiums. 

 I would border my drives with bush honeysuckle, or possibly 

 hemlock. We have then only to provide for a windbreak. I 

 assure you that this is the most important point of the whole 

 — unless a good grove or forest is growing adjacent. Per- 



flowers in abundance, and then must have his lawn for pleas- haps the most easily secured windbreak would be a row of 

 ure, and, if possible, a shrubbery. The first plot, which I evergreens; but more advantageous would be a close-grown 

 annex, is intended row of mountain 



for a single acre, 

 or possibly for two 

 acres — not to ex- 

 c e e d this; and I 

 think it will be 

 found complete for 

 almost any location. 

 It is specially suited 

 to a business man 

 who takes the trol- 

 ley at night for his 

 country sleeping 

 place, and who finds 

 it possible to take 

 an occasional day 

 off for his country 

 home improvement. 

 The first point to 

 note is that, while 

 the house is to be 

 easy of access, it 

 must be easy to 



WINDBREAK 



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 APPLES 



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How to Utilize the Grounds About a Country Home 



ash; because the 

 bees can make 

 honey from the 

 flowers, and birds 

 can use the fruit. 

 Between such trees 

 set Tartarian 

 honeysuckle. I have 

 now answered a 

 reader of the 

 American Homes 

 and Gardens to 

 the best of my abil- 

 ity, and later will 

 report a plan for 

 those who intend to 

 occupy five or ten 

 acres or more. 



A driven well is 

 marked on the 

 chart; it can never 

 fail. 



