Planning Small 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
May, IgII 
Country Places 
Queries Answered by Charles Downing Lay 
x Lega Was CQ. 
AM sending you a rough sketch of our lot 
oq 
and the picture of a bungalow I am in- 
“) eT le tending to build, and I would like your 
le ei criticism and ideas about placing the 
oc house and the barn, position and kind of 
‘ shrubs and trees (kinds that would be 
hardy for this climate). I would like to 
place the house so that I could put another house (some 
time) further west, for a tenement. It would need no 
barn and might have less frontage than the first house, 
and I want most of the land in the rear for a small gar- 
den and a few more apple trees. I have 75 swarms of 
bees and want a small honey house in back. I have one horse 
and a cow. Four constitute my family. We cannot go 
SKETCH FoR GENERAL 
LAYOUT OF A’ Jwo-AcRE LOT 
° 20 40 60 Bo 
—~ Scale of Feet ~— 
two large elm trees. The road is at the east of the house 
and goes between rows of apple trees to the barn. Back 
of the barn there is a paddock or barnyard for the cow to 
have her winter (and perhaps summer) airings. From the 
back of the house a straight path leads through the garden 
(with the orchard on the east) to the barn and the honey 
house and the apiary. 
This path, it will be noted, is the only one on the place, 
so that whenever one goes to the barn or honey house 
or dock one passes through the garden. ‘This is a great 
enjoyment, and a great time saver for busy people. 
The ground near the river is to be kept in grass, with 
shrubs along the river, the garden and the buildings. 
The tenement is in an inconspicuous place, and the plant- 
lo omooaccnog.e 
Ri: 
poss dnd, wens z 
yews “4 
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into extravagance as our income will not allow it, but we 
would like it neat and attractive, and everything in har- 
mony.” 
This problem is very well stated and the plan which ac- 
companied it is drawn with unusual. care. It has been a 
pleasure to work out the new scheme shown in the first 
illustration, entitled ‘Sketch for General Layout of a Two- 
Acre Lot,” because the place is full of promise, and if the 
details are done simply and entirely without showiness it 
will be a very charming place. 
We shall be glad to give, at a later time, details of the 
garden, and of the planting of the place. 
In designing this plan it was obvious that the path to the 
front door should be straight and should pass between the 
ing which screens that from the house serves also to keep 
off the north winds from the house and garden. 
We believe the whole arrangement is very convenient 
and harmonious, and that the place will some day be very 
beautiful. 
‘T have made a sketch of my grounds as well as I can. 
My husband is a business man and has no time for a gar- 
den, and no suggestions to make for the home grounds. 
‘The lot is graded down to the walk. There is no fence 
in front or on the left side as far as the hickory tree, where 
there is a retaining wall for our neighbor’s lawn, which: is 
in good condition and a credit to any neighbor. 
‘The house is only 25 feet from the front walk. I am 
fond of shrubs and vines, but do not know what or where 
