BETTER FRUIT 



May 



LAYING OUT AND BEAUTIFYING HOME GROUNDS 



BY ARTHUR L. PECK, OF J. B. PINKINGTON NURSERY, PORTLAND, OREGON 



NOWHERE in the United States is 

 there an area that lends itself 

 more readily to the art of the 

 enthusiastic lover of ornamental plants. 

 The climate is such that we are enabled 

 to draw upon a wide range of materials 

 and to bring about results that are great 

 sources of pride and gratification. The 

 Northwest is rapidly being peopled with 

 progressive Easterners, and they bring 

 with them the desire for the best in all 

 things, whether it be orchard land, a 

 farm home or the fruit growers' paper 

 that periodically comes to their abode. 

 Naturally this longing for better things 

 will be extended to the lawn or mere 

 yard which surrounds the home, and it 

 is for these men that a few hints are 

 presented in this brief article with the 

 hope that higher ideals in home decora- 

 tion may be attained as each year's 

 improvements are added to those that 

 have been previously developed. Vol- 

 umes have been written with a view to 

 setting forth the value of a proper design 

 in the home lawn. We are all inclined 

 to agree with these writers, and many 

 of us are inclined to carry out the 

 suggested improvements if the way is 

 simply made clear. 



What is known as the natural style 

 must be adopted in carrying out nearly 

 all of the designs for the rural home. 

 The great expanse of country every- 

 where apparent, broad meadows, moun- 

 tains, great forests and natural water 

 courses, force us to treat the home 

 grounds in a manner somewhat after 

 nature's methods if we wish to produce 

 an harmonious composition. Graceful, 



irregular curves in walks, drives and 

 surfaces, irregular masses of foliage, 

 broken and curving sky lines and an 

 absence of all geometrical lines should 

 characterize our home grounds. The 

 house is, of course, architectural, or we 

 will assume it to be. The lines near the 

 buildings, then, may properly be made 

 to take on a formal character, and if a 

 straight line seems to be the simplest 

 treatment of a walk one is justified in 

 so laying it out. The usual conception 

 of the natural style may be expressed by 

 the term, "copying nature." This, in a 

 measure, is incorrect, because in almost 

 every instance we improve on nature's 

 work, or at least so guide her efforts 

 that the result may present a picture 

 with a little more of the polish and the 

 beautiful in it than if she were to work 

 unaided. In other words, we attempt to 

 express in a limited and refined manner 

 the same ideas which nature spreads 

 before us, but in so doing we are con- 

 trolled by our inability to take advantage 

 of the unlimited scale with which she 

 works, and so our creations must bear 

 a much closer inspection. 



A plan of some kind is the first 

 important consideration — no matter how 

 simple the work is one should draw up 

 a design before carrying out any 

 improvements. This plan should locate 

 all buildings, drives, walks and plant- 

 ings. Perhaps the idea may seem some- 

 what formidable at first, but anyone can 

 draw a diagram, and if a foot rule is 

 handy by all means draw it to scale. In 

 locating buildings consider first of all 

 the conditions which af¥ect health. This 



would include drainage, exposure, pre- 

 vailing winds, water supply, relation of 

 barn to house and the average amount 

 of sunshine. Next comes convenience; 

 without it landscape beauty becomes a 

 nuisance, and we will always have these 

 inconvenient objects confronting us. 

 Human nature is the same the world 

 over, and if we try to carry one too far 

 out of his way he is going to cut across, 

 even at the expense of a good lawn. A 

 house may be a model so far as the 

 architecture is concerned, but we all 

 know that if the arrangement is such as 

 to be inconvenient the whole is a failure. 

 So in laying out the drive, in locating 

 the buildings and in all plantings the 

 idea of convenience should hold a very 

 prominent place. The vegetable garden 

 should also be located with this idea in 

 mind, so that one can easily reach it 

 from the house and farm buildings. A 

 small tract of land it is, to be sure, but 

 from it we obtain a great many of the 

 things that help to make country life 

 what it is. One should plan to work it 

 at odd times, and if he does this it must 

 necessarily be located near the executive 

 center of the farm. 



One of the most serious questions is 

 the location of the drive. Many condi- 

 tions bear upon this problem, and they 

 must all be carefully considered. What 

 kind of traffic must it carry; is it a com- 

 bination drive and service road; does it 

 swing too close to the house on the way 

 to the barn; can supplies be easily taken 

 from the wagon to the house; what are 

 the topographical conditions along the 

 drives; these are a few of the questions 



PRIVET HEDGE 

 Nineteenth Street, between Lovejoy and Marshall, Portland, Oregon 



