132 TASTE AND TACT IN ARRANGING HOME AND OTHER GROUNDS. 



Pitlosporum nigrescetts—a. very bright colored diminutive- 

 leaved growth from the land of the Mikado. There are 

 hundreds of other species and varieties and thousands 

 upon thousands of plants. 



Of the 400 persons on the staff at the Casino, 60 are 

 engaged in the gardens. J. Vandendoelle, a Belgian, is 

 the chief horticulturist, and B. Bonafede the secretary. 



A good many of the workmen are Italians from just over 

 the border. Their pay is miserably small — from 3^ to 

 5 francs a day. The latter is considered excellent wages ; 

 the average is about the first figure. Men with families 

 just manage to exist. In winter they work from 7 a. m. 

 till 5 p. M., and in summer from 5 a. m. to 10 p. m. 



W. LODIA. 



TASTE AND TACT IN ARRANGING HOME AND OTHER 

 GROUNDS— XVII. 



^'-jX' ROM "A Subscriber" in Berks 

 county, Pennsylvania, we have 

 received a diagram of his home 

 grounds, with the following ex- 

 planations and a request for 

 assistance in laying them out 

 in a handsomer manner : 

 " The narrow space east of the house is the only part 

 where I have been able to grow flowers well, as the 

 winds on the other sides of the house, to the west espec- 

 ially, are so strong. To the west there is a slight slope, 

 with a terrace and a sharp but low declivity at I. What 

 would you suggest as a screen against the prevailing 



Fig. 



-Diagram of Place to be Improved in Berks County, Pa 



winds that come up this slope so forcibly ? I would like 

 to use as much as I could of the grounds for flowers of 

 all kinds. Not only do I desire to introduce a large 



assortment, but I want to arrange them as becomingly 

 as possible ; and for this I feel the need of your help. 

 I should be glad to consider suggestions of any changes 

 in the course of the walks and drives looking to the re- 

 modeling of the grounds. The features of my diagram 

 may be explained as follows : A, residence; B, barn; 

 C, orchard ; D, highway ; E E, vehicle-entrances from 

 the latter; F, walk-entrance from it; G, front yard ; 

 H, rear yard ; I, terrace and slope ; J, west yard ; K, 

 vegetable plat ; L, barn-yard ; M, rose and flower beds." 



The first step to recommend in the way of improv- 

 ing these grounds is the breaking up of the system 

 of straight and square-angled walks and drives which 

 are such a marked feature, 

 substituting some gracefully 

 winding passage-ways, and 

 fewer of them. Next in im- 

 portance is the introduction 

 of some heavy masses of 

 evergreen or other trees 

 to the west of the house 

 and home buildings to break 

 the wind in that direction, 

 making it possible to grow 

 many flowers and ornamen- 

 tal plants on that side of the 

 house, where now it would 

 be difficult to do so. Our 

 suggestions in these and 

 some other directions are 

 embodied in the diagram, 

 Fig. 2. Let us consider 

 these somewhat in detail. 



Not only is the present walk 

 system open to the objection 

 of stiffness and angularity, but 

 there are decidedly too many 

 paths, needlessly cutting up 

 the lawn into many small 

 patches. A high ideal of rural 

 beauty is a broad landscape in 

 which there is a considerable degree of openness, creat- 

 ing delightful vistas skirted by masses of trees, and with 

 some woody growths scattered at intervals over the 



