TASTE AND TACT IN ARRANGING HOME AND OTHER GROUNDS. 263 



styles of ornamentation, and is usually quite effective. 

 Its redeeming feature is the broad central area of grass, 

 which, by extending at a few places to the extreme edge 

 of the plat and connecting with a strip of grass that lies 

 outside the shrubs and flower-beds, imparts an idea of the 

 presence of the largest possible lawn area the place will 

 admit, and this liberally embellished with flowers. By 

 this means, although the actual surface devoted to flowers 

 is less than in Fig. 1, who can doubt that even if given 

 proportionately more pains in the choosing and care of 

 the lesser number of plants used, the effect would 

 be more pleasing in the one case than in the other ? 



Besides seeking to gratify the eye, every gardener 

 should aim to provide in the garden that which will rest 

 the tired brain. Is it not clear that the plan showing an 

 ample sward area possesses restful quieting powers wholly 

 lacking in the other ? 



A step farther is taken in Fig. 3. Here, besides pro- 

 viding an ample grass area an irregular style of outlining 

 and locating the beds is adopted, in imitation of the 

 irregularity that so generally prevails in natural land- 

 scapes. What is gained by this over Fig. 2 is that such 

 an informal arrangement will please and rest the mind in 

 a way not possible to the evenly balanced, straight-lined 

 features of the other. At first glance one might feel 



that the regular garden of Fig. 2 was prettier than 

 the irregular one ; but let each be visited daily the season 

 through, as a garden-lover would desire, and in time the 

 pretty, formal features of the first ones would become so 

 fixed in the mind as to appear monotonous when compared 

 with the informality of the last, which, with its charming 

 irregularity, could not be so easily retained in memory. 

 The fact that in such irregularity the plan as a whole 

 cannot be apprehended from any one point, imparts 

 both interest and restfulness to the visitor. 



The natural or irregular style of lawn arrangement 

 need not be confined to areas of considerable extent. It 



iG. 5.— Suggested Improvements for the G.arde.n oi- Fig. 4. 



is of use in treating the smallest areas. If those who 

 take a contrary view will follow the writer in his jaunts 

 through meadows, wilds and forests, he will undertake to 

 show charming bits of natural scenery in grass, flowers, 

 bushes and vines contained within nooks and corners as 

 circumscribed as any that fall to the lot of landscape- 

 gardeners to treat, which are perfect models in their way 

 of what we would delight to see used in ordinary garden 

 adornment. 



One of the peculiarities ascribed to the garden of Fig. i, 

 as seen by the writer, was the free use of annuals. The 

 owner we know will permit us to suggest that no garden of 

 such extent can be made so attractive by the use of annuals 



