TASTE AND TACT IN ARRANGING ORNAMENTAL GROUNDS. 



TWO WAYS OF LAYING 



E HAVE, in our cities, quite a number 

 of people who are anxious to mil<e 

 attractive the small yards surrounding 

 their dwellings. In many cases past 

 attempts at gardening have proved 

 unsatisfactory or out of keeping with 

 Surroundings, and the dissatisfied owners wish to change 

 ihe plans of their gardens and begin the beauty-growing 

 ^ork anew. Such is the case of the correspondent whose 

 place we treat in this paper, and, assuming that among 

 (mr many readers there may be other gardens with simi- 

 lar faults in arrangement, we give his letter in full, 

 with suggestions for improving the garden : 

 ' " Noticing the kind manner in which you have assisted many 

 readers with suggestions foi Improving thiir grounds, I pre- 

 sent my own case, in the hope that it may receive some needed 

 assistance at your hands. The size of my grounds is 72x120 

 feet, part of which is occupied by my residence, size 32x80 feet 

 extreme measurements, and located as shown by the enclosed 

 (^iagram (fig. i). The lawn, walks, a few trees and shrubs and 

 some flower-beds are also shown. The flower-garden proper, 

 having a circular bed in its center, as shown, was laid out with 

 much care six years ago, and pleased me well for a time, but in 

 recent years it has proved unsatisfactory. The walks are of 

 gra\el, and the beds are raised about a foot in height; their 

 steep, sloping sides are covered with grass. The defects of the 

 arrangement are that grass and weeds spring up through the 

 gravel walk ; the grass on the sharp slope of the edge of the 

 beds is not easily kept neat, for to shear it by hand is a good 

 deal of a task, and its shape forbids the use of the lawn-mower 

 i'n trimming; and besides this, the grass edge at the top en- 

 croaches on the beds in some places, while at others it has been 

 broken down as a result of frosts and mishaps. The beds them- 

 selves contain numerous tender and hardy perennials and an- 

 nuals. My family and myself are all passionately fond of flow- 

 ers and plants, and would like a hundred kinds where now we 

 have one ; but I am appalled at the state of things that prevails 

 here, in the attempt to grow a comparatively small number of 

 kinds. My grounds are limited, but I want them to be hand- 

 some. The sensible advice which has appeared in your columns 

 as applying to the gardens of others leads me to hope you wil] 

 give me such practical suggestions as will supply my need." 



With the area contained in this lot outside the 

 buildings there are great possibilities for gratifying a 

 taste for flowers. In undertaking to set forth some 

 suggestions to such an end, let us first briefly touch 

 upon the present unsatisfactory arrangement of the 

 grounds. It is clear that the somewhat elaborate 

 flower-garden was intended for the chief ornamental 

 feature of the lawn. The owner has, himself, pointed 

 out with much force the defects of this garden. It 

 is easy to go farther, and show that such defects are 

 the natural outcome of a system of gardening, which, 

 although often practiced, is wrong in principle if we 

 wish to obtain the best results for a moderate outlay 

 of money and labor. Why should anyone think it neces- 

 sary to raise flower-beds a foot above the common sur- 



OUT A CITY GARDEN. 



face ? Is it because average plants and shrubs stand the 

 severe frosts of winter and the excessive drouths of sum- 

 mer better for being planted in soil that sheds water 

 readily, and is exposed from the sides as well as from 

 the surface ? Nature teaches us better than that. In 

 meadow and forest it is, with certain exceptions, in de- 

 pressions rather than on exposed mounds that we find 

 the most vigorous tree and plant-growth. Has a sharp, 

 grassy slope when in the form of an edging to a bed a 

 single advantage over a flat, easily-mown surface of grass 

 extending up to beds sunken a few inches below the grass 



Q 



o 



Fig. 1. A Typical City Garden. (See Opposite Page.) 



level ? Our correspondent's own comments on the unsat- 

 isfactory state of these slopes are a sufficient answer. 

 Are geometric curves, straight lines and precise angles so 



