138 
PLANS OF RESIDENCES 
a sufficient mass of evergreen verdure around the pine to shut the 
carriage-yard out of view from the front. 
The border near the right-hand fence, in front, is hemlock, or 
an arbor-vitae screen ; with single specimens standing in front of it, 
of any of the choice varieties of common deciduous flowering 
shrubs. The plan fails to show the continuity of the evergreen 
screen along that side of the lot, and consequently some of the 
deciduous shrubs are too near the fence. The hedge back of the 
large flower-bed should also occupy double the width shown on 
the plan. The isolated, very small shrub-marks, represent slender 
junipers, or single brilliant-leaved plants. 
The few flower-beds that are shown on the lawn-side of the 
house can probably be filled by most ladies quite as tastefully as 
we could suggest. The continuous bed opposite the large window 
of the parlor will demand much skill in arrangement, if filled with 
annuals and perennials. But as these are likely to be changed 
every year, and as skill in such matters is the result of experience 
alone, it is needless to specify any one list of varieties, or order of 
arrangement for them. In case the occupants of the place prefer 
not to take care of a great bed of annuals, the entire bed may be 
devoted to the culture of roses ; and if these also involve too 
great an annual outlay of time and money, the ground may be 
left in lawn alone, and the border broken by a few fine shrubs 
upon it. 
The location of the parlor on this plan, with its principal 
window looking out on the shortest and most unsatisfactory view 
of the place, may be open to criticism. But it must be borne in 
mind that, on small lots, all the sides of a dwelling cannot have 
park-like exposures ; and the room that is least used, and least 
looked out of, is the one that should have the least interesting 
exposure. Parlors are principally used by day as reception rooms 
for casual callers, and in the evenings for sociable gatherings. In 
neither case are the guests, or the family, in the habit of paying 
much attention to out-of-door views. The furniture of a parlor is 
likely to be scrutinized more than that of other rooms, but the out- 
looks from it are of less importance than from those rooms which 
the family and their intimate friends frequent. 
