142 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
to be comp’eted until the road from the main entrance 
circled an entire house. Roads should be regarded 
purcl}' as convtnient accesses to buildings. They are 
no: orn imental things in themselves, and are more or 
less blemislies ujjon the landscape. Every effort should 
be made to make them as inconspicuous as possible. 
This can be secured by studying the curves and grades 
of the natural surfaces, by a careful arrangement of 
trees and shrubs, and by using a material for the road- 
bed which would be as unobstrusive as possible in color. 
“Vines alone should not be depended upon to unite 
the house and grounds. Hardy shrubs should form the 
enc rcling garment, which should be high in some 
places, lo.v in others, or here dense and massive, there 
light and graceful, now clinging closely to the walls, and 
now spreading away a little, or running along beyond 
the end of the house to boiuRr a path. They should 
follow the outlines of the house and accent these while 
uniting the buildings, as a whole, with its site, or should 
be massed in angles and intersections of roads. An 
overdose of shrubs should be avoided. 
“It has been the custom for some time in this country 
to plant along the foundations of suburban houses 
flower beds, or strips filled with annuals and te tier 
ornamental plants. The work is done, the effect is pro- 
ducer! for the season only. When winter comes, naked- 
ness returns in a worse shape than if no flowers had 
been planted. Flower beds in themselves are but formal 
things, and yet we see them in the mirlst of grounds 
which have been laid out according to naturalistic 
unsymmetrical lines. No place could be worse for a 
mass of brilliant color than in the center of a stretch 
of bright green, shaven turf, for it destroys all unity, 
repose and breadth. * * There are cases where 
colored foliage or flowers can be used with good effect, 
on the edges of shrubbery for instance, just as a bit of 
bright color serves to particularize an attractive feature 
in a room or in a picture; but, in general, the quiet 
peacefulness of the lawn, with its ever varying tints of 
greens and the graceful outlines of trees, should never 
be disturbed by gorgeous and striking combinations of 
color. 
“It has been said that the lawn is the heart of the 
true English garden, and what is true of England should 
be true of America. Study to get the widest expanse 
of lawns, framed in with trees and shrubs in keeping 
with the local landscape. Local plants are an essential 
foundation and exotics should be chosen with rare 
discretion. 
“The partly open feature of a landscape is most 
essential if we would have beautiful grounds, for it 
affords an opportunity for vistas at various points, for 
admitting cool breezes and sunshine, for the effects of 
light and shadow, and, most important of all, for that 
degree of general repose and breadth, without which no 
landscape can be altogether satisfactory. It is obvious 
that, as a rule, the masses must in all small areas be 
planted along the outlying portions of the turf places, 
keeping the centers free, but showing open \istas 
skirted by margins of woody growth, which tend to give 
an enlarged idea of the size of the grounds so treated. 
“The rapid construction of tall buildings and the 
massing of humanity in cities make one of the reasons 
why thinking men have been forced to consider the 
question of air holes for cities or open spaces for 
breathing, in the shape of parks, wheelways, promen- 
ades and boulevards, and last but not least play grounds 
for poor children. It is well known that nothing costs 
a city like disease. City life is essentially artificial- 
Its greatest alleviation are parkways and parks, and one 
part of the higher education of the city is to teach the 
people how to enjoy nature — how to get into fiesh air, 
into the parks, under, the trees, on to .he grass, down on 
their knees in worship of nature’s God. There are 
many great hearted men of wealth who might have their 
names carried down with the ages if they would only 
give or imrchase f(jr the people of the cities where they 
have made their fortunes land for park purposes. 
Nothing is so undying as the name of a man associated 
with a large public park near a great city. It is borne 
dowm from generation to generation, linking the donor’s 
name with the park which he makes the heritage of the 
people for all coming time.” 
GARDEN PLANTS— THEIR GEOGRAPHY, LVI. 
LAMIA LES. 
THE VERBENA, MONARDA, AND AJUGA ALLIANCE. 
This is a considerable and widely distributed 
group of 19 tribes, 224 genera, and 3858 species. 
Superficially the plants may best be distinguished 
by their more or less bilabiate flowers ( with excep- 
tions as in the anomalous Plantageae) by the 
prevalence of square or sharp angled stems, oppo- 
site leaves, and flowers generally disposed in 
axiliary or other whorls forming elongated spikes 
or capitate clusters. Many of the distinctions are 
founded upon the disposition of the ovules, and the 
character of the seeds. Blue is a prevalent color 
among the flowers, but the variation is consider- 
able, while variegated foliage is a greatly appre 
ciated characteristic of several genera. Many aro- 
matic herbs which yield antiseptic perfumes are 
found in the group, and there are a few esculent 
tubers less well known to the United States. The 
trees and shrubs are chiefly tropical and sub- 
tropical, but a few are hardy in warm temperate 
regions. The majority of species hardy at the 
north are herbs, and 
a gardener consult- 
ing herbarium 
sheets would pro- 
nounce a large pro- 
portion weedy trash. 
Myoporuvi is a 
genus of treesand 
shrubs in 20 species 
from the warm parts 
of China and Japan, 
Australia, New Zea- 
1 j ..1 T) T HEBENSTRKTI.X, COMOSA VAR. 
land, the Pacific Is- 
lands, and Malaisia. M. verucosum and M. laetum 
are in California collections and are reputed to stand 
drought well. It is possible, too, that M. parvi- 
folium, M. montanum and M. crassifolium would 
be useful. They have mostly white or light col- 
ored flowers followed by pretty berries. 
