CITY GARDENS, 
85 
little country towns have the advantage here, their front 
yards being generally ornamental; and in one small city 
that we wot of there are recesses over the entrance doors 
tilled with plants and hanging baskets, and draped with 
flowering vines. These little wayside conservatories are a 
perfect blessing to the passers-by, and with generous water¬ 
ing they can be kept fresh and beautiful through the en¬ 
tire season. 
Do you know, 0 reader ! the possibilities of a city back 
yard ?—a back yard even with dingy fences and undesir¬ 
able neighborhood ? Do you know that ugliness and 
disagreeables can be planted out ? that English ivy and 
Yirginia-creeper will throw a green veil of charity over 
the most hideous chimney pots and offensive walls ? 
Shrubbery, to be sure, can not be planted to any great ex¬ 
tent by reason of clothes-lines, but grape-vines can, and 
also fruit of various kinds on espaliers . The highest fences 
and the thickest surrounding houses may be laughed to 
scorn in this style of cultivation, and enterprising peo¬ 
ple have actually managed to take prizes for fruit raised 
in this way. They probably belonged to the class who 
always find four-leaved clovers, possibly seven-leaved ones, 
but their success, even if exceptional, proves that there 
is more in city yards than is dreamed of in ordinary phi¬ 
losophy. 
The best arrangement for a city garden is to begin with 
a background of ivy on the fence, planted about two feet 
apart, while the whole of the ground might be occupied by 
a grass plot, with the exception of a border from two to 
four feet wide, according to the space and with a due 
regard for clothes-lines. This border could be planted with 
two or three continuous rows of well-contrasted flowers up 
to the ivy background, but it should extend on three sides 
only. A large rustic vase might occupy the center of the 
grass plot, with, perhaps, a smaller one on either side, and 
