24 
HOME GROUNDS 
that can only be had in perfection ripened on the spot where they 
are to be eaten. All market fruit-growers are obliged to pick fruit 
before it is ripe, in order to have it bear transportation and keep 
well. We cannot, therefore, get luscious ripe fruit except by grow¬ 
ing it; and we advise business men of small means and small 
grounds to patronize the market for vegetables, but to grow their 
own strawberries, raspberries, peaches, and pears; at least so far 
as they may without making the beauty of their grounds subordi¬ 
nate to the pleasures of the palate. The eye is a constant feeder, 
that never sates with beauty, and is ever refining the mind by the 
influence of its hunger ; but even luscious fruits give but a momen¬ 
tary pleasure, and that not seldom unalloyed by excess and cloying 
satiety. Nature is more lavish of her luxuries for the eye than of 
those for the stomach, and, in an economic point of view, it will be 
wise to take advantage of her generosity. To this end, it may be 
profitably borne in mind that pleasing distant or near views of 
country or city, of trees or houses, of sea or stream, which cost 
nothing to preserve or keep in order, are the best picture invest¬ 
ments that can be made; and to make charming verdant frames 
for these pictures as well as little “ cabinet pieces ” of your own 
for your neighbors to look in upon, will call into play the best skill 
in gardenesque designing. 
To make the most of common and inexpensive materials re¬ 
quires the same culture of the eye and the mind, as the manipulation 
of the rarest. To produce an effective picture with a single color 
requires the same talent that would produce only more brilliant 
effects with all the colors of the palette. The most needed advice 
to novices in suburban home-making is this: if you can afford to 
spend but little on your grounds, study with the greater care what 
beauty outside of them can be made a part of the outlook from 
them; do not introduce anything which M r ill convey the impression 
that you desire to have anything look more expensive than it 
really is; dispense with walks and drives except where they are 
required for the daily comfort of your family; eschew rustic orna¬ 
ments, unless of the most substantial and un-showy character, and 
hi shadowy locatio?is; avoid spotting your lawn with garish carpen¬ 
try, or plaster or marble images of any kind, or those lilliputian 
