i8o OLD-FASHIONED GARDENI NG 
Back of this wall might lie the precise and regular 
garden of a Dutchman, or the long simple flat lines 
that bespoke the Quaker; or the happen-so of planting 
which prevailed in New England. But in any event 
there was the wall , six to nine feet high; and straight 
around the domain it went, from house corner at one 
side to house corner at the other, the house itself com¬ 
pleting the defense. 
Looking back to-day, with our suburban acres of 
barren open front lawns,” and our gardenless settle¬ 
ments for comparison, I am impelled to the belief that 
this wall was the chief factor in the charm of the 
smaller old, old gardens. Not every one will agree 
with me; and of many who agree, few will wish to risk 
the criticism which such innovation and implied re¬ 
serve, in the midst of to-day’s suburban frankness, 
would subject them to. But for those who dare, the 
reward within the walls is great and sure, and not long 
deferred. 
Whether it is better to employ the old garden as 
only a suggestion for the new, or whether it shall serve 
as a model, to be duplicated with faithful exactness, 
is a question into the solution of which many consider¬ 
ations will enter. There is no reason against repro¬ 
ducing an old design, providing every phase of it re¬ 
ceives proper attention and no anachronism is per¬ 
mitted. An old garden design built around a modem 
