86 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
catalogues, work to your plan and keep it. 
The vacant lot with no vegetation ex¬ 
cept weeds is an easier problem, as one 
does not have to consider the interference 
of trees, etc. To obtain the best results, 
it is desirable to have the lot graded from 
the street to the center, so giving a gentle 
slope from the house to the pavement, be¬ 
ing careful to deposit all sub-soil where 
the house is going to stand. Depositing 
sub-soil around the yard where plants or 
lawns are to be maintained, usually leads 
to disappointment. Be sure to preserve 
the top soil for planting as much as possi¬ 
ble. A yard properly graded and finished 
off, affords the drainage which is so often 
so essential. 
Place and face the house according to 
the coolest location, try not to have the 
rising and setting sun beating on the win¬ 
dows. After grading, put in the water 
system, which should enable all parts of 
the yard to get water. To try to raise a 
lawn or grow plants without water is al¬ 
most impossible. Having graded, secured 
water, and drainage, make the plan of the 
yard as to the planting of the trees, 
shrubs, etc. Make the plan conform to 
the lines of the house. Make each plant 
account for itself by some meaning. 
Promiscuous planting here and there, with 
no plan or purpose, leads to a jumbled 
mass. 
The plan is a picture, the central idea is 
the residence with a warm green sward in 
front of it. The trees and bushes are 
massed into a frame-work to give effect¬ 
iveness to the picture of home and com¬ 
fort. This style of planting makes the 
landscape, even though the area is no 
larger than a parlor. Reduced to a single 
expression, all this means that the greatest 
artistic value in shrubbery lies in the ef¬ 
fect of the mass, and not in the individual 
shrub. A mass has a greater value, be¬ 
cause it presents a much greater range and 
variety of forms, color, shades and text¬ 
ures, because it has sufficient extent or di¬ 
mensions to add structural character to a 
place, and because its features are so con¬ 
tinuous and so well blended that the mind 
is not distracted by incidental and irrele¬ 
vant ideas. There can be no rules for 
landscape gardening any more than there 
can be for painting or sculpture. 
In home grounds the central feature is 
the house. To scatter trees and bushes 
over the area, defeats the fundamental 
purpose of the place. The purpose is to 
make every part of the grounds, lead up 
to the home and to accentuate its home¬ 
likeness. Keep the center of the place 
open, plant the borders, avoid all discon¬ 
nected, cheap, patchy and curious effects. 
It is not enough that the bushes be planted 
in masses, they must be kept in masses by 
letting them grow freely in a natural man¬ 
ner. The use of flowers and bright foli¬ 
age and striking forms of vegetation is 
not to be discouraged, but these things 
are never primary considerations in a 
good place. The structural elements of a 
place are designed first, the flanking and 
bordering masses are then planted, finally 
the flowers and accessories are put in, 
just the same way that a house is painted 
after it is built. Flowers appear to the 
best advantage when seen against a back 
ground of foliage and they are then also 
an integral part of the picture. The flow- 
